You can’t hire diversity, you have to build it.
The US Presidential Election has made us question many things, our values, morals, who we will stand up for, who we will fight for, and more importantly — how we identify with each other. It’s been a few months of us learning about ourselves, personally.Trump’s choice of people in his cabinet has thrown up another very important discussion point, that applies more to businesses than to us personally — the value of diversity. And that’s where we need to stop thinking about what our values represent as an individual, but more so as a business.
Globalization and millennials are two words we frequently hear. Although they might not find themselves in the same stream of conversation, both are key in what has been an important shift in cultural diversity, especially in the workplace. You might wonder why the word “millennial” is included here. The reason is that the generation views diversity differently. More specifically, as a necessary element for innovation. According to research, with diversity, 71% have claimed to be more likely to focus on teamwork. (The radical transformation of diversity and inclusion — The Millennial Influence by Deloitte).
This has eventually led to diversity being a decisive factor for job seekers and more evidently, something CEOs or Department Heads might think about. The problem is exactly that. Diversity isn’t something that just needs to be thought of. Beyond hiring a diverse team, there’s thinking about and building the spread of people, the teams they will be in, how to get people to impact the overall output — etc.
Again, in theory, it seems simple: people from different backgrounds bring different attributes to the table. Yet, we tend to forget that diversity is not only how people view themselves but how they view others. We’ll go into details about how businesses can actually build diversity instead of simply hiring but first, let’s start with the pros of diversity.
There are obvious benefits to diversity in a workplace. For example, one of the key advantages would be an increase in the various ways employees approach a problem. Diversity within the workplace translates to a greater variety of solutions, which contribute to how efficiently and creatively the problems are to be solved.When employees speak more than one language or have an understanding of different cultures, they tend to view situations differently, with far greater context. As put by Martha R.A Fields, “When employees use their differences to identify business opportunities and generate new ideas, they more fully express themselves at work which leads to greater commitment and higher productivity”. Additionally, working in a diverse workplace can inspire employees to perform to their highest ability as identities should be maintained and valued. Each and every one of the employees will also be able to tap into an array of ideas and experiences which can only be enriched by the different cultures.
However, diversity needs to be managed properly as it can present multiple challenges. Some key factors that first need to be addressed are communication, the notion of time and team building. Each of these don’t mean the same thing to different cultures. For example, in regards to time, as put by Business Insider:“I have to rush, my time is up.” That’s something an American would be inclined to say. But how would this be viewed? A Spaniard, for example, would reject this submissive attitude to schedules, and would only use this expression if death were imminent.
When you get people with different beliefs, values and priorities together in a single place, conflicts can arise. And conflicts of culture are often the most dangerous ones to handle. This brings us to “communication”.
Information needs to be understood by everyone, and thus, might need to be communicated in a “universal” way, if that’s possible.
It’s not… really.
Cultural patterns at work reflect cultural patterns in the wider society. We need to take this into account for daily tasks such as “the ability to communicate bad news” or “giving feedback” as these affect the “bigger picture” and if done well, could lead to successful project management.
As put by John Hume, “difference is the essence of humanity” yet these differences need to be harnessed effectively to become that source of innovation. Putting a process in place takes time and specific individuals who are willing to understand the importance of mastering intercultural communication.
The Intercultural Competence Profiler (ICP) was established by Trompenaars & Woolliams. It’s a multifunctional instrument which assesses an individual’s qualification for international assignments. Why does that matter? This framework helps to manage change across cultures and addresses the business benefit which can derive when this is implanted effectively.
There are four aspects to this framework:
1. Recognition: How competent is a person to recognize his/her own cultural assumptions and those of others around him or her?
2. Respect: How capable is a person of appreciating perspectives other than his/her own?
3. Reconciliation: How competent is a person to reconcile different perspectives?
4. Realization: How competent is a person in realizing the necessary actions to implement the reconciliation of cultural differences?
To summarize, the magic simply lies in finding the right person. It’s not necessarily about hiring someone new but finding the person who could find themselves within the framework above and build and nurture the right space for cultural diversity within your organisation.
When that space is carefully set, it’s a no-brainer as innovative and creative solutions will be easily sought from that space. It’s hard for most organization as intercultural differences are not necessarily acknowledged or even noticed. For most people, it’s something that is part of the day to day and not an issue in itself. In reality, most of the issues that arise between colleagues, departments and even in client relationships… could simply be cultural.
