Diversity Is Not the Same to Everyone. Here’s Why That Matters
If companies want to reap the benefits of diversity in its truest form, it’s time to consider diversifying it.
I know I’m not the typical picture of diversity. However, growing up in communist Poland offered me a unique approach to problems and solutions that most businesspeople I meet today never consider. Diversity of thought — combining our differences to cover as many diverse perspectives as possible in our decision-making — is where companies find the most benefits.
While diversity and inclusion of traditionally marginalized groups are important, being truly diverse takes more thought than people realize. To truly experience greater diversity, we need to eliminate bias, go beyond what diversity looks like and choose the people that bring something new to the table.
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How to Best Recruit Board Members Outside of Your Industry
The value of board members from outside your industry cannot be understated – here’s why.
ew individuals are experts in everything. Even the cumulative expertise in most businesses could use input from more experts in diverse areas. This is why we have boards — a panel of experts in areas that fill in the gaps in our existing company knowledge base.
But even once we find the right group of experts from our industry to take a seat on our board, we would still stand to benefit from the wisdom of more diverse perspectives and experiences. Their range of successes and failures becomes additional resources to put together more tried and tested strategies in the face of new challenges.
Outside board members can bring a lot to a company, but to find the right ones for the job, we need to know what to look for:
Related: How Board Members Can Help You Through a Recession
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5 Ways to Ensure You Have True Diversity Within Your Business
Diversity is complex and not as simple as some people may think, but having true diversity will improve every aspect of your business.
The government defines diversity as “the range of similarities and differences each individual brings to the workplace, including but not limited to national origin, language, race, color, disability, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, veteran status, and family structures.” Too often, I’ve seen this diluted to the introduction of one woman and one minority to the company board of directors. Is this really the pinnacle of a diverse company foundation? What about the rest of the workforce? Is diversity really just a matter of fulfilling quotas?
In my experience, true diversity enriches a company, but it must be the real deal. It has to be embraced from the boardroom to the mailroom if it’s going to thrive. After all, how diverse is your company, really, if all the diversity is sitting at the bottom of the pay scale while the boardroom remains unwaveringly similar to 19th-century men’s clubs, minus the Victorian suits? Here, I want to explore how companies can nurture diversity for a more rewarding and successful operation.
Opening doors requires open minds
I’ve always lamented how the government definition of diversity, which is really quite nice, often becomes distilled to employing a few representative “types” to achieve the “diversity-approved” rubber stamp. That’s just not the level of diversity that I’m hoping to foster. But, to create a truly diverse team that goes beyond employing a certain number of minorities and a certain number of women, you have to have an open mind and be willing to look at diversity from more complex angles.
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