Diversity and Inclusion: Road map to better business performance

Diversity & Inclusion, though intrinsically entwined, represent two distinctive efforts in the promotion of equality. The former serves as a beacon of light that guides us towards cultural acceptance, while inclusion is an ongoing process of ensuring that lessons learned through diversity are implemented in a real world fashion. The election of Barak Obama shows us this can be done, and reaffirms we’re on the right track. Nothing More. Nothing Less.

Steven Garcia, Vice‐President of <b>DiversityWorking.com</b> says, “The overwhelming support of an African American President clarifies that our nation understands the importance of providing opportunity at the highest level for all individuals. This support shows that Americans are expecting to see opportunities for everyone within Corporate America. Companies with no diversity programs within their organizations are behind the times, and need to understand that diversity branding is a key aspect to their market outreach. By having the first African American President, the nation has brought diversity outreach to the forefront so that companies make a stronger effort to include everyone within their organizations”.

‘Thought Leadership’ in this area is driven by leaders from large corporations who see lucrative business reasons for improved diversity & inclusion. Smart companies are ensuring that they have workforces that reflect a changing customer base. Here, revenue drives social change…or does it? More appropriately, we can say that social change drives revenue, and smart companies are quick to take advantage of it.

Eric Watson, Vice‐President of Diversity & Inclusion for Food Lion grocery stores and one of the nation’s foremost thought leaders, had some salient points, “In corporations, there must still be Individual Behavior Change and Organizational Culture Change. Recently, the Conference Board Council on Work Force Diversity developed key competencies for Diversity Practitioners in the 21st century. Among them is a healthy respect for the values of change management; a broader, global perspective on diversity; and a strong relationship to the core of the business.”

More and more organizations today are striving to tie diversity and inclusion to their cultural DNA to increase performance, productivity, and customer satisfaction. Dedicated organizations are leading the development of diversity priorities and goals, and providing equitable distribution of rewards and opportunities to all employees based on their quantifiable contributions to the organization, free from biases and prejudices.