Does Your Organization Value Diversity?

Does Your Organization Value Diversity?

What’s so great and beautiful about our country, the great melting pot of the world, is that we have all kinds of people in all shapes, colors and sizes. Not only physical characteristics but we are all people with many different backgrounds, perspectives and abilities.

As our work places are becoming more diverse, it will be extremely important that leaders understand how to work with all people effectively.  It’s not easy to get a diverse group of people to work together in harmony toward a mission, goal and objective of an organization; however, the benefits of doing so are economic growth, greater range of consumers, larger pool of qualified workers and more creativity within the organization.

It takes experience and training to understand how to lead a diverse employee pool effectively.   Working with a diverse population starts with inclusion. Also, employers and managers must be able to use various styles of leadership.

So does your organization value diversity? It’s pretty easy to tell.  During my graduate studies I completed a research study to find out if a particular organization truly valued diversity. What I found was that, although all of the written materials and website stated that they valued diversity, the fact of the matter was that it did not.  The intentions of the CEO were good, but there was no on-going training, no diversity depicted in the printed literature and so on…

If you really want an organization that values diversity, the first step should be a dialogue among the top level executives of the organization.  Then on-going training must be implemented from the top to the bottom of the organization.  All marketing materials and media should be evaluated to make sure that all types of people are represented.

Interested in having your staff trained in Workplace Diversity?  Enroll in the 6 hour online course at: Networx Business Solutions.

Tina Oliver, M.Ed.

Training Specialist

Networx LLC