Diversity as a growth strategy: A must for every business
Diversity in the workplace is essential for innovation and growth, including in marketing agencies. A diverse and inclusive team not only provides different perspectives and ideas, but also improves one’s ability to see, seize and adopt new and “out of the box” opportunities.
Thus, in the long run, several challenges are solved more efficiently. Not least because: the more inclusive the decision-making is, the more inclusive the solutions are. For example, having women in top positions is one thing, but is there room for mothers in top positions? If so, how does that benefit the company? This article shows why this situation, which is mostly challenging at first, can also mean success for your start-up or company.
Diversity as a priority in the workplace
It is critical to create a work environment where all employees feel valued and heard, regardless of their background, gender, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity or religion.
Creating an inclusive environment where employees feel safe and heard reduces employee turnover and increases engagement and satisfaction. In this sense, inclusiveness leads to better collaboration and team dynamics, improving company productivity and performance.
According to a McKinsey survey, one-third of the companies in their dataset have made significant progress in inclusion and diversity over the past five years. These progressive companies are increasingly ahead of their competitors in terms of financial performance. The research suggests that companies that invest in inclusion and diversity recover faster from (financial) crises such as COVID-19, for example, because they are more flexible.
Diverse teams are also more innovative. They are better able to anticipate changes in consumer needs and consumption patterns, enabling new products and services that may provide a competitive advantage.
Gartner puts it even more sharply:
75% of organizations with management teams reflecting a diverse and inclusive culture met their financial goals. Gender-diverse and inclusive teams also performed on average 50% better than gender-homogenous, less inclusive teams.
In short, you create something unique when you give voice to people from different environments and with different life experiences.
Connecting with customers
Many marketing agencies have a diverse clientele. In order to serve these clients in the best possible way, it works well if the consultants are also diverse. This diversity is not only about knowledge and skills, but also about (cultural) background and identity in the broad sense of the term.
Clients like to work with companies that not only understand their norms, values and corporate culture, but also feel them. This creates mutual understanding and thus a positive and fruitful (collaborative) working atmosphere. Because: a good relationship between client and customer = a more personal product and a greater chance of extending or repeating the cooperation.
“Put your money where your mouth is”
Talking about how important diversity is is one thing. After that, it comes down to actually implementing this diversity in your own company. Indeed, if you spread the message of inclusion and diversity, but fail to live up to it as an organization itself, pitfalls such as pinkwashing lurk.
What is pinkwashing? According to The Pink Dictionary of the Correspondent: A contraction of pink and whitewashing. It is putting up a pink smokescreen, for example by promoting LGBTQIA or women’s rights, but in the process hiding another rights violation from view. There is a double agenda.
This is how you make sure your business is inclusive and diverse:
- Actively recruit candidates from diverse backgrounds
By posting job openings on websites and platforms that you know are targeted to (ethnic) minorities, or platforms created by/for the LGBTQIA+ community. - Create an inclusive culture
A work culture where everyone feels heard and valued is unfortunately not at all obvious. For example, by being open to different perspectives and feedback, which you can gather through a staff representative meeting, and by offering training and team building activities on acceptance and against discrimination or racism, you will go a long way. - Ensure equal opportunity
All employees are equally entitled to growth and development. Therefore, it is important to offer everyone the same number of training opportunities and development paths, and give out rewards and promotions equally, for example. - Address diversity and inclusion in corporate strategy
If you make diversity and inclusion openly and loudly part of your corporate image, by expressing the concepts frequently on various social platforms and your own corporate website, customers will also know what standards and values you adhere to. This attracts certain clients, but also provides transparency and the message: we are proud of what we stand for! - Collaborate with diverse customers
Following the message that your company sends out, you are also likely to attract a diverse range of customers. This customer base, in turn, becomes part of your corporate image.
To measure is to know
What is an inclusive company? When are you diverse as a team? Set goals for your company on inclusion and diversity and every so often evaluate how you are doing on these goals. You can use great data for this. Very specifically, think about percentages for gender, ethnicity or other things.
If you find this too hard, you can also ask for employee satisfaction ratings. Use these figures to improve your corporate culture – all according to your own team’s wishes and feedback.
Play the market with data
By analyzing demographic data, analyzing the market and brainstorming with your team, you can discover new customer segments and identify gaps in the market. The more you focus your company and employees on inclusion and diversity, the better your team will learn to look “out of their own box” at potential clients or assignments.
By:
- collecting data,
- using it to create inclusive products and services,
- by building a diverse team,
- measuring diversity and inclusion efforts,
- embracing diversity in leadership, and
using data to grow your market, …encourage innovation and growth within your organization.
It starts with yourself: inclusive leadership
Implementing diversity and inclusion in a company requires:
- actively recruiting candidates from diverse backgrounds,
- creating an inclusive culture, and
equal opportunity for all employees. - Measuring and evaluating inclusion and diversity goals is also important to ensure that the company is on the right track.
While all of the above is certainly important, the basics are much more personal. Want to be able to say with pride and sincerity that your company is diverse and inclusive? Then start – however cliché – with yourself. Diversity is not only in the traits and characteristics of your employees, but also in those of leadership.
For example, as an entrepreneur of color, it is essential to promote diversity within one’s own organization to dispel prejudice, set a good example for competitors and colleagues, as well as create a safe environment for employees. As founder of DGTLBase my goal is to create an environment where everybody is heard and seen.
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