Diversity & Inclusion—The Leaders’ Role
The hall mark of great leadership is the ability of a leader to lead and work with varied number of people without prejudice or racial barrier. One of the major leadership challenges we have in our society today, especially in governmental and non-governmental organizations is the difficulty of certain group of people finding it unpleasant to co-exist or work together with others. In most organizations today, the subject of diversity and inclusion has become an enormous concern since it has a huge positive or negative impact on the business—positive in the sense that it is addressed and dealt with—and negative if left untreated. In fact, I once worked in an environment where 95% of the employees—both managers and executives—were from a particular tribe. It was so ugly that speaking their local dialect was a norm. And for the rest of the others who could not speak or hear their language, it was a living hell in that organization. The management didn’t see anything wrong, in any case, they communicated just like every other person. But the impact was negative. The few who could not speak the language felt distanced and unwelcomed. And that created some barrier and lack of trust which inadventedly affected the bottom line of the business.
I have come to realize that the culture that exists in any organization is founded on the founders of the organization. The leaders are the ones who first initiate the culture, and the stakeholders build on the it—in no time, it becomes enacted and entrenched in the way the people in that environment speak, behave, and live. This means that the leader or founder has a fundamental role in shaping the mindset of the stakeholders of his business. If the leader is fond of speaking his native dialect, especially when he has people of same language working with him, then the culture of excluding others who can’t communicate in that language has come to stay in that environment. Except something is done immediately, a culture of sectarianism, unprofessionalism, lack of trust, and division amongst employees will be built in the system especially where other tribes co-exist in the same organization. This is one common example. In fact, there are more endemic ones rooted in most establishments that appear subtle yet killing the very foundation of achieving a sustainable business success.
What is diversity and inclusion? Diversity is the sum total of the differences which make individuals who they are, and their collective ability to contribute to the goals of an organization. Managing Diversity is a conscious choice and commitment by an organization to VALUE these differences by using diversity as a source of strength to achieve organizational goals.
Embracing diversity in the workplace has many advantages. The “business case for diversity” theorizes that, in a global marketplace, a company that employs a diverse workforce (both men and women, people of many generations, people from ethnically and racially diverse backgrounds etc.) is better able to understand the demographics of the marketplace it serves and is thus better equipped to thrive in that marketplace than a company that has a more limited range of employee demographics. An additional corollary suggests that a company that supports the diversity of its workforce can also improve employee satisfaction, productivity, and retention. This portion of the business case, often referred to as inclusion, relates to how an organization utilizes its various relevant diversities. If a workforce is diverse, but the employer takes little or no advantage of that breadth of that experience, then it cannot monetize whatever benefits background diversity might offer.
See you at the Top!
Dr. Elvis UKPAKA
Author. Trainer. Coach. Consultant
Lead Consultant, Visiondrivers Mgt. Consulting
+234 810 654 5127, +234 817 123 5284
www.elvisukpaka.com, www.visiondrivers.com
info@elvisukpaka.com, info@visiondrivers.com
