Ways to Promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace

Ways to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace

Not sure if your company is doing all that it can to improve workplace diversity and inclusion?

Organizations that prioritize and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion reap tons of benefits for the business and their employees. 

Inclusive work environments often produce more motivated, productive, and outspoken employees. Additionally, productive employees often go the extra mile for the companies they work for, which can also boost company profits and revenue streams.

Moreover, inclusivity and diversity are common elements that job seekers look for when applying for a job. As a result, an inclusive work environment can attract more applicants.

But the above benefits are only realized once your organization promotes diversity and inclusivity properly.

Here are a few ways organizations can do this:

Mix up your teams

The easiest way to boost inclusivity and diversity in the workplace is to ensure every team and department has a diverse group of employees. 

Diverse teams are often more creative and productive since they consist of people with different skills, backgrounds, experiences, etc.

Be aware of unconscious bias

An organization with diverse employees may experience some internal unconscious bias. As a result, organizations must introduce unconscious bias training.

Unconscious bias encompasses feelings or attitudes that are held subconsciously. Consequently, it’s often hard to spot this kind of bias. As a result, organizations need to train their managers and leaders to recognize this form of bias. This way, the managing team can set clear standards for employees and help employees understand when they are biased towards a particular group or employee. Companies must nip this issue in the bud since prejudice and bias can make employees feel uncomfortable and undervalued.

Develop a strategic training program

Diversity and inclusivity training can help managers and employees understand how cultural differences impact day-to-day operations. For example, team members in a diverse team may have different communication preferences or styles. As a result, managers need to put clear processes in place to avoid miscommunication or missed deadlines due to communication issues.

Organizations should also ensure that their inclusion efforts align with their overarching inclusivity goals and identified challenges. Attendance in these training programs should also be optional as opposed to compulsory. This way, employees can attend and learn about one another out of their own free will. 

Promote pay equity

To promote equal pay, you need to consider whether or not your certain employees are receiving equal pay for similar roles or responsibilities. This way, you can identify which employees are underpaid for dedicating the same amount of time, skills, and knowledge. 

By using HR or people analytics, organizations can pinpoint salary or wage gaps within a particular department or team. Moreover, managers can spot payment gap patterns or trends within a specific minority group – people of color, women, people with disabilities, etc.

Communicate the importance of managing bias

Organizations can help employees understand the importance of managing bias through training and employee resource groups. Employees must know that it’s human to have unconscious biases, but that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable. Internal bias training can help employees and managers recognize when they’re stereotyping. This way, every team member can work towards creating an integrated, inclusive work environment. 

If you want to improve your company’s workplace diversity and inclusion, visit the Corporate Class website today. 

We over bespoke services that can help you improve workplace diversity and inclusion effectively while also boosting employee engagement and innovation.

The Risk of Confusing Diversity with Inclusion

The risk of confusing diversity with inclusion

Diversity and inclusion are two terms that are definitely interconnected but don’t mean the same things. 

A diverse work environment is one where groups of people with different backgrounds, ethnicities, capabilities, genders, and more, integrate and work cohesively. On the other hand, an inclusive work environment ensures that the diverse team feels valued, included, and appreciated in the workplace. 

When companies confuse diversity with inclusion, managers and team leaders could create a work environment that doesn’t genuinely make their diverse workforce feel like they belong. As a result, certain employees might not feel comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work or even staying with the company in the long run.

This blog post will cover how diversity and inclusion differ and how you can ensure both in the work environment.

Diversity And Inclusion: What’s The Difference, And How Can We Ensure Both?

Diversity is the “what,” and inclusion is the “how.” 

Diversity is about what kind of people make up an organization’s workforce. A diverse workplace should employ people from all walks of life – different age groups, religions, disabilities, sexualities, etc. On the other hand, inclusion is about how a company makes its diverse employees feel. An inclusive workplace is one in which every employee is given equal opportunities. This way, every employee feels valued, appreciated, and understood. 

Organizations often want to boost diversity in the workplace without prioritizing inclusion and the foundation needed to create a diverse workplace. As a result, hiring more women or other minority groups doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things if your company’s culture doesn’t truly embrace diversity and inclusion. This also makes it difficult for companies to achieve a long-term diverse work environment. 

Organizations can ensure diversity and inclusion in the workplace by training their leaders and managers. This way, managers are aware of potential biases and can set clear standards for employees in the workplace. Organizations can also implement diverse interview panels to show potential employees that the company prioritizes diversity and inclusion. 

Moreover, organizations should ensure that women and people of color are being promoted at the same rates and are paid equally for similar jobs and responsibilities. 

Another way to boost inclusion in the office is by introducing employee feedback surveys. This way, managers can uncover how employees feel and discover ways to improve certain business processes. 

Does Diversity = Inclusion?

Put simply, diversity is not the same as inclusion – there are two distinct processes businesses need to adopt to achieve inclusion and diversity.

However, many companies assume that workplace diversity is achieved once the recruitment team has hired people from varied demographics. As a result, they can check off the diversity box, making their annual report look impressive. But it isn’t that simple.

Organizations also need to adopt systems to counter bias, stereotypes, and prejudice to create a work environment that’s truly diverse and inclusive. Moreover, companies need to invest in employee resource groups, team-based decision-making processes, managerial training, D&I committees, etc. 

Consequently, it’s not enough to just hire people of different ethnicities, religions, genders, and sexualities. Organizations can only reap the benefits of a diverse and inclusive workplace once they invest in inclusion. Additionally, companies that invest in inclusion often outpace their competitors since their various employees feel a sense of belonging and psychological safety. This way, every employee feels confident enough to contribute to team meetings, projects, problem-solving processes, and more.

If you want to improve your company’s workplace diversity and inclusion, visit the Corporate Class website today. 

We over bespoke services that allow you to create an inclusive and diverse workplace while simultaneously boosting employee engagement and productivity.

The Benefits of Having Diversity and Inclusion in the Office

The Benefits of Having Diversity and Inclusion in the Office

Companies that prioritize creating a diverse and inclusive workplace can create a work environment that’s more accepting and productive. Additionally, employees in these work environments often feel more motivated to reach company goals, stay committed to the company, and avoid looking for other jobs. 

This blog post will cover six core benefits of prioritizing inclusivity and diversity in the workplace.

Bigger talent pool

Companies with a diverse and inclusive culture often have lower employee turnover rates and higher employee retention rates than others.

Additionally, job seekers often stay with companies that invest in diversity and inclusivity practices, programs, and resources. When your employees feel included and valued, they also perform better and work harder towards company goals. 

In fact, researchers found that 67% of job seekers considered a diverse workforce one of the crucial factors when applying for jobs. As a result, employees consider diversity and inclusivity to be paramount when searching for a job.

Increased employee engagement and trust

There’s no doubt that inclusive workplaces make your workforce feel more valued, understood, and appreciated. As a result, these employees feel more motivated to perform better and instill trust in the company. 

Additionally, employees are often more interested in a company’s culture, team-building activities, and goals when they know their voices and talents matter.

New perspectives and innovation

A diverse workplace encompasses many unique employees from different backgrounds. These diverse employees offer companies innovative ideas, creative solutions, and new insights into business processes. 

In Fostering Innovation Through a Diverse Workforce (a study conducted by Forbes researchers), researchers found that diverse employees offer companies unique life experiences and backgrounds and new problem-solving techniques. This way, diverse companies can outpace their competitors. 

Additionally, according to John Bersin’s research, inclusive companies are 1.7 times more likely to lead innovation in their respective markets. 

Better decision-making

Having a diverse group of employees with different opinions and skills can help companies get a blend of perspectives for every decision-making process. This way, companies can make more informed business decisions.

Moreover, companies that prioritize the opinions of their employees during decision-making often make their diverse workforces feel more valued. This can also boost performance and motivate employees to achieve business goals. 

Improved performance

As we mentioned above, diverse teams are more motivated and productive. As a result, they are more likely to stay committed to the company, work towards company goals, and work cohesively as a team.

Moreover, Gartner found that inclusive work environments can boost team performance by up to 30%.

Another study conducted by Great Place to Work shows that when employees know that they will be treated fairly at work, they are 9.8 times more likely to look forward to work and 6.3 times more likely to have pride in their work. These factors also lead to increased productivity and reduced downtime.

Stronger business results and profits

When employees feel included, appreciated, and valued, they’re more likely to engage in company processes and strive toward personal and business goals. Additionally, highly engaged employees often go the extra mile for the company. This can also lead to higher profits for the company. 

In fact, Harvard Business Review found that diverse companies report 19% higher revenue than businesses that don’t promote diversity and inclusion. 

If you want to improve your company’s workplace diversity and inclusion, visit the Corporate Class website today. 

We over bespoke services that allow you to support your commitment toward inclusive workplaces.

What Are Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace?

What are diversity and inclusion in the workplace_

What are diversity and inclusion?

Diversity and inclusion in the workspace refer to how a group of unique individuals work together as a cohesive unit. Diverse teams often consist of team members who have different perspectives, needs, and skills. 

Companies that promote diversity and inclusion often outpace competitors since their employees feel valued, motivated, and are eager to succeed.

But diversity and inclusion go beyond programs, headcounts, and workplace policies – it’s about building a transparent work environment where employees can be their authentic selves and trust the company.

This blog post will cover everything you need to know about workplace diversity and inclusion.

What is Diversity and Inclusion?

Put simply, diversity in the workplace refers to a work environment that employees people from different demographics. For example, different races, skills, genders, backgrounds, and interests. 

Additionally, diversity encompasses everything that makes individuals different from one another. As a result, it goes beyond general factors like gender, race, age, and more. 

In other words, diverse work environments reflect the society they operate in.

Companies that prioritize diversity can create more tolerant, accepting, and welcoming onboarding processes and overall work environment.

Although diversity and inclusion are often used interchangeably, inclusion is quite different from diversity.

SHRM defines inclusion as the ability of a work environment to treat its employees fairly, equally, and respectfully. This way, individuals get equal access to resources and opportunities. 

Moreover, inclusion allows marginalized groups to feel equal and accepted in the workplace. For example, marginalized genders, races, and those with any physical or mental disability will be given equal opportunities to succeed in the workplace. 

What is the difference between diversity & inclusion?

Although diversity and inclusion are definitely interconnected, these two terms are far from interchangeable. 

Diversity is about representation and how well different groups of people integrate and are valued in a work environment. This way, people with different genders, races, nationalities, sexual orientations, and identities are present in the work environment.

When it comes to inclusion, companies need to work towards making the work environment inclusive, not only diverse. 

As a result, a company can try its best to “check all the boxes” for diversity by recruiting people based on surface characteristics like gender diversity and ethnicity. But if these employees feel ostracized or “othered” in the work environment, then the workplace isn’t truly inclusive.

Companies can create an inclusive workplace by creating employee resources groups and by hosting information sessions that educate employees and managers about the importance of diversity and inclusion.

Why is diversity & inclusion in the workplace Important?

Here are four benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace:

  • Increases profitability: Statistically, companies that invest in creating a diverse and inclusive workplace are more profitable and experience higher revenue. In fact, a 2015 McKinsey report found that highly diverse organizations were 35% more likely to exceed median earnings in their industry.
  • Improves company culture and image: Companies that prioritize hiring, welcoming, and promoting unique employees from different backgrounds are more likely to create a productive, collaborative, and inclusive workplace. This, in turn, also impacts how employees, investors, and the general public view the company.
  • Retains and attracts talent: Inclusive and diverse workplaces appear more attractive to job seekers. As a result, workplace culture plays a major deciding factor for potential employees. Moreover, BetterUp found that employees with the highest levels of belonging are 34% more likely to stay at their jobs than those with low levels of belonging. 

If you want to improve your company’s workforce diversity and inclusion, visit the Corporate Class website today. 

We over bespoke services that allow you to support your commitment toward greater diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Contact us today to learn more about what is diversity and inclusion.

The Top 3 Tips for Emerging Female Leaders

The Top 3 Tips for Emerging Female Leaders

Emerging female leaders face challenges that male leaders don’t face. Discover the top three tips for emerging female leaders here.

1. Practice Resilience

Life has a habit of throwing us curveballs. Despite the best laid plans, everyone goes through ups and downs – from everyday struggles to catastrophic incidents that reverberate longer-term. Every shift has a different impact on people, bringing with it a unique set of perceptions, powerful emotions, and uncertainties. While these difficulties are undoubtedly painful and challenging, they do not have to define you.

As defined by psychologists, resilience is the capacity to handle difficulties mentally or emotionally and quickly return to pre-crisis status. By readily overcoming the stress of tragedy and trauma, adversity, threats, or failure, resilient women not only recover, but often emerge stronger on the other side.

While there is a genetic predisposition to resilience, psychologists have noticed various characteristics common to resilient people, including:

  • Optimism and a positive outlook
  • An internal locus of control – belief that you are the author of your destiny.
  • The ability to regulate emotions
  • The capacity to view failure as valuable feedback.

Follow these best practices to develop your resilience:

  1. Beat the negative impact of stress with good nutrition, sufficient sleep, regular exercise, and mindfulness or other spiritual practices. Building your body’s reserves helps you avoid unhealthy outlets such as drugs and alcohol.
  2. Develop and nurture relationships with people who are trustworthy and kind and who acknowledge your feelings.
  3. Practice introspection and emotional intelligence. Be proactive in looking for ways to deal with the issue, learn from your past behavior, and constantly refer to your moral compass and personal values.

2. Have Humility

Not to be confused with being meek, submissive, or lacking self-confidence, humility is “absence of vanity or excessive pride”. As part of a leadership style, humility is an attribute of great leaders.

The positive impact of female leaders redirecting positive attention from themselves to the performance of the team inspires increased employee engagement, greater job satisfaction, and lower staff turnover rates. These successful leaders treat everyone with respect, admit their mistakes, share the credit for successes, and grow by learning from what others have to offer.

If one of your professional goals as part of the next generation of women leaders is to heighten your humility, here is an action plan:

  • Listen. Spend time actively listening to others. Be open-minded and curious rather than protective of your point of view. Not only will others feel heard and valued, but you will also gain a better understanding of organizational needs. Hearing the insights of your team members will help you to make better decisions about performance and new opportunities.
  • Acknowledge. Gratitude lets you channel your drive back into the organization and leads to an optimistic, humble state of being.
  • Ask. Humility includes acknowledging that you don’t have all the answers. Women leaders who are humble ask for help, are open to innovative solutions, and seek feedback regarding their performance. This further serves as inspiration for a culture of personal development in the workplace.
  • Reflect. Review your actions to keep yourself in check. Those in top leadership positions are often mentors and coaches. You may find yourself slipping into those roles in situations when allowing rather than pushing would be more appropriate.
  • Accept. Women’s leadership ambitions focus on constant improvement. As valuable as that is, there is also a need to accept what is without judgement. Move from “seeking approval to seeking enlightenment”. Only once you dispassionately recognize your strengths and weaknesses can you appreciate and dovetail the competence and contributions of peers and employees.

3. Play to Your Strengths (Not Your Weaknesses)

Following on from the last action above, berating yourself for your shortcomings is counterproductive. But that does not mean that you shouldn’t strive to do better.

Globally, business leaders agree that focusing all your energy on fixing your weaknesses is a distracting and frustrating use of your time. Identifying what strengthens you and then cultivating your strengths will empower you. Playing to your strengths helps you to flourish and build a successful career in your leadership role.

If you want to step into your power with confidence, join fellow emerging female leaders for our Women in Leadership Masterclass. Contact Corporate Class Inc. for more information.

How to transform into a mindful leader

How to transform into a mindful leader

A mindful leader is someone selfless, present, and non-judgemental. They lead with creativity, compassion, and to serve others. Additionally, mindful leaders can balance their workload while managing their team’s workload while managing stress levels. 

Suppose you wish to practice mindfulness at work and in your personal life. In that case, you need to understand the characteristics of mindful leadership and practices you can adopt to transform into a mindful leader.

Some of these practices include:

  • Perform mindfulness exercises: Some common mindfulness exercises include sitting and walking meditation, deep breathing, journaling, and single-tasking. If none of these activities speak to you, try searching for some mindfulness exercises online and choose those that appeal to you the most. Whatever activity you choose, ensure you practice it regularly. 
  • Disconnect regularly: Disconnecting refers to taking breaks or time-outs during your workday, so you get a moment to relax. Additionally, you might find yourself to be more productive and creative after your break. The Pomodoro technique can help you manage your time and help you disconnect systematically. The method divides your workday into 25-minute sessions, separated by five-minute intervals. 
  • Relabel stress: When you handle your everyday work activities, it’s common to feel stressed and overwhelmed. Mindful leaders manage workplace stress by pulling themselves back into reality and dealing with their current environment and tasks. 
  • Mindfulness leadership training: Mindfulness isn’t instantaneous; it requires practice and dedication. As a result, many senior leaders enroll in mindfulness programs to help them be more intuitive, focused, and aware of their present environment. 

Benefits of mindful leadership

Mindfulness helps leaders manage their day-to-day tasks and cater to the well-being of their teammates. This is crucial since today’s world is filled with distractions and uneasiness that can affect a leader’s thought process. As a result, mindfulness helps leaders and team members to regain their focus quickly.

Here are the other significant advantages of mindful leadership:

Reduced stress

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, stress is the brain and body’s natural response to change, challenge, or demand. Stress is how our bodies react against the thought of danger or an event that makes us feel uncomfortable and nervous. A key component of mindfulness, present-moment awareness, can help monitor and understand your current experiences instead of focusing on future events or dwelling on the past. This way, your mind can focus on the present, increasing stress resilience and effective coping. Additionally, by staying in the present, you can deal with your stressors and overcome all your challenges when and if they happen.

Increased attention

Practicing mindfulness can help you dedicate your attention and skills to the current task at hand. This way, you’re less likely to fall victim to the distractions and other stimuli around you. 

Improved relationships

As a mindful leader, you can form more positive relationships with employees. Your ability to be compassionate and empathetic, as well as your enhanced listening skills, can help you communicate with your team clearly, offer constructive feedback, and create a transparent work environment filled with creativity and productivity.  

Boosted creativity

Mindfulness is also about being innovative and developing solutions to complex problems. For example, mindfulness meditation can open your mind to new ideas and help you understand the viability of those ideas. 

If you recognize that you have a long way to go before becoming a leader, you’re on the right path. Contact Corporate Class today to develop your skills and transform into a mindful leader. 

We offer high-quality mindful leadership training, coaching, and consulting to some of the world’s largest Fortune 500 companies across the globe.

How to become a mindful leader

Before we look at how you can become a mindful leader, let’s first determine what a mindful leader is. Leading people in an incredibly challenging task in a world full of distractions. However, mindful leaders can exude their passion, education, professionalism, and skills throughout their everyday business tasks amidst these distractions. A mindful leader is present, selfless, and inspires others to work ethically and productively. 

So, how do you become a mindful leader?

Here are three steps you can take to become a mindful leader:

1. Develop availability and flexibility

Availability is a vital mindfulness characteristic since employees expect availability and consistency from their leaders. To develop availability, you need to build empathic awareness, presence, and a curiosity for your team member’s ideas, opinions, and experiences. Additionally, you should listen to your employees whenever they have a concern or idea and follow through on your promises and commitments. This way, your workforce will feel appreciated, seen, and heard. Flexibility is all about being able to adapt to changing circumstances and environments. Whether the market is changing or there’s a structural change in the company, a flexible leader can maintain a flexible mindset and use their skills to respond to these changes with optimistic solutions. 

2. Build emotional intelligence

Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence (EI) model is based on four ideals: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. These four elements can guide mindful leaders in their day-to-day activities, especially when handling a challenging task. Emotional awareness can also help mindful business leaders make the right decisions even when the matter is personal or intense emotions are involved. However, emotional intelligence can also help leaders empathize with their team members and support them effectively, leading to further transparency and trust in the workplace. 

3. Focus on integrity and ethics

Leaders with a strong moral compass and integrity can influence their team members to act ethically. This is especially true since most employees look up to their leaders and view them as role models. 

Developing strong personal ethics and having a sense of integrity can also help leaders deal with challenging or murky situations with ease since leaders have an internal moral compass that they can trust and rely on. Additionally, this prevents leaders from being distracted or swayed by complex professional and personal dilemmas. 

Why mindful leadership is important

As mentioned above, today’s world is filled with challenges that can affect us mentally, emotionally, and professionally. As a result, it’s crucial to understand mindfulness and cultivate mindful leadership. Moreover, we are often distracted by various technological devices, social media, and the internet that can harm our mental health and lead to a sense of disconnection and ultimately overwhelm and isolate us. Additionally, we have access to so much information and a wide variety of voices and opinions that sometimes overwhelm and confuse our own ideas and thoughts. However, these changing times also present an opportunity to be innovative, compassionate, and practice mindfulness.

Contact Corporate Class today to develop your skills and become a mindful leader. We offer high-quality mindful leadership training, coaching, and consulting to some of the world’s largest Fortune 500 companies across the globe.