Boost Your Business Growth with Diversity and Inclusion

Consulting firms like Deloitte and McKinsey, along with International Labour Organization, researched to study the impact of diversity and inclusion on small business growth. The research strongly suggested businesses that implement inclusion through diversity saw substantial growth in productivity and performance.

Hence, if your business is struggling to grow due to a lack of diversity and inclusion, you might want to stick around to read this blog post.

Diversity and Inclusion (D&I): What is it?

You might already have a group of people working for your organization. This mix of people will define diversity for your business. Inclusion is defined as developing a workplace environment that allows this mix of people to work to their full efficiency effectively.

The Diversity Council of Australia mentions diversity based on cultural differences, gender, age, sexuality, education, and profession. It mentions inclusion as creating an environment that makes each individual respected and valued.

Diversity and Inclusion: How is it beneficial for your business?

When you hire people from different backgrounds, you can easily bring new ideas and perspectives to the table.
With different people on board, you can increase the competitiveness of the business. This can prompt everyone on your team to perform better, thus resulting in the growth of your business.
Most consumers these days prefer companies and brands that have diversity and inclusion as one of their company goals. Such companies create not only a diverse and inclusive environment for their team but also for consumers. This can, in turn, boost their growth and market presence.
Diversity and inclusion also help you develop resilience and innovation for your business.

How to implement diversity and inclusion in your business?

There are different aspects of your business where you can implement diversity and inclusion. Here are 5 such crucial business aspects of working on for D&I.

Leadership

As mentioned above, diversity comes from the mix of people working for your organization. This also includes the leadership of your organization. Whether it is you or a team of leaders, leading by example will always help you develop a diverse environment in your organization.

One of the ways to develop diversity and inclusion in your leadership is by working on uncovering unconscious bias. As you might know, unconscious bias is based on different stereotypes we have regarding certain social groups. This unconscious bias can affect the hiring decisions of leadership despite knowing the person is absolutely qualified for the role.

To develop diversity and inclusion in your organization, the leadership must work to reduce the chances of unconscious bias affecting the hiring decisions. This will help you hire people without any biased judgment and solely on their qualifications and experience for the role. This can help you bring high-quality candidates to your team, boosting your business growth.

Staff

Hiring decisions of the leadership will affect the type of staff you have. To implement diversity and inclusion in your staff, you need to review your hiring practices. Moreover, you need to be inclusive of recruiting networks you don’t usually hire from. This will give you a chance to increase diversity in your staff.

Inclusion@Work Index 2019-2020, provided by the Diversity Council of Australia, has clearly indicated that diverse and inclusive staff is more likely to provide high-quality customer service and three times less likely to leave the job with their current employer.

Moreover, consulting firm McKinsey concluded that a diverse and inclusive group of staff is more efficient at anticipating changes in the purchasing decision of consumers. This helps the business to develop and innovate their products to tip the buying decisions in their favor.

Hence, improving your diversity and inclusion is critical. You can take the following steps to implement D&I in your staff:

To reduce assumptions and stereotypes, you can carry out a blind screening of the candidate’s CVs.
You can review your current job descriptions and make changes to them to be more diverse and inclusive.
Make diversity and inclusion part of new employee onboarding.
Train your staff to use inclusive language, such as using the right pronouns.
Develop inclusive HR policies.
Celebrate, value, and respect the staff members who perform to their fullest efficiency.

Customers

As mentioned above, diversity and inclusion mustn’t be just limited to your staff. It must extend to your customers too. Most consumers prefer shopping from brands that cater to diverse and inclusive customers. Such brands make each customer feel valued and respected while expanding their target market easily.

Here’s how you can make your brand diverse and inclusive for your consumers.

Modify your social media accounts, business websites, and your business reception, including more inclusive language.
Include LGBTQ+ customers by showing your support. You can install a pride flag in your office spaces.
When you want to attend any trade shows or expos, try to attend the ones including diverse and inclusive business
To make your social media posts, images, and videos more accessible to people having a hearing challenge, include alternative text and closed captions with your images and videos.
For people with mobility challenges, you can install a ramp in your office spaces, making it easier for them to access the office building.
Consider product innovation for people with autism, sensory sensitivity, and more such challenging conditions.
Help your staff increase communication opportunities with your customers by teaching them more than one language and sign language too.

These are just a few ways to include as many consumers as possible for your business. This will boost your overall market presence and sales.

Suppliers and Partners

When you are trying to implement D&I, you also need to take a look at your suppliers and partners. Imagine a situation where you support and include LGBTQ+ customers and their opinions on product innovation. However, one of your suppliers or partners openly shows their disinterest in including the social group. Do you think this will go down well with your LGBTQ+ customers? Definitely not!

Hence, when you are working on implementing D&I in your business, you need to look closely at your suppliers and partners. If their philosophy doesn’t align with your D&I policies, you might want to find some other suppliers and partners who align with your D&I.

Commemorate days and holidays significant to diverse people

The Diversity and Inclusion Calendar provided by the Diversity Council of Australia can help you include days and holidays significant to your diverse team. You can celebrate by offering offers and discounts on such days, including diverse consumers with your business.

Wrap It Up

In current times, diversity and inclusion are critical parts of business goals and vision. Implementing D&I in your business will not only help you bring diverse people on your team but also help reach a larger population of the potential target audience. This will boost your business growth and performance.

To know more about how to improve diversity and inclusion at your business, contact us at Keystone Executive Coaching. Our business coaches will help you find the best ways to improve D&I at your business. Moreover, we can look at your other business functions, such as hiring practices, finances, marketing, and more.