Innovation and continuous development in the digital age, along with a positive reputation, are vital for business success. Inclusion and diversity play an increasingly influential role in business today. Explore the correlation and required building blocks.
The correlation between inclusion, innovation and economic success is significant. Companies with above average diversity have 19% higher innovation revenues and 9% higher EBIT margins, according to this Harvard Business Review study. A Deloitte report also stated that companies with an inclusive culture are six times more likely to be innovative and agile and eight times more likely to achieve better business results.
Activating true diversity and inclusion is still a challenge for many, but executives and brands can no longer afford to miss it or pretend they are tackling the challenges.
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Essential building blocks:
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_ Acknowledging the continuous social and technological change
Our society is changing in many ways and is characterised by an increasing diversity of cultures, lifestyles and work styles. Digital first, older, more colourful: In Europe, change is characterised in particular by an ageing population, declining birth rates, increasing migration and rapid digital development and technology. This has noticeable effects on the economy and society.
In today’s fast-paced world, change is the only constant. Most people look back at the past and expect the future to be the same. Learning to think in terms of scenarios and simulations, requires an agile mindset and future oriented environment. When did you last analyse social and technological change? This has to be done on an ongoing and regular basis for proactive and successful change management.
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_ Establishing inclusive leadership
A changing working environment requires a new leadership style to achieve corporate goals. The need for agile, flexible, person- and team-oriented, future-oriented, digital, change-oriented, motivating, inspiring Leaders in increasing fast with digitization….. Inclusive leaders act with:
- Commitment: They promote their environment and their individuals and treat everyone with respect.
- Cultural intelligence: They experience and embrace other cultures and live diversity.
- Courage: They encourage and form diverse teams, even if this does not necessarily make working together easier
- Openness: They value the views of others even if they do not coincide with their own.
- Bias free: They are aware of biases and can counteract them.
Simple training programs are no longer sufficient to equip leaders for today’s challenges. Some companies specifically advance (aspiring) leaders through „mentoring“ and cooperation with experienced colleagues and decision-makers. This works in all directions: For example: with „reverse mentoring“, young managers support older colleagues in the use of digital tools and innovations.
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_ Establishing a culture of innovation through diverse groups
Monocultures are comparatively less complex and produce reliable, but also rather boring and predictable answers. Diversity, on the other hand, increases complexity; it counteracts simplifying response patterns and thus provides „fuzzier“ responses with greater ambiguity. This is more demanding, but also opens up the prospect of better, more innovative solutions. For example, teams with mixed genders maximise the creativity of team members and can handle group conflicts better than homogeneous teams.
According to a BCG Study, companies with greater management diversity generated an average of 38% more of their revenues from innovative products and services over a three-year period than companies with less diversity.
To build diverse teams it is necessary to involve a variety of individuals. A diverse team consists of people with different genders, ages, hierarchical levels, origins, social backgrounds, education or other characteristics and the correct mix will, of course, depend on the company’s needs, services and products.
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_ Living diversity and inclusion inside-out
People are 64%+ more likely to consider or even buy a product or service if they can identify with the brand and they think they are diverse or inclusive. With the changing society of today it is important to correctly connect with a number of individuals and audiences.
First and foremost, it is important to strive for an integrative culture within your company, because only if the audience is also represented within the brand, the positioning to the outside world will succeed. Diverse teams improve the assessment of consumer interest and demand. Diverse teams also better represent the company to the outside world and ensure credibility, authenticity and, consequently, an enhanced reputation.
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What’s next?
Many are still at the very beginning, but digitalisation and people are accelerating the process faster than you might think. Get ahead!
Further Questions, let’s connect or join the INUNITA Community.
