Hi! Managers: Diversity perversity?

Diversity also gives companies access to a larger pool of talent that brings with it different cultures, experiences, ideas, motivations, competencies, personalities and perspectives. This is an important and powerful resource for a newer and better way of doing business as it gives access to different styles of operation (leadership, setting and achieving goals, managing people and projects, designing processes, etc). These can give the company a competitive advantage, and enhance its capabilities and organisational effectiveness.
Diversity also brings a better and deeper understanding of a company’s markets and customers, which are made up of more than one gender, culture, religion, generation, sexual orientation and set of abilities. For example, if Chinese consumers are the company’s target, then having Chinese employees or non-Chinese employees with relevant knowledge or experience can help the company navigate and gain insights into this market. This can result in the development of products that fulfil the customers’ needs and desires, and more effective communication with the targeted customers.
If the business case for diversity is clear, then why do many companies still struggle with implementing diversity effectively in their organisations?
1. Often, the business case for diversity is not sufficiently articulated. Companies set lofty goals or quotas based on gender or nationality, and talk generally about access to talent and markets, but they rarely explain exactly how diversity can achieve this and why it is good for business or how it drives strategy or organisational effectiveness.
If managers truly believe and understand that diversity is good for business and can help them achieve their goals, it can become a natural, rather than an imposed, choice. This, in turn, increases engagement on the part of such managers and among the “diverse” employees, who would feel that they are contributing to the company’s success rather than being mere tokens.
2. Managers often hire a “diverse” staff and then, perversely, try and make them conform to the corporate “norm”. While it is important for employees to be treated fairly and without discrimination, it is also important to accept the differences and enable them to contribute to the company’s development. Encouraging uniform behaviour among a diversely group of employees misses the point of diversity, and the company misses out on potential sources of new ideas.
3. Managers tend to see candidates they can trust as being the “best fit” for a role. Such candidates are often similar to the managers. Teams with very different members can experience “diversity tension”, as Marshall Goldsmith says in “Learn to Embrace the Tension of Diversity”. There is stress and strain accompanying the mixture of differences and similarities. Managers usually try to minimise this tension rather than use it to innovate and improve. Stifling employees can lead to under-performance. Instead, managers should empower and give employees freedom to use their diverse strengths and views to benefit the company.
For diversity to flourish in a company, there must be an environment where people feel welcome and valued for their unique perspectives and competencies. This includes not just “minority” employees but everybody, because each and every person has, to various degrees, different backgrounds and skills. Senior managers must strongly support diversity and be seen to live their values. This means not only making statements about inclusion, fairness and competitive advantages that diversity brings, but also ensuring that company procedures and practices reflect such values and the varied needs of a diverse workforce in terms of employee benefits, workplace flexibility, training and coaching, recruitment and development, etc.
Differences in employees should be celebrated and not blunted to achieve uniform behaviour. Managers should point out differences and why they are good for the company’s business and culture. It is through a combination of different strengths and perspectives that a company can become more than the sum of its parts.

Celina Chew is managing director of Bayer Thai as well as senior representative for the group’s operations in north Asean.