Culture | Implementing a global diversity and inclusion strategy

For organisations implementing a global diversity and inclusion strategy, it’s important to understand how to distinguish diversity in social, legal and political terms.

This will provide a sound basis for developing the cultural competencies to manage multicultural teams, and ease smooth transitions for employees between business units around the world.

The workplace should be a safe space that is free from all forms of discrimination. But as global firms expand, they can come up against local cultures that can engender discrimination, or legislation that outlaws’ homosexuality, for example – with the result that LGBT+ people can face imprisonment, or even in the worst case scenario death – this means they face many challenges.

Research shows that diversity is never as straight forward as one would think. Diverse teams will normally improve performance. Adding diverse viewpoints to a workforce nurtures innovation and creativity in a variety of ways, with inclusive organisations appealing to the best of global talent. This allows for teams to be more productive, with the workforce gaining a wider understanding of the needs of their customers, suppliers and stakeholders.