Inclusion: Understanding Inclusion at the Workplace and Why It’s Important
As our world evolves, companies must evolve their culture and strategies to meet their objectives. Hence, today’s most successful companies are realizing the benefits of inclusion in the workplace. Empowering people from diverse backgrounds and trains of thought to join the team and share their insight and feedback positions companies to make stronger connections.
Simply put, inclusion generates more favorable outcomes by facilitating deeper discussions. Each of us possesses our own unique worldview. Coming together and sharing our worldviews enables companies to formulate strategies that connect a company to its audience. Ultimately, achieving a deeper connection with your customer translates to more loyal customers and repeat buyers.
Furthermore, utilizing employees stemming from different backgrounds or cultures adds depth to a conversation. Your all-so-important board meetings and discussions are not very effective if everyone is saying the same thing. Placing a focus on creating and maintaining an echo chamber actually causes companies to lose connection to their clientele. Focusing on inclusion and formulating a diverse team positions companies to appeal to a larger audience.
Why Inclusion Matters
Aside from the moral associations, inclusion brings many benefits to a company including:
- Stronger connections between employees and their employer
- A stronger connection between the brand and its audience
- Loyal customers, greater repeat sales
- Deeper discussions leading to unique concepts. A thoughtful team creates a unique product to address the concerns of the market, thus gaining market share.
What Inclusion Looks Like in the Workplace
Inclusion goes beyond simply placing employees with different appearances. It involves placing emphasis on communicating and involving every player within the organization. Diverse organizations fire on all cylinders. They come together to tackle complex issues and approach problems from different perspectives.
At inclusive organizations, you observe:
Engaged Employees – Employees that are not actually engaging are simply showing up to collect a paycheck. Having real conversations about real topics enables teams to stay on the same page and achieve organizational success.
Empowered Employees – Employees feel more confident and empowered by being able to speak up and share their insight. Diverse backgrounds and opinions offer new views, thus fostering innovation and evolution.
A Dynamic Work Environment – Employees sense their opinions are being heard. Helping them feel confident and see the possibility of becoming change agents for the greater good of their organization. Additionally, this fosters greater loyalty to an employer and reduces employee turnover – a statistic that any HR department would love to reduce.
Personal Growth – Inclusive organizations bring together people from all different walks of life. Employees expose themselves to types of individuals they may not have encountered before. By collaborating and partnering together, each employee gains a greater worldview. Ultimately, your employees grow and bond together – solidifying and unifying your team.
There are no limits to what inclusion accomplishes for modern organizations. Focusing on inclusion at the workplace positions you to observe the benefits firsthand. When we work together – we win together. Download your free toolkit to building a more inclusive organization and take the next steps in becoming a high performance destination for the best talent, building the best teams.
