Two topics high on the priority list for many companies right now are Corporate Culture and Diversity & Inclusion. Both are relevant to making the workplace environment better for employees to encourage engagement and retention. There is a very obvious connection between the two – if you want employees to support diversity at work then it is critical to develop a culture that embraces the unique qualities that each individual human can offer. For example, organizations that identify with innovation being core to who they are might find it easier to accept diversity in workplace more readily. Being more accustomed to continually looking for new ways to get things done, they can appreciate the creative ideas that often arise from bringing people together with different experiences and perspectives. Workplace cultures that are consciously cultivated to encourage the development and growth of people from various backgrounds as well as different genders, races, generations, etc. will also naturally build a strong foundation for a successful Diversity & Inclusion program within their organization.
But aside from this easily recognizable connection between corporate culture and workplace diversity & inclusion, there is a subtler role that culture plays in ensuring that diversity is embraced within a given organization. This is in how culture serves as a unifier of unique people, providing common ground to build a community around, thus discouraging people from focusing on differences. In an article in The Atlantic, Karen Stenner, a political psychologist, examined how too heavy of a focus on diversity within a society can actually have the unintended consequence of discouraging that very diversity that is sought:
“‘Our showy celebration of, and absolute insistence upon, individual autonomy and unconstrained diversity pushes those by nature least equipped to live comfortably in a liberal democracy not to the limits of their tolerances, but to their intolerant extremes.’ By contrast, she notes, ‘nothing inspires greater tolerance from the intolerant than an abundance of common and unifying beliefs, practices, rituals, institutions, and processes.’”
How can this observation about politics and society be applied to the workplace setting to teach us important lessons when trying to set up a strong foundation for diversity within our organizations? This is where corporate culture can become a powerful, behind the scenes integrator, enabling people from all walks of life to unite in a way that can mitigate the backlash and discomfort people may feel when being required to learn to get along with people who are different from them in many ways.
This is accomplished not by the overt emphasis on accepting uniqueness and embracing differences as a requirement to prosper, which is the corporate speak that is tossed around regularly when discussing the value of D&I in the corporate world today. Rather, ironically, one way in which companies may be able to gain better acceptance of D&I in their workplace is by building a strong culture that helps identify the similarities between each worker. A culture that embodies a particular set of beliefs, values and rituals that unites workers in a singular vision and purpose can bring people together under a common social identity. And this focus on how we are all similar can actually make it easier to accept our differences. Thus, a message to workers can be very powerful that highlights that:
What makes us great is not our differences per se, but how we all embrace a common purpose and unite as one team, each contributing in our own way to fulfill our shared mission.
More and more companies are beginning to acknowledge the value of embracing diversity in their workforce, realizing that it takes different viewpoints to tackle corporations’ toughest problems and to bring new innovations to the world. And they are conscientiously implementing support systems to ensure that diversity can be effectively managed. Companies are using platforms like Gapjumpers to mitigate unconscious bias that can play into the hiring decision and discourage the selection of diverse candidates. They are deploying programs dedicated to hiring targeted diverse talent, like SAP’s Autism at Work program and the Veterans Job Mission Coalition. Many companies have developed learning programs to educate their employees and leaders on diversity in the workplace. Microsoft has even built a course on unconscious bias that they made publicly available for free to “help provide more shared resources on this important topic.”
But the missed opportunity that most companies are overlooking is how to leverage a singular workplace identity to encourage D&I through the unification of workers under a shared culture that builds common ground and highlights the similarities among team members. People are innately attracted to others they consider to be like them. So when you emphasize differences among co-workers, it can be more difficult for diverse workforces to build connections and bond with each other. But by emphasizing similarities, corporations can pave the way for building bridges using these commonalities to connect the diverse people in their workplace. And by doing so, they will have laid a strong foundation with which to enable the effective execution of a D&I strategy that brings the necessary unity among diverse co-workers critical for a successful, productive, happy, engaged team.
There are many steps organizations can take to build a diverse workforce that is still unified. Below are four key foundational actions to make this happen:
1.) Create a social identity for your organization AND give it a name.
One of the most obvious but often overlooked ways to help workers identify as a unified team, is simply by giving this group (i.e., your workforce) a name. This makes it much easier for individual workers to relate to their peers as part of a single group that each employee is a member of. There are examples of companies that have done this, whether intentionally or not- Googler (Google), Zapponian (Zappos), Twerp (Twitter). For those who work at these companies, these names signify a specific identity of a group they belong to, just like being an American or a Catholic has a specific meaning to those who are members of those social identity groups. And while everyone has a unique relationship with each of their social identity groups that is based upon their own experiences and background, there are unifying beliefs that create a shared experience and understanding of what it means to be a member of that group. For example, Christians and Muslims are unified by their religious beliefs. And while America is very diverse, there are core beliefs that the majority of Americans agree with that unite Americans as one. Just taking the step to create this name for your collective employee population is a powerful step towards being able to define what it means to be a member of this particular group and to develop a strong story to unify your workforce.
2.) Define a clear vision and purpose for your organization
This one is fairly self-explanatory and has long been understood as critical for execution of business strategy as well. Thus, I won’t belabor the point long. However, keep in mind that it is not just in the definition of the vision and purpose, but also in the communication of them that organizations have the opportunity to win the hearts of their employees and build a united front dedicated to achieving the vision. Make sure to pay attention to the story that is built around the vision to ensure it helps teams understand how each worker is critical for the execution and how “we are all in this together.”
3.) Develop a set of core shared values that your employees can live by
Every individual has their own set of standards they establish to serve as their guideposts on what is moral and acceptable behavior. And these values are definitely impacted by their cultural background (e.g., their religion, nationality, etc.). That being said, in order to build a strong, unifying workplace culture, it is imperative to establish a core set of shared values that represent the boundaries, behaviors, and expectation for all workers in that organization. For example, if you define Transparency as a core value in your organization, this sets an expectation that employees and leaders will be honest and open with each other at work. These values, thus, become the rules to live by that help pull together people into a single understanding of what we do and we don’t do “here.”
4.) Create rituals and symbols that represent your culture
Just like rituals create bonds within families, they are also very powerful connectors for broader cultures. These can range from light-hearted to very serious. For example, the ritual of Baptism is a very important ritual in the Catholic church, necessary to signify your membership in that community. On a lighter note, a company I worked for did an annual chili making contest where employees then enjoyed a lunch together tasting and voting on who cooked the best chili.Symbols are also very important. Think of your nation’s flag. Whether it evokes pride or shame in a particular individual to see their nation’s flag, most do experience a strong emotional reaction. Organizations can create these same types of symbols to represent their culture, whether it be a flag, an icon, a mascot…all of these become part of the story of “who we are.”
Diversity & Inclusion in the workplace are more important than ever as we become more global as a society. We have to learn how to work with people from different walks of life, not only because it’s “the right thing to do” (i.e., we don’t want to unfairly discriminate), but it is also a tremendous asset for companies looking to be successful innovators of the future. As organizations continue to focus more strategically on D&I, they will be better prepared for the critical integration of diverse talent by taking foundational steps to build a culture that celebrates the bond of every team member through unifying stories and symbols that focus on how we are all similar, instead of solely emphasizing what makes each of us unique.