It is about finding the perfect combination for everything to fall into place
Previously seen as a sop to do-gooders, diversity is now
understood to be a key asset to a business by a lot of businesses. Others have
not been as quick on the uptake of this understanding. If you prioritise the effectiveness
of your organisation, it would be wise to pay heed to the facts.
Companies lacking diversity often fall into rote ways of
thinking, treating the world as an already homogenised place, missing
opportunities to grow and lacking understanding of different viewpoints.
When we talk about diversity we mean that a variety of ages,
genders, abilities/disabilities, religions, ethnicities and sexual orientations
are represented. Quite a few businesses still find it a struggle to imagine how
these individuals may fit into their workplace.
To take this seriously, and be take seriously by your
candidates, you must reckon with out-dated policies. Take religion, for example.
Do you have a policy whereby those of differing faiths can take time off during
the day, or during the year, in order to praise or respect their respective
deities? If asked about this subject, can the hiring manager answer questions
to ease any doubts that the candidates might have?
Diversity is not about ticking boxes. Diversity is about
respect. Promoting inclusivity must lead from the job spec and job ad to the
outreach to the interview and onboarding stages. Have you thought about the
image your company projects within its commercials or website or literature?
Why go to the trouble, you ask? It is common knowledge that
businesses with diverse workforces make better decisions and problem solve more
efficiently. As the world becomes more diverse, the brain trust that comes with
a diverse team cannot be underestimated. How much second-guessing does a
business do? How many mistakes are made due to misunderstanding? How much of
your resources have you poured into mistakes or fixing mistakes? Life doesn’t
have to be that complicated.
Keeping a clear head and remaining focused on the important
part of recruitment is paramount. Recruitment is subject to outside beliefs,
which means it is not a sober and strategic mindset that is motivating the
hiring decisions, but one of emotion and stereotyping.
The way to counter this is two-fold:
Expertise. Engaging with a Specialist Recruitment Partner is important. They can guide you. Being from outside the business means that they can objectively assess the needs of the business and identify blind spots that those who have been within the company for a while cannot see. All you need to do it make your recruitment partner aware of the plan you have and they will be able to build diverse teams. But before you do that, you must understand…
Data. Do you know what your current ratios are? How can you begin to tackle a problem if you do not know exactly how bad the problem is? HR need to be set the task of reporting back your diversity in order for you to assess and plan how you will improve.
Businesses that pride themselves on keeping that competitive edge need to embrace diversity. Enlarging the skillset of a business by exploiting the varied experiences of a diverse team means innovative ideas are brought to the forefront, cultural understandings are greater and adaptability is improved. When working with a business that is clearly committed to reflecting all walks of life, employees there are happier and more secure in themselves. And isn’t that what everyone wants?
Curious about how Zenshin Talent can help your organisation? Contact us today for a no-strings conversation about your needs and our experience.
Just as a plant needs certain things to flourish (water,
good soil, sunlight), so does a team. Likening a team within a company to a
plant may seem ridiculous, but both need optimal conditions in order to thrive
and, when a team fails to achieve, it is because one or more of these are
missing.
A change of mindset is required within organisations that
labour under the misapprehension that all you need to do is find the candidates
with the right resumes, put them together and wait for the magic to happen.
Specific goals are required in order to measure performance.
What is measurable and realistic? Without goals set, some team members can feel
lost, or slack off unnoticed. Without goals set, the team can feel
directionless, shifting from one priority to the other, unsure which takes
precedent. These goals do not have to be set in stone, unyielding in time, but
should be clearly defined.
Similar, but not the same, is the idea of a common purpose.
Whilst goals are measurable, a purpose is more abstract, coming directly from
the philosophy of the business. Sometimes companies are scared or intimidated
by teams working within something misunderstood, such as data. Understanding
how the team fits into the business as a whole is important for the business
and the team. These things must be understood before demoralisation sets in.
In addition to the ‘why’ things are done there must also be
a focus on the ‘how’ too. Without this understanding, the team can find itself
going down blind alleys. The expertise of the team must be listened to and
taken onboard by management. A path must be agreed upon. Autonomy can be a
sticking point and if that conversation is had at the start, it can solve a lot
of problems before they have developed.
This leads to accountability. People tend to believe that
the majority of people like to avoid accountability, but this is not true. What
employees like to avoid is punitive measures that are visited upon them because
they made a mistake. If the organisation is one that understand that mistakes
happen and it is all about how the mistake is fixed and what lessons are
learned, that creates a working environment where members of a team are happy
to be accountable.
You will be interviewing candidates who may have been
promised the earth before and let down. Going into new roles they will want to
be reassured that the resources they expect will be provided. These need to be
delivered in a timely fashion in order for them to deliver the agreed-upon
results.
Reassuring the candidates that the team will be prioritised
and the resources, be it hardware, software or personnel, goes a long way.
Keeping promised means you will keep your staff.
Empowerment is paramount if the team works across many
departments and is very much in demand. Teams can become inundated with
requests to work on numerous different projects and they must have the power to
turn those projects down if they have competing priorities. Being a great team
brings with it expectations that you can solve everyone’s problems and with
that comes the issue of being spread too thin, which leads to disappointment
and reputational damage.
This all comes down to one word: trust. You must trust yourself to build a great team. You must trust the team. The team must trust you. The business must trust that the team knows what it is doing. Without trust, things fall apart quickly. If you are unsure about how to proceed after reading this, you should know that there are specialist recruitment partners you can trust to help build that team and power your company into the future.
Curious about how Zenshin Talent can help your organisation? Contact us today for a no-strings conversation about your needs and our experience.
