Martin Luther King Day 2019 has come and gone. Hopefully, it provided you with an opportunity to reflect on many important issues – Dr. King’s legacy, the history of the civil rights movement, and more. But we would all be missing the point if we only tried to consider how Dr. King’s lessons apply to the past. We should also think about how they apply to the future.
And because this blog is centered on training and business excellence, today we won’t focus on applying his lessons in some abstract way. We will get practical, because business is practical. Let’s consider why building a culture of acceptance in our companies makes them perform better.
First, a Diverse Workforce Creates a Diversity of Knowledge
The most effective way to bring varied knowledge into our companies is to welcome and employ people from different backgrounds – people from different parts of our country and the world, people who have different backgrounds and races, people who have different lifestyles and orientations, people who practice different religions, and people from different age groups.
If you want to know what different groups of customers think of your company and its offerings, the most effective way is to employ members of those groups. They will give you real market knowledge at lower cost than hiring all the market research companies in the world.
Second, a Diverse Workforce Sells Better
If you are wondering how to sell more effectively to different groups, there is a simple answer. Simply employ members of those groups. If you let them shape your products, they will create offerings that have real-world appeal to people like them. And if you let them sell directly to members of their own communities, you will be on your way to success there.
It’s another reason why today’s most successful and growing companies are also the most diverse.
Third, a Diverse Workforce Is a More Loyal Workforce
“To Retain Employees, Focus on Inclusion – Not Just Diversity,” a recent article that Karen Brown wrote for the Harvard Business Review, offers support to the idea that diversity builds employee retention. If you do just a little online research, you will find more research that proves it.
Diversity Is More than a Nice Thing to Do
In today’s changing business world, it is the only thing to do.
With every day in the future, Martin Luther King Day 2019 will move further into the past. But rather than letting it just fade away, let’s transform our businesses. Let’s recruit, hire and train diverse workforces. Apply those lessons, and watch your business succeed.
