Diversity and Flexibility Are Key Drivers For Organizational Growth

There is enough research around how gender-balanced teams and gender-fluid workplaces flourish in the long term. An inclusive workplace not only brings diverse mindsets and personalities together to boost the organization’s IQ (Innovation Quotient) but is a crucial pillar to drive a high-performance organization. Just like the two sides of the brain allow individuals to perform with rationality (left) and intuition (right) to embrace their whole selves, organizations can strive to achieve this balance with peoples’ rational, linear actions blended with elements of creativity and spontaneity.

Diversity Drives Team Spirit

Encompassing different backgrounds is a great method to foster Team Spirit. Right now, this aspect has gained more prominence as businesses use innovative approaches to build a community-feeling while the workforce works remotely. With remote/ hybrid working, it is crucial for leaders to get employees to row the boat in one direction, matching pace and being resilient during such unprecedented times. People from different socio-cultural backgrounds, strengths, and temperaments, can make this possible!

How Adaptability and Creativity Impact Customer Experience

An inclusive team is often flexible in thoughts and actions. It is the responsibility of the organization and its leaders to create a culture that nurtures creativity and innovation. Then at an individual level, there will be more aptitude to ‘listen’, absorb and act on the opinions of fellow team members. Open, flexible minds show great adaptability to all sorts of circumstances. Such a workforce is also better equipped to predict, understand, and respond to changing customer behavior, especially in challenging times like these when everything around is moving so rapidly. Our Phygital World needs adaptability and creativity at the core of organizational functioning. Clients and consumers are transforming and looking at ways to do things differently, given the power of digital in today’s world.

Things leaders can do to drive their growth agenda keeping the culture of diversity & flexibility at heart:

1. Move away from obsessive thinking or mechanical approaches. Be fluid and adaptive to suggestions coming from all directions, there could be a winning idea or an “aha” moment that would define a growth path for the organization.

2. Support and nourish diverse talent. Create space for co-existence with focus on Team Spirit. This can be achieved through a comprehensive plan of action to turn ideas and principles into actions. Discussions or conducting focus groups around the expectations of a diverse workforce is a great start.

3. Repurpose policies to build a gender-balanced organization. Traditional work policies need to be re-examined. Gender-agnostic policies that put employee experience at the center, can play a fundamental role in driving business success.

4. Play a proactive role to train your employees. Trained and aware employees are better placed to position the company externally and internally as brand ambassadors. Digital literacy for employees is a great starting point, as the onset of pandemic since the last year has been a catalyst to push most businesses, small and large to go fully digital.

5. Drive a sense of camaraderie. The current corporate scenario presents itself with a dichotomy. The present virtual/ hybrid workspace allows the ease of remote working. However, this brings with itself a challenge in encouraging a close-knit work community as good old workspace camaraderie is no longer present. The role of leaders is to create a positive mindset and the right environment to foster teamwork.

Lastly, it is important to note that benefits and rewards play a crucial role in devising the right employee experience strategy as we continue to straddle the work from home scenario. Personalized benefit programs like heath & wellness, learning & development etc. can be calibrated to improve the Quality of Life of employees. Also, recognizing the hard work of employees and rewarding the right talent at the right time ensures a happy and motivated workplace culture that in turn helps drive growth.

(The given article is attributed to Mr. Harish Sarma, VP, Marketing, Sodexo BRS India and has been solely created for BW People Publication)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors' and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house 

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