Today, an ever-changing global marketplace and labour force demands continue to challenge long-held business assumptions and force major structural reorganizations at many companies across key business, marketing, and talent recruitment and retention functions. The global gold rush for multicultural markets, diverse employees, and untapped consumer bases has already begun. Globalization is a powerful buzzword in corporate circles, and corporate leaders are eager to establish a strong presence in a variety of emerging markets. New commercial innovations and powerful technologies are truly bringing the world’s best products and services right to our doorsteps.
Global diversity, like domestic diversity, offers rich opportunities for company growth through an increased talent pool, wider consumer base, and additional revenue streams. Yet, global diversity and inclusion initiatives face particularly challenging aspects, such as geographical distance, different time zones, virtual relationships, language barriers, and distinctive cultural values, actions, and assumptions.
Success in global markets will require more than boutique multicultural initiatives. Competing on a multinational playing field will require a sustained effort to integrate distinct cultural and more inclusive values into a newer and broader vision for company growth and advancement.
Creating Sustainable Global Diversity and Inclusion
In the twenty-first century, rapid globalization requires a new look at diversity. Imposing North American based diversity and inclusion initiatives onto an international playing field without thoughtful regard to the distinctions that create business identities and cultures can result in tense relationships and misunderstanding, as well as loss in revenue, staff, and credibility.
While diversity in North America may speak to equality and inclusion along the lines of gender, race, disability, age, religion, and sexual orientation, this definition may not apply directly to a nation where hierarchical race or gender ranks are the norm. This is not to suggest that North America companies should dispose of their current values surrounding diversity and inclusion, but rather that companies should be open to adapting to and learning from other cultures, thus creating a universal definition that speaks to a global audience and can be tailored to local regions.
To effectively address global DEI issues, organizations must understand how having diversity in workforce representation, as well as in the way the company thinks and approaches strategic issues, will bring greater value to the company and its stakeholders.
In developing global diversity programs, most corporate strategic planning processes focus on the four “As”: Analysis, Action planning, Alignment, and Assessment.
Analysis: Begin by analyzing your existing internal structures and capabilities as they relate to the demands and opportunities of the external global business environment. Ask where are we now, and where do we want to go?
Action planning: Create strategic goals based on the gap analysis and by utilizing the diversity strengths and ideas of your global team, develop specific action plans to reach these goals. Ask now that we know where we want to go, how do we get there
Alignment: Align the strategic action plan with the existing infrastructure of your company, infusing global DEI initiatives across all levels and divisions for maximum sustainability. Ask how we make our global DEI initiatives an everyday part of our existence, rather than a passing trend?
Assessment: Assess implementation results through measurement and accountability tools. These tools should measure progress on the global D&I goals set during the “action planning” stage. Ask are we progressing toward our goals, and, if not, what do we need to change?
Devoting adequate corporate time and resources to these four pertinent steps is fundamental in building a global program that is truly embedded into the company fabric. All too often, DEI programs are spearheaded under one individual’s leadership only to fade in that person’s absence. Given the corporate investment it takes to develop a DEI program and the amount of return that can be achieved through these initiatives, companies cannot afford to reinvent the wheel every time a corporate leadership change occurs.
The goal is to create corporate cultural change through institutional changes that are lasting over time. This can only be done through development of a formal global DEI initiative that is reflected in corporate values, programs, and day-to-day conduct. Best-practice organizations integrate global diversity into day-to-day operations to ensure that it is ongoing and contributes to corporate DEI and business results.
In creating a global DEI structure, companies should:
Build a global team that reflects the company's diverse global employee,consumer, and shareholder base
Create a shared understanding what the company mean by “global diversity and inclusion”
Give responsibility and ownership to line employees and local organizations, while providing centralized monitoring and support
Engage Senior Leaders And Hold Them Accountable
Establish network and affinity groups and diversity councils (in manner compatible with a company’s culture and employee relations philosophy)
Provide training to the entire workforce with particular focus on management and executive training
Incorporate DEI into mentoring efforts and leadership training
Foster communication channels for sharing and learning throughout the organization
Develop assessment tools for measuring progress on an ongoing basis.
The following sections will explore three of these areas in greater depth: creating a shared corporate understanding of global DEI, building a global team, and developing assessment tools for measuring progress.
Achieving Corporate Understanding of Global DEI
Global DEI does not yet have a universally shared definition. The myriad of definitions that do exist stem from each definer’s subjective framework and are influenced by national context, political agenda, dominant culture, religion, and gender, among other factors, creating an ongoing fluctuation of the term “global diversity and inclusion.”
A company’s global mission statement should not and cannot be mere rhetoric if the company plans on succeeding in its endeavours. Far too many companies lack a true understanding and commitment to global diversity. Without a clear and shared vision of global DEI throughout the organization, global efforts will only prove to shift the company laterally rather than propel it forward.
The organization’s global vision must go beyond the standard one for domestic diversity and acknowledge the global reach and cultural differences inherent in doing business both in and among different countries. The end goal is to become increasingly more competitive and innovative throughout the world by fostering common areas within diversity and inclusion, globally and locally.
Further, companies must reflect by asking, “Are we honestly being inclusive of other cultures and ideas in creating our definition of global diversity and inclusion, or are we merely trying to impose our North American centric views on others?” It is naive to believe that in a world as large and diverse as ours, one country or one people holds supreme knowledge.
Nonetheless, these notions exist in many companies that do business worldwide and must be set aside before corporate cohesion and key partnerships can form to build global initiatives.
A few questions corporations should ask as they create a common definition of global DEI are:
How do American value statements underlying domestic diversity and inclusion efforts need to be altered to have meaning and relevance outside your North America?
What are our basic beliefs and assumptions underlying diversity?
Where do they converge with other nations?
How can we tailor our definition to local regions for greater acceptance and effectiveness?
Three guiding principles for global DEI:
Respect core human values. Human dignity and basic rights should remain paramount regardless of the country/region in which you are doing business.
Respect local traditions. You cannot expect to change the traditions and culture of the country/region in which you are doing business.
Find common ground. Understand that there will be possible areas of disagreement when intersecting universal ideas with local context, yet strive to find the common areas and use them as a starting point for moving your global.
Building a Global Diversity and Inclusion Team
Global diversity and inclusion teams, like corporate global DEI mission statements, should reflect their function by being internationally representative and inclusive. While this may seem like common sense, oftentimes corporations pull together “global” teams that appear haphazard rather than strategic, domestic rather than global.
Bringing diverse groups of people to work together is not enough. True diversity encompasses inclusion and not just sheer representation. In order for companies to be successful in their global approach, they must not only bring together key global players, but also create a space for all members to contribute in a meaningful way.
To achieve this, corporations can leverage their worldwide human capital by choosing team members from different nations and regions, corporate levels, genders, sexual orientations, generations, ability groups, and skill sets. Differences create barriers when not managed well, yet when viewed and utilized as assets they can help to achieve results that are more innovative and comprehensive than those stemming from homogeneous groups.
Globally-diverse teams can benefit by paying special attention to the following best practices:
Team Function Clarify roles and functions. The job of the team is to design, implement, assess, and explain the company’s global diversity initiative. The team should be able to identify key diversity issues globally, locally, regionally, and by country and tie them directly to the company’s business objectives.
Work Process Formulate a shared team process. Initially, it is important for the team to discuss and clarify expectations about how members will work together, including approaches to meeting protocol, decision making, and feedback.
Cultural Diversity Create an environment that encourages the team to draw upon the diverse cultural backgrounds of its members. Awareness of the diverse styles each team member brings to the team process is the first step; leveraging diversity for improved team results requires steady attention and commitment from all team members.
Conflict Resolution Utilize inquiry and open-ended questions with the goal of understanding team members’ perspectives. The process of discovering the reasons behind differing perspectives frequently leads to a new openness on all sides and to solutions that could not have been reached in the absence of this information.
Information Exchange Build communication systems for flowing information easily and frequently between members. While most global teams meet virtually, invest in at least one face-to-face team meeting at the beginning of the team’s interactions to establish rapport.
Although the challenge of leading global teams remains a concern for many, the business case for increasing the number of worldwide diversity teams is solid and will only continue to expand in line with the global market. If structured and supported adequately through corporate resources and strong backing from leadership, global teams can excel in terms of efficiency, innovation, and outcomes.
Establishing Accountability and Measurement Systems
To be effective, organizations must tie all diversity and inclusion initiatives directly to measurable outcomes. However, assessing the impact of a global DEI initiative can be challenging given the different reporting requirements and laws from country to country, especially as they pertain to representation numbers. Nonetheless, the critical step is to move forward in customizing a measurement system that speaks to the company’s goals to ensure reflection, feedback, and accountability.
Successful global leaders measure success in global diversity and inclusion as they measure other business factors. Some examples of metrics include:
Diversity representation (particularly in senior level positions)
Hires, promotions, turnover by gender, nationality, ethnicity, etc.
Achievement of strategic global diversity goals
Sales in diverse, global markets
Employee survey scores
Conference and event survey feedback
Customer satisfaction by demographic segment
Number of complaints or legal actions
Benchmarking is another powerful tool in gauging the gap between a company’s present global diversity status and the level it needs to reach to be among best practice organizations. Some benchmarking strategies include:
Identify areas for improvement. Since benchmarking can be applied to a wide range of business areas, a variety of research techniques should be utilized. These tools include: surveys, quantitative data collection and research, focus groups, marketing research, and qualitative information gathering through methods such as informal meetings and observations.
Identify organizations that are leaders in these areas. Confer with industry contacts, search the internet, consult trade associations, and survey customers to determine the companies that are paragons in your areas of global diversity focus.
Research best-practice organizations. Best-practice companies share a wealth of knowledge about their global practices and procedures on their websites, in interviews and articles, and at conferences and seminars. Conduct research on these best practices or hire a consultant to research on your behalf and tailor the findings to fit your company’s business goals.
Infuse best practice strategies into corporate infrastructure. Harness these leading edge practices by developing implementation plans which include funding the initiatives, selling the business case, and garnering organizational leadership support.
Measurement as it relates to accountability is a continuous process in which organizations constantly seek to challenge their practices. Indeed, setting new goals and challenges will be a continuing exercise for global organizations.
Conclusion
Ready or not, globalization is rapidly changing the landscape of the business world, and global diversity and inclusion requires a new corporate playbook to create sustainable, long-term success. Without this approach, leaders risk entering a country’s borders only to realize as they delve deeper, that larger issues are at stake, forcing them to retreat when they do not have quick answers. If corporations are myopic and only view global DEI as strictly a manufacturing or operational issue, they risk failure of the business objective but also of future reputation in foreign markets.
The most insightful leaders know that even within North America, adapting to the specific region and culture is a key factor in whether or not business flourishes. To remain competitive, corporate executives must make a conscious and distinct shift in vision around definitions of diversity and inclusion in a global marketplace, and they must embrace global DEI as not only a necessity, but as a true asset to increase sustainability, profit, and shareholder value.
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