Today’s workforce is more diverse than ever, featuring people with a range of backgrounds, talents, and beliefs. Never before have so many people from so many different heritages had to form teams and organize production.
The role of leaders, therefore, is changing. It is no longer sufficient for leaders to see their role as merely heading up teams. Thanks to diversity, the job has become increasingly complicated.
Challenges in diverse workforces are many. The first is the issue of trying to generate a single work ethic. When people come from different cultures, it isn’t straightforward to shoehorn them all into the same mission goals. The second is just the sheer number of personal differences throughout the team. Conflicting cultural values may make it more difficult to get teams to stick together.
The third issue is communication. Directly addressing people from different cultural backgrounds in an appropriate way can be a challenge. Leaders cannot adopt a one-size-fits-all policy.
Organizations that manage to retain a diverse workplace can successfully experience a host of benefits, including retaining loyal staff and improving customer service. Research consistently shows that diverse teams tend to outperform their mono-culture rivals in terms of both creativity and satisfaction.
While the landscape for leaders is involved, there are solutions available. The following infographic not only charts some of the issues that managers face, but also ways to become a successful operator in these environments and the benefits of a diverse workplace.
Infographic by Norwich University
