Why is diversity important? by Noah Bruins

 After a well deserved break it is time to focus on the second half of the semester. This week's topic is in my opinion the most interesting topic of culture; diversity and inclusion. A topic that many organizations deals correctly with. However, there are still many organizations, companies, schools or clubs that have to study the benefits of being diverse and inclusive. In this blog I will write about the advantages of having a diverse team and being recognized as a diverse company. 

Diversity can be seen as a difference in characteristics between people. Firstly for human characteristics, for example: gender, age, skin colour, race, sexual orientation etc. Secondly, diversity can also be: work background, geographical situation, hobbies or education. 

Building a diverse team means a person has to be inclusive. Being inclusive means accepting each others characteristics and their norms and values. Being inclusive starts with seeing yourself as equal as the others, meaning that you do not differentiate based on either human characteristics or other aspects. In order to accomplish diversity I created a list of tips on how to be inclusive.

1. Avoid assumptions

2. Communicate: listen more and speak carefully 

3. Ask the right questions

4. Be aware of your own privileges 

5. Challenge stereotypes

If a person is able to use these tips, a person can be seen as inclusive. Now I will explain why being inclusive in order to reach diversity is so important. 

Diversity brings new ideas. An example: six Spanish business men working at Zara want to operate in the Dutch market, but they have not studied the culture and uses the same approach as they would do in Spain. In the end it goes wrong, why? Because the lack of input. Six men, similar characteristics and all from the same country do not know the way of doing business in the Netherlands. Now imagine, the same six business men hire five more employees. These employees come from all different continents, North and South America, Afrika, Asia and Oceania. The new employees bring in new ideas, from different perspectives and do have different cultural backgrounds. Therefore, there is a higher change that it is going to be a success, because you become more aware of consumer needs. Thus, diversity leads to quicker problem solving skills, more creativity and innovation, increase in skills, increase productivity, and a massive boost to the reputation of a company. Being diverse is modern, so not being diverse leads to receiving less credits for the delivered work. 

To conclude, investing in inclusiveness and diversity will lead to more educated employees which may lead to higher profits for the company. Remember, it is a long and difficult process, but it is really important to show your desire to improve the diversity in a workplace.