The recent “State of Our Business” survey of Indiana executives reflects sound entrepreneurial goals. Asked to identify pressing business issues, respondents chose building a good business reputation, retaining customer loyalty, adapting quickly to change, and recruiting and keeping employees. They indicated their companies want to add jobs and find new financing sources soon. This is challenging but encouraging economic news.
Thus, I am puzzled by these statements in the survey summary: “Executives seem to believe it is not easy to attract or retain a diverse workforce in Indiana.” . . . State organizations have progressed “but still have a ways to go in terms of minority representation at upper levels of management and general perception of minority workers.”
For many reasons, Indiana businesses should place higher priority and effort into cultivating a diverse workforce and supplier base.
Large numbers of U.S. baby boomers will retire soon. To fill their jobs and new posts, companies will tap into all available manpower sources, including minority and foreign-born workers at all educational levels. Managers must be ready to work with diverse personnel.
Today’s markets are affected by the movement of people, capital, information and products around the world. Therefore, customer bases and preferences are changing. Companies need flexibility and insight to forecast and react to changes.
Businesses make better decisions when they study challenges from multiple perspectives. A beauty I find in U.S. education is that students here represent different parts of the world. Their distinct experiences and dreams enhance classroom exchanges. Having experienced integration in schools and communities, they are more comfortable with the mixing of cultures and borrowing and adapting each others’ ideas. Companies that include and embrace diversity this way can spur innovation.
Having diverse employees represent your company in public speaks volumes about your corporate values. It says your firm trusts diverse individuals to conduct its business, that you want to increase lines of communication and dealings with diverse communities, and that these human beings matter to your business.
So, how can a business recruit and retain a diverse workforce? Here are best practices I’ve seen through my work with the Indianapolis Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and as a consultant on Latino/Hispanic markets.
Your organization must first understand those you are trying to serve. Open lines of communication to learn about a community’s need and to develop relationships. Reach out through grassroots venues, one-to-one interactions and activities that bring the community to your business.
Next, recruit more than one qualified employee liaison. One person is not enough human capital to appropriately serve an entire community. For instance, it is shortsighted for any organization marketing to Hispanics to assume it simply needs employees who speak Spanish. It needs Spanish speakers who are also knowledgeable in a given line of business and who understand best strategies for promoting your firm within the community.
Policies and practices should support diversity throughout a business. If your organization does not have diverse role models at all personnel levels, minority job applicants might not feel welcome. They’ll perceive that they cannot advance in your company.
Suspicions can arise that a minority employee was hired to fill a quota, and that this employee lacks the experience or intellect to do the job. But, all new employees need time, practice and mentoring in their company’s skill sets before they reach full competency.
Businesses must also be willing to mentor new suppliers. Firms tend to work with well-established suppliers, who offer experience, capacity, and reliable stocks. Opening up opportunities for less experienced but motivated minority-owned and women-owned suppliers is an excellent way to showcase true commitment to serving a particular diverse community.
Minority entrepreneurs face difficulties promoting their products and services if they can’t enter the tight social circles where business networking often happens. Entities such as the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce facilitate networking, as the GICC did when it invited the previously separate Indianapolis Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to join the larger chamber. Now, members of GICC’s Hispanic Business Council still address the needs of their own community but can more easily network with the broader business population.
Butler University purposely cultivates diversity in its people and programs because it complements our “business” of preparing students as global citizens. At Butler, when students study abroad or meet and learn from foreign-born and internationally experienced faculty, they are enriched by new world views. These students grow more receptive to collaborating and incorporating various viewpoints in their analysis and decision making processes.
Future generations will interact with a diverse population with more intensity than any past generation. Our businesses must be prepared to do the same.
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