Tip #2: Think outside the box, imagine the opportunities derived from diversity
What if I told you I don’t like diversity? That I’d rather work at a well-known place, with people I already know, under controlled situations instead of experiencing uncertainty caused by cultural, gender or age differences? We understand this as the comfort zone and applies to every single human on Earth but if you look deeper on detail you will realize that we are devoted to learning and adapting to new situations. This is what evolution is about.
Diversity begins with the understanding that everyone is unique; recognizing our individual differences. This can be extended to gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies.
Now, think outside the box and try to imagine the opportunities that arise when a company reaches this diversity and tries to integrate it daily (despite every single day you will feel that you’ve gone further enough). In the end, you will realize that thanks to being challenged under these premises your company is becoming more agile, stronger and more disruptive per se.
Here is an example: gender balance. If you imagine the New Product Development staff members, you may think of middle age men, highly qualified, and let’s be honest, a bit nerd too! Nothing could be further from reality. It was hard at the beginning, we were focused on hiring not only the best candidate, but also women. This new scenario was linked with another diversity adjustment that needed to be internalize: equal opportunities. Now this appears to run smoothly, usually with a 50% of gender balance and an increasing number of female presence on management positions.
This is just an example, but it opened the gap for other scenarios where we were focused on what really matters: the value that new staff members can bring.
If you are brave enough deploy this philosophy, you will realize that the atmosphere will be suddenly enriched. It can be a key factor in making your company a better place to work, increasing employee engagement and improving talent attraction.
My tips for today are:
- Recruit people on an individual basis and forget stereotypes, labels or prejudices.
- Build a continuous understanding to keep up with your diversity policy.
Fátima works as HR Manager at Inspiralia. She joined the company in 2013 to lead the People & Culture area, mixing strategy with daily operations. Keeping up with Inspiralia’s growth, Fátima has been working extensively assisting new and existing businesses within the Inspiralia Group. Her broad experience as generalist includes talent acquisition, employee relations, benefits & payroll, expatriate management and policy making.
Her interest in the Technology sector can be traced back to 2010, when she collaborated with IBM. She holds a Master’s degree in Human Resources Management.