Cultural diversity beyond tokenism
The lack of cultural diversity in the corporate industry isn’t a mere social agenda. Cultural diversity at the workplace is one of the most essential elements for your employees and to create an ideal environment for their growth. Today’s business market is incredibly global, and so should be your team. If you aspire to target a wider range of customers, you need a diverse team, with varied skill sets. Hence how to integrate cultural diversity into your business community?
Cultural diversity will help your organisation make the most out of its potential. Not only does it empower your employees to develop their skills, but it also inspires them to pursue their own careers at your company. Clearly communicating how diversity, equity, and inclusion constitute a significant part of your company values will help you to create a desirable image of your business that will attract heterogeneous candidates.
However, it is important to remain aware of the challenges that come along with securing cultural diversity at work. If you are attempting to create cultural diversity at your office through hiring people that belong to minority groups, only to be seen to be inclusive and to avoid criticism, you may be accused of tokenism. In such a case you should question whether your workplace is sincerely diverse and inclusive.
What is tokenism in terms of cultural diversity?
Tokenism is a term that refers to a policy or action whose execution is symbolic rather than being a practical change. Cultural diversity is not about tokenism. It’s about creating varied perspectives, driving innovations, improving work environments, and much more. However, securing diversity at your workplace is not as simple as ensuring that a fixed number of your employees are women or belong to minority groups. And even when a company hires more than one individual from a specific minority group, although they are not given any real power, this is also considered as tokenism.
Avoid tokenism
Authentic cultural diversity is about giving members of minority groups the opportunity to be heard, included, and grow. Diversity is not about focusing on race, gender, religion, or disability, but about recognising and valuing a variety of skills, experiences, and backgrounds.
Hegemonic masculine ideology made it exceptionally challenging for women to be offered equal opportunities in the business world. Studies have shown that higher-paid positions tend to be largely occupied by men, whereas lower-pay professions are dominated by women. This is why, nowadays some companies, in order to refine their image, have decided to promote individual women to senior or management-level positions. In situations where women are being promoted to higher-range positions purely to improve company image, they become tokens. Due to being put in the spotlight of attention, tokens tend to experience exacerbated pressure to perform exceptionally well. This forms a much more toxic work environment.
To create diversity in the workplace, you need to make sure that it is implemented across all teams and job levels. Essentially, it’s extremely important to encourage all of your employees to aspire to grow at your company. Notably, the underrepresented individuals may not be heard or feel supported enough by management to express their dissatisfaction. If the leadership is not diverse, existing issues such as exclusion may be overlooked.
The benefits cultural diversity brings
Having a culturally diverse company will significantly improve your team members’ productivity, creativity, engagement, and motivation. It will positively impact your business income and reputation. Cultural diversity brings in various benefits that will directly ameliorate your company’s performance. With the right training, you will be able to make the most out of your employee’s potential and provide them with the ideal environment for growth.
To ensure authentic cultural diversity at the workplace and avoid being accused of tokenism, it is essential to carefully and thoroughly plan how to implement such strategies. Ikigai Authentic specialises in bespoke training on how to integrate inclusive leadership, diversity-oriented management, and create a healthy work environment.
Our diversity coaching methods will teach you how to reduce the risk of being accused of tokenism and will show how you can effectively benefit from diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our 6-12 months courses are designed to help executives and managers learn how to impactfully practice inclusive leadership and become leaders of organisations that are stronger for their diversity. Diversity is our reality, but inclusion requires action. Let’s walk the talk, and nurture an authentic cultural diversity at your company that will help you thrive.
