In today’s marketplace, organizations are continually competing to stay ahead of the competition. And it’s becoming increasingly clear that diverse teams are the key to producing innovative, successful products and services.
A diverse team brings enriched talent from all genders, races, personalities, cognitive styles, social classes, and cultures, allowing organizations to better reflect their customers, drive creativity, reach new markets, and boost their employer brands.
Here are 4 key reasons to continue to diversify YOUR team:
Diverse Teams Drive Innovation
Diversity of talent allows for a broader set of perspectives to come together in any creative work, leading to more effective problem solving and decision-making. Even being exposed to diversity can change the way an individual person thinks. It’s not surprising to see more diverse teams consistently outperform less diverse teams in terms of innovation and financial performance in recent studies such as these by HBR and the Credit Suisse Research Institute.
Diverse Teams Help Businesses Reach New Markets
The increase in global diversity, particularly in more developed nations, is another core rationale for increased diversity in the workplace. As it enables organizations both to better reflect their existing customer base – what’s known as ‘matching the market’ – and to reach new, as yet unpenetrated markets. According to a CTI report, diverse teams are as much as 158% more likely to understand a target end user where the target end user matches in demographic someone on the team, while employees at publicly traded companies with high levels of diversity are 70% more likely to report that their firm captured a new market in the past year.
Diverse Teams Lead to Higher Satisfaction and Lower Turnover
Numerous studies have shown that a diverse team with the proper diversity management and training creates better company morale and reduces turnover. Nextel created a training program to increase diversity awareness with a ROI study to track the results; the study determined that the program saved Nextel over $3 million in company turnover costs and increased ROI in the first year by 163%. (source: “Making the Business Case for Increased Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills,” from Sage Publications)
Diverse Teams Create a More Positive Company Image
With the population in the US and UK becoming more diverse every day, a diverse team creates public goodwill amongst minority groups and the general public. Studies have demonstrated that consumers view ethically conscious organizations positively, and have a preference for and loyalty towards these organizations – The Guardian, for example, found that 86% of their surveyed audience stated a firm preference for buying products from companies that ‘give back’ to society.
Curious if neurodiversity training is right for your company? Let’s talk!
