Diversity as a Chance: Designing cultural change actively – together with your employees!
Diversity is no longer a matter of if but rather of how. How do organizations transform themselves to a diverse corporate culture – and in an authentic way that their established employees understand and embrace this change? The requirements vary depending on the industry, the age structure of the teams and the geographic location. HR managers are faced with the challenge of developing solutions that effect real change and enable all employees to deal with diversity without fear, confidently and self-assuredly, and to recognize and “live” the strengths of diversity for themselves and for the organization. Awareness, understanding, and action are three powerful allies in change processes. Cultural change often fails because of existing patterns of thinking and perception – also called Unconscious Bias. Misjudgement, exclusion, unnoticed belittlement or lack of trust due to – mostly unconscious – prejudices about age, gender, appearance, origin or sexuality are still part of everyday life – not only in a professional context. A first step toward diversity in practice is awareness-raising and education through targeted training.