The proven link between Diversity and Innovation

The link between the diversity of a company’s leadership team and innovation is proven. The Center for Talent Innovation published their ground-breaking research findings in its report ‘Innovation, diversity and market growth’, and concluded that the engine of serial innovation is a diverse workforce managed by leaders who cherish difference, embrace disruption and foster a speak up culture. Download the full report here.

Yet, most companies today operate Talent Management and Performance Management processes that effectively recruit against a very narrow set of organisational norms, and then performance manage employees into conformity, inadvertently stifling creativity and diversity of thought in the process.

We see our role at The Diversity & Innovation Company as providing the catalyst and enabler to your Leaders becoming much more self aware and developing real empathy for others. These are the foundations for individual leaders to work with colleagues more sensitively, to welcome and manage diversity positively within their teams, and to welcome difference – in people and in thought.

Authentic Leadership

Our immersion experiences are designed to make individual leaders think, feel and act differently. We work with leaders during their experiences and development assignments to enable them to:

• Recognise they have a lot to learn from underrepresented people, that diversity holds the key to innovation, and that there is a lot to be gained from being open minded
• Feel open to people who are different from them, brave enough to cope with the discomfort of diversity, and excited to find ways to increase diversity in their organisation
• Act differently, for example actively seeking opportunities to work with people who are different from them, championing diversity within their organisation and those they work with, and creating an environment where people can be themselves and contribute fully