Workplace Culture: Diversity and Inclusion

By Rick Gayle

More and more organizations are expanding their approach to diversity and inclusion by fostering a culture of continuous learning and development that is in alignment with the business strategies across functional disciplines. The shift from traditional roles of managers and individual contributors to cross-functional teams and greater collaboration across groups may well be the result of expanding globalization in business.

For many years, US-based organizations have viewed diversity through the lens of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made it illegal for employers to discriminate against employees on the basis of age, gender, race/ethnicity, color, national origin, and religion. While this is the legal foundation that companies adhere to, the global business landscape that is today’s business environment makes talent management and organizational readiness a more focused priority for world-class companies.

Within the learning and development community, becoming a business partner who is valued by other business leaders provides greater opportunities to affect workplace culture in ways that help teams learn better, become more engaged in their functional roles, and embrace collaboration as a key success factor.

Talent management and related succession planning are key process indicators of how organizations embrace diversity and inclusion. For example, blending MBTI® training into their leadership development programs has been a key driver in optimizing individual and team performance together with workplace culture across the global organization at Jarden Consumer Solutions.

Organization-wide leadership development programs at Jarden Consumer Solutions have been cascaded down from executives to all salaried employees, regardless of geographic location or functional responsibilities. These leadership development programs have also been extended to the onboarding process, and they are embraced as the major driver for workplace culture. Learning agility is assessed during performance management and succession planning discussions, as diversity and inclusion are viewed as a strategic enabler for business strategy.