Diversity and inclusion is one of the biggest challenges facing the tech industry today. When businesses consist of people from the same backgrounds, they often leave diverse ideas and perspectives behind.

Diversity in tech is the act of integrating more viewpoints, backgrounds and demographics into big tech. Each type of diversity brings something unique to the table, making them an asset to your company. Not only does it allow you to bring more perspectives to the table, it also allows you to better understand your consumers.

Lack of diversity in the workplace has become an increasingly prominent issue in the tech industry and it’s particularly apparent in leadership roles. 

Diversity, equity, and inclusion have been pressing issues in workplaces across all sectors for some time, but the tech industry in particular has seen slow progress in this space

A diverse, equitable, and inclusive company is a successful company. Enhancing diversity and inclusion in your workplace goes beyond maintaining gender balance. Instead, it entails weaving genuine inclusivity into your organizational culture, and building a diverse team where every member is trusted, empowered, and involved.

The technology industry has received much criticism in recent years regarding their lack of diversity. For this reason, most tech companies still need to work towards increasing diversity in their business, which is a crucial and necessary step.

How can we promote diversity in the tech industry?

1. Develop diverse talent within your workplace         
2. Make diversity a priority by tracking progress.
3. Create support groups that provide an environment where people can speak openly without fear of retribution.
4. Establish flexible work schedules and offer part-time work options.
5. Offer mentorship programs for underrepresented groups.

The tech industry still has a long way to go. To deliver on your responsibility as an employer to build upon diversity and inclusion, organizations must create specific DEI goals and implement plans to achieve them. The number of women in technology has been relatively unchanged in the past 10 years, and other areas of diversity are also lacking.

Let’s take a look at the top few ways we can start fostering more diversity at work and throughout the tech industry:

1. Expand the reach of your talent pool with new candidate sources.
2. Engrain DEI initiatives in your company culture
3. Offer Transparent and Equitable Wages
4. Manage Bias
5. Acknowledge Holidays from Every Culture
6. Diversify the Recruitment and Human Resource Teams
7. Develop diverse talent within the workplace

Now, let’s understand the benefits of developing a diverse workforce –

 A diverse workforce can often be the key to success in today’s highly competitive job market. There are some definite advantages to working with a diverse team. 

Maintaining a diverse and inclusive team benefits your organization in the following ways:

1. Different perspectives: A diverse team comprises staff with vast skills, backgrounds, and attributes to deliver different perspectives when designing and fulfilling company strategies.
2. Faster problem solving: Highly diversified teams can solve problems better and faster than their less diverse counterparts..
3. Improved creativity: Different perspectives can significantly increase your team’s overall creativity and ability to think differently.
4. Better decisions: Workspace diversity has a direct impact on the quality of decision-making, and forces all team members to question their assumptions.
5. Foster innovation: A survey by Josh Bersin found that organizations can improve their innovation by 1.7x by maintaining workplace diversity.
6. Better company reputation: Diversity-oriented companies are recognized as being socially conscious and more attractive employers, ultimately contributing to a better brand identity or reputation
7. Better returns: Diversity enhances innovation and decision-making; meaning companies can enjoy better business returns and increase their profitability.

By looking beyond these competitive talent markets, you can unearth talent that may be otherwise overlooked and reach new communities and perspectives.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses have demonstrated their ability to sustain remote work. This has led to more opportunities for employers to hire anyone from anywhere, significantly diversifying talent pools.

Companies in the tech industry still have a lot of work to do to create truly diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces. Fortunately, the above steps can help to dismantle existing barriers within the organization to reap the benefits of a diverse team.

Analyzing the characteristics and behaviors of inclusive leaders and their influence on employee engagement, retention, and organizational culture calls for societal change. This has sparked unprecedented demand to create more diverse and inclusive organizations — not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s also the smart thing to do.

Research has shown time and again that diverse and inclusive organizations outperform their peers.

Inclusive leadership involves leading with an awareness of implicit bias and an openness to diverse perspectives. Being an inclusive leader means to make all types of employees, customers and clients feel welcome by fostering an overall inclusive workplace environment. In practice, this can look like making sure benefits are distributed equitably, providing diversity and inclusion training or establishing safe spaces for employees.

Companies increasingly rely on diverse, multidisciplinary teams that combine the collective capabilities of women and men, people of different cultural heritage, and younger and older workers. But simply throwing a mix of people together doesn’t guarantee high performance; it requires inclusive leadership — leadership that assures that all team members feel they are treated respectfully and fairly, are valued and sense that they belong, and are confident and inspired.

Inclusive leadership works to make everyone associated with a company feel welcome and empowered to be themselves. Leading inclusively not only makes employees and customers feel accepted, but also boosts company revenue and workplace satisfaction. Most importantly, it amplifies employee voices that otherwise may not be heard.

There are various elements that go into building diversity and inclusion. And it’s important that organizations get all these elements right, whether they are developing talent acquisition processes that attract diverse perspectives, experiences and contributions or reducing biases and barriers to employee development. But there is one key element that all others depend on: inclusive leadership.

The problem for organizations is that skilled inclusive leaders are rare. In fact, our research shows that only 5% of leaders globally can be defined as inclusive. The good news is that inclusive leadership can be assessed, coached and developed.

Inclusive leadership ensures the voice of everyone is truly being heard, applied and protected in the workplace, regardless of personal identity or background. Leading inclusively by example also shows employees important expectations and values to follow and how to best treat colleagues within a company. 

The tech industry is intended to be a place that fosters innovative thinking and pioneering ideas, but this same mindset has not been equally reflected when it comes to the industry’s diversity and inclusion. 

A lack of diversity and unfamiliarity with the importance of inclusion can unintentionally lead managers and leaders to create a hostile workplace. Even actions like using gendered, heteronormative language in onboarding packets or hosting all-male panels are contributing to the problem of an unwelcome company environment. 

Having a lack of diversity and inclusion isn’t just a culture issue. It can affect the product and in turn create a poor experience for clients too. 

Investing in an inclusive and diverse workplace means employees feel connected and supported to do their best work — and deliver results. In fact, inclusive companies are preferred by a majority of job seekers and workers, and can lead to higher work engagement and revenue. 

Inclusive leaders are critical to success. They unlock individual potential, enhance the collective power of teams, and support your organization’s ability to innovate and grow.

Inclusive leaders possess a range of qualities that make their leadership effective and collaborative. As the name of this style of leadership suggests, inclusive leaders include team members in decision-making which encourages staff to work hard and speak up, improving overall productivity and performance.

Inclusive leaders share the following traits:

1. Humility
2. Active Listening Skills
3. Effective Communication
4. Target-Driven
5. Creativity
6. Committed to Diversity
7. Empathy
8. Constructive Feedback

The traits of an inclusive leader might vary a little, but all-inclusive leaders have strong communication skills and humility, which effectively allows them to place collaboration and teamwork at the forefront of their leadership style.

Inclusive leaders, when successful, can motivate teams to work harder because each individual team member knows that their opinions are valued. Inclusive leaders listen to a diverse range of opinions and create solutions that are wide-ranging and empathetic because of this. Inclusive leadership is a key leadership style in businesses wanting to promote cultural diversity and sensitivity.

In this way, inclusive leaders are fundamental to company success. The greatest challenge for any business right now is to create growth. Inclusive leaders drive organizational growth in the 21st century. Because –

1. To have growth, we need to differentiate,
2. To differentiate we need to innovate,
3. To innovate we need Diversity,
4. To Activate the Diversity we need the Inclusion &
5. To manage all of the above, we need Inclusive Leadership.

By focusing on building diverse teams, businesses can bring in new perspectives and ideas, improve employee engagement, and ultimately, drive better business outcomes.

Conclusion: The benefits of inclusive leadership cannot be overstated. Inclusive leadership enables organizations to unlock individual potential and create an environment where all talent can thrive and grow. It unlocks collective intelligence and empowers diverse teams to outperform homogenous ones. Inclusive leaders are rare, but inclusive leadership can be assessed, coached, and developed. It is essential to build diverse and inclusive organizations, and inclusive leadership is the most critical factor in achieving this goal.