Diversity Management
Managing Diversity*
July 2009
Creating competitive advantage through cultural dexterity
Highlights • Cultural dexterity is a business skill that enables effective collaboration and communication among people across multiple dimensions of diversity. • Collaboration within a group of diverse people, who approach problems from different perspectives, improves corporate performance. • The environment a company creates can enable—or impede— the success of its employees. • Leaders are personally accountable for creating a culture in which all employees clearly understand what success is and how to achieve it—and are actively encouraged to participate.
Facing continued economic uncertainty and concerned with the short-term demands of meeting stakeholder expectations, leaders may be tempted to cut budgets and programs designed not just to attract talent but also to create, develop, and maintain the diversity of that talent. But that would be a missed opportunity. PricewaterhouseCoopers recently convened a Diversity Leadership Forum, in which more than 700 business leaders participated in a discussion about strengthening diversity efforts during challenging economic times. What emerged was a consensus that those companies that cultivate cultural dexterity now, as a tool for effectively managing diversity, will be better equipped to weather today’s many challenges and will have a competitive advantage when the economy recovers.
Four practical considerations of cultural dexterity: 1. Complementary skills add value; diverse groups have been shown to outperform those made up exclusively of members who share similar abilities. 2. Innovation is driven by a willingness to consider unique, or previously unconsidered, ways of thinking. 3. Recognizing the value of a wide variety of abilities—and allowing those abilities to flourish—enable a company to draw the most out of its existing workforce. 4. Demographic trends will continue regardless of the economic environment,
July 2009
Creating competitive advantage through cultural dexterity
Highlights • Cultural dexterity is a business skill that enables effective collaboration and communication among people across multiple dimensions of diversity. • Collaboration within a group of diverse people, who approach problems from different perspectives, improves corporate performance. • The environment a company creates can enable—or impede— the success of its employees. • Leaders are personally accountable for creating a culture in which all employees clearly understand what success is and how to achieve it—and are actively encouraged to participate.
Facing continued economic uncertainty and concerned with the short-term demands of meeting stakeholder expectations, leaders may be tempted to cut budgets and programs designed not just to attract talent but also to create, develop, and maintain the diversity of that talent. But that would be a missed opportunity. PricewaterhouseCoopers recently convened a Diversity Leadership Forum, in which more than 700 business leaders participated in a discussion about strengthening diversity efforts during challenging economic times. What emerged was a consensus that those companies that cultivate cultural dexterity now, as a tool for effectively managing diversity, will be better equipped to weather today’s many challenges and will have a competitive advantage when the economy recovers.
Four practical considerations of cultural dexterity: 1. Complementary skills add value; diverse groups have been shown to outperform those made up exclusively of members who share similar abilities. 2. Innovation is driven by a willingness to consider unique, or previously unconsidered, ways of thinking. 3. Recognizing the value of a wide variety of abilities—and allowing those abilities to flourish—enable a company to draw the most out of its existing workforce. 4. Demographic trends will continue regardless of the economic environment,