Cultural diversity is a very important aspect of maintaining a balanced organization. This is very much needed in global organizations whose workings include business meetings and client deals in other countries. For multinational companies, understanding cultural differences is the main factor that leads to successful business partnerships. Employees should know the importance of respecting the cultural differences of others. The company can offer training to increase cultural diversity awareness. It is the best way to make a better place for all employees to function in a diverse workplace.

Importance of Cultural Diversity

The strength of a company’s organizational structure and the health of its manpower resources comes from recognizing and respecting cultural differences in the workplace. Accepting various cultures is essential in the workplace. Multinational companies with employees of different cultural backgrounds recognize the advantages of having people with different views and standpoints. Having different perspectives on problem-solving skills and creativity will help in such a workplace. Many companies have huge advantages from multilingual employees. Training for diversity in the workplace is a much-needed thing now. Even if employees are not aware of cultural diversity, training is key in helping them understand people with varied cultural backgrounds. This also helps them in respecting each other’s differences so they learn to cooperate and achieve the company and personal goals. Due to this, cultural competency trainings were developed. Along with this, the company can try leadership tests also. 

Common Diversity Issues

 It is not uncommon for world corporations to hire workers of assorted nationalities and ethnic teams. Problems like variations in payor differing treatment of workers attributable to cultural variations might be perceived as discrimination. By accenting awareness of and promoting sensitivity to cultural problems, employers will show they acknowledge the contributions and value of all members of the company. 

What is Diversity Training?

Multinational company’s human resources departments and managers of assorted departments face unnumbered such eventualities day in and day out. To handle such problems, several corporations incorporate diversity training programs in their coaching agenda. Training for diversity in the workplace will have a lot of advantages and will have a significant impact on the company as a whole. 

Diversity training program is an initiative taken by most corporations to make awareness of diversity problems and produce concerning cohesiveness in groups. Initially, it is part of the leadership development programs to push intimacy and to level out all the factors. It conjointly brings concerning cohesiveness in groups. Leadership tests will bring out these values in an individual. 

The necessary and customary diversity aspects are colour, diversity includes gender, race, religion, caste, and disabilities. Individuals could show diversity in terms of personality as well (introvert or extrovert), attitudes, values, family background, and temperament to do risks. 

It is necessary for corporations to think about these aspects when building project groups. A team that has all members who don’t seem to be caning to take risks won’t be a perfect team nor will a team wherever all the members are ready to take risks. Only an optimum balance of each style of individuals can build a thriving team. This is only achieved with cultural competency trainings.

Diversity training program can be divided into two categories:

1. Awareness-based training:

This type of coaching is mostly used as a sensitiser for workers. It deals with making staff members know the importance of diversity in business. It conjointly makes staff aware of their prejudices and cultural assumptions regarding others. The coaching uses case studies and experiential exercises as the methodology of training implementation

1. Skill-based training:

This training mostly focuses on developing employees’ proficiency in handling diversity within the workplace. Varied tools are taken by the company to make the staff aware and be in a proficiency stage. The tools used to facilitate in improving employees’ interpretation of society variations, communication with folks from completely different cultures, and flexibility.

Diversity coaching could also be conducted as lectures, slideshows, e-learning courses, interactive games, and role-plays. All of these ways have their own advantages and disadvantages. But, every methodology contributes to the main point of the diversity training program in its own way. Companies can try some platforms which can measure one’s capacity for handling issues at the workplace. Culture intelligence centre measures an individual’s capability to work in a diverse culture workplace. 

The Goal of Diversity Training

The goal of diversity training is to make all the company employees understand that even though there can be a lot of difference amongst the team members that they’re operating with, a touch of adjustment can make it a very rare team. Leadership tests make them tolerant of the variations that they see around them. Not only this, but the goal is also to learn how to value these differences. Along with this, culture intelligence centres also help companies with testing their employees. 

To bring out the best in your manpower, you need an inclusive environment. In this era of globalization, we work on projects which are multi-linguistic and cultural. So, we have to think beyond the conventional diversity aspects of gender, race, caste, creed, and disabilities. Any company should have a team that is based on a value system that will decide the person’s potential to adjust, accommodate, understand, and cooperate. 

Pratiksha