The United States population is diverse. It’s no longer a question of when the workforce will change. It already has. There has been a huge increase in women, people of color and immigrants in the workforce in the last twenty-five years. Diversity is not just a “good idea”, today. it is a business imperative if you want to stay competitive, innovative and secure a larger market share.

Executive leaders are asking the question “How do we recruit, engage, and retain that diverse workforce.” In order to answer that question, we need to identify common diversity mistakes, perceived obstacles, best practices by other leaders in organizations, and then determine the solution that works for you.

Organizations make two common mistakes that cause them to fall behind their competition and even lose market share.

The organization only considers the visible dimensions of diversity primarily race, and gender. The company photo looks good but everyone thinks the same. Differences that include sexual orientation, geographic background, thinking and communication style, work function, ability and disability, religion, and work style are not valued and are even discouraged. This is a very narrow definition of diversity and offers little or no value to the organization in terms of new ideas, creativity and innovation.

Again diversity is defined by what you can see. Demographics reflect the outside community but it is only at the lower levels. (Production, and unskilled labor) There is little or no diversity as you move up into management. When questioned about diversity in their organization, they point to all the numbers. Every year they have good “numbers”, but the people are constantly changing. Employees leave and get jobs where there is a value of diversity at all levels and they are encouraged to move up in the ranks.