When you own a small business you want to share your vision and dream with your whole community—and you want them all to be a part of it. It’s likely that the same desire extends to the people you employ, and while you have to focus on finding the best talent for the job, you also want to bring different world views into your organization.
Creating a diverse workforce is more important than ever these days, as staff retention depends more and more on cultural happiness rather than financial gains. Workers are seeking employment that allows them room to be who they are and gives their voice and experiences power.
When your staff comes with a wide variety of diversity, you can be blessed with insights that can grow your brand in ways you wouldn’t have thought possible.
While there are many gifts that come from staffing a diverse group of people, it can make managing them rather challenging. If you are willing to stretch yourself and give room for individualized voices, you can find ways to harmonize them all into a strong and solid team.
Prepare to Lead
Leading any kind of small business requires a lot of flexibility. While some days will slide by with ease, other days might bring challenges you never anticipated having to face.
When it comes to managing a group of diverse individuals, the more you prepare, the better you can handle every situation. And that isn’t just the hard situations; you should also prepare so that you can allow for the diverse voices to carry your business to whole new levels.
One of the best ways to create an inclusive atmosphere and foster your diverse team members is to look inward. Consider areas where you lack cultural competencies, and learn about them. Look for your own biases that might be considered negative when viewed outwardly by someone else. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice either—the best way to learn is from each other.
Along with being willing to work on yourself, a solid leadership practice every good manager should learn is active listening. You hired the team around you to better your business, so let them do just that by truly hearing their ideas.
There are certainly standards your staff should be meeting every day, but allow room for employees to speak into the business and put their ideas to practice as much as you are able.
Foster the Culture
Preparing yourself to handle a diverse group of people sets up managerial success, but you also need to foster a culture where each person both knows the expectations and has room to support others.
Create an open door policy that encourages your staff to come to you when they have experienced negative and positive experiences. You want to correct problems when they occur, but you also want to promote positive interactions.
As a leader, you can’t be everywhere at once, so encourage your staff to come tell you when something is working well so you can implement it more permanently.
Make your main goal in leading a diverse team be creating an atmosphere where everyone feels unique but also feels like they belong. A diverse team can make a beautiful blend of ideas and strategies that lends to a positive team culture and a brand that consumers return to time and time again.
Ready to create your own unique team? Contact us and build the brand of your dreams today.