Cultural Brokering in a Multicultural Community - Video

Check out my video on Cultural Brokering at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYP7r7g8QFE

The Power of Diversified and Inclusive Businesses

Diversity is a commitment to recognizing and appreciating the variety of characteristics that make individuals unique in an atmosphere that promotes and celebrates individual and collective achievement (The University of Tennessee Libraries Diversity Committee Spring 2001; Revised January 2003).
 

Studies show that future workforce will have significant demographic variations. Companies report competitive advantage as the key driver of diversity efforts. Diverse markets require diverse strategies; organizations must know the markets they seek to serve and reflect the same diversity within.
 

Future workforce will have huge demographic variations:

The inflow of immigrants has been largely responsible for a continuing increase in the racial and ethnic diversity of the workforce. Hispanics and Asians are the fastest-growing racial and ethnic groups in the population and workforce. In the case of Hispanics, a high birth rate is partly responsible for that, but immigration is the main driver (Census 2000). 

In 2000, about 33% of the U.S. population identified themselves as members of racial or ethnic minority groups.  By 2050, it is projected that these groups will account for almost half of the U.S. population. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the United States had almost 38.8 million Blacks or African Americans (12.9% of the U.S. population); more than 45.5 million Hispanics or Latinos (15.1%);  almost 13.4 million Asians (4.4%) (U.S. Census 2000).

In addition, the steadily increasing female labor force participation rates, combined with decreasing male rates, have brought the labor force close to gender balance. The rise in female rates holds for married women and single women alike. It holds as well for women with and without minor children, and, for the latter, it holds whether they are married or not and no matter how old their children are (Department of Labor, USA).

People QuickFacts (Census 2003)                                New Jersey                          USA
Population, 2006 estimate                                             8,724,560                            299,398,484
White persons, percent, 2006 (a)                                      76.4%                                80.1%
Black persons, percent, 2006 (a)                                      14.5%                                12.8%
Asian persons, percent, 2006 (a)                                        7.4%                                  4.4%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, percent, 2006 (b)  15.6%                                14.8%
White persons not Hispanic, percent, 2006                      62.6%                                66.4%
Foreign born persons, percent, 2000                                17.5%                                11.1%

Why Diversity so Important 

Diversity provides a richer variety of approaches to work and problem solving.
Diversity strengthens an organization's resilience in changing environmental conditions.
Diversity allows challenges to long-accepted views.
Diversity creates dynamic work environments through variety of perspectives.
Helps organizations understand how to effectively interact with all of its client base.
Informs organizational practices that create community support in all populations.
Helps manage perceptions of historically underserved markets.
 

Asurvey conducted by SHRM and Fortune, both concluded that diversity:
Improves corporate culture by 83%
Improves employee morale by 70%
Increases creativity by 59%
Decreases interpersonal conflict by 58%

Enables movement into emerging markets by 57%
Improves productivity by 52%
Exceptional performance within groups of medical colleagues representing a wide variety of “values, experiences and disciplines.” (1956)
Mixed gender groups consistently outperformed single-gender groups. Different viewpoints caused inventive solutions to emerge. (1961)
Routine problem solving better handled by homogeneous groups, less-defined problems better suited to heterogeneous groups. (1984)
Diverse ethnic groups produced more effective solutions than homogeneous groups. (1992)
To be successful, your organizational culture must be open to diversity; otherwise this effort will fail.
Managers, supervisors and front line staff need training and education on valuing and managing diversity.
Integrating diversity into an organization’s culture is not easy; the outcomes of a diversified organization are worthwhile all the efforts.
Leadership must value and commit to a long-term vision of diversity.
 

Bottom Line
Diversity can create stronger, more productive organizations.
Innovation is a by-product of diversity.
Innovation is key to vitality in the 21st century.
 

Diversity & Inclusion Part of your Strategic Plan

Diversity and Inclusion, is not just a HR initiative. Organizations looking to become competitive, productive, and innovated must look at Diversity as a quality initiative. Diversity is the new way of business creativity and performance.

THE U.S. POPULATION IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY DIVERSE (U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, 2003). MANY MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES RECOGNIZE THE NEED TO MANAGE THEIR DIVERSE WORKFORCES AS EVIDENCED BY THE PROLIFERATION OF DIVERSITY PROGRAMS BEING IMPLEMENTED IN MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS (WENTLING AND PALMA-RIVAS, 2000).

The Influence of Strategic Diversity…
Recent research suggests that firms that effectively manage their workforce diversity may experience positive outcomes. For example, research indicates that firms with higher percentages of women managers report relatively higher financial performance (Shrader et al., 1997) and greater effectiveness (Richard and Johnson, 2001). Recognizing these evolving workplace trends, numerous scholars have addressed issues related to diversity in organizations (e.g., Carter, 2000; Cox, 2001).

Diversity & Inclusion Part of your Strategic Plan Synergetic Model

ORGANIZATION

Executive Management
 

Middle Management
 

Managers/Supervisors
 

Front Line Staff
 

Clients/Businesses

What is Next…
Executive support for diversity initiatives
Tactics to smooth the transition to a more diverse work culture
Provide education programs from top to bottom
Create and maintain a consistent pro-diversity message
Form a diversity council that looks at large-scale organizational issues

"You can and should shape your own future; because if you don't someone else surely will."
"No one will thank you for taking care of the present if you have neglected the future."

-Joel Barker

"Innovation provides the seeds for economic growth, and for that innovation to happen depends as much on collective difference as on aggregate ability. If people think alike then no matter how smart they are they most likely will get stuck at the same locally optimal solutions. Finding new and better solutions, innovating, requires thinking differently. That’s why diversity powers innovation. “

-Scott E. Page, Professor, University of Michigan

For more information contact Helen Dao at helen@daoconsultingservices.com

The Aspiration of LGBT Inclusion in the Workplace (Guest Blogger, Wendy O.)

“Now more than ever, companies need to differentiate themselves to attract and retain the best talent. In a compressed job market, top candidates are looking for more than just the right job; they’re looking for a company that values them inside and outside of the workplace and encourages individuality and diversity. In order to stand out as a company and demonstrate how it values its co-workers, creating a diverse workplace and inclusive culture are critical, particularly when it comes to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals.  Reaching out to this large segment of the workforce is essential to remaining competitive.” said Melissa Donaldson, Director of Inclusion practices at CDW, LLC.

As humans, we live in a world of vast differences and backgrounds.  Our opinions of others begin in our private homes as children, spread into public places, and subsequently extend into the workplace as adults.  But, does being different mean we have the right to discriminate, judge, or prevent another from employment because of his/her individual differences, whether black or white, tall or short, young or old, gay or heterosexual?  The fact of the matter is companies face rising challenges inherent in hiring lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) employees.  Challenges such as self-identification, fear of retaliation, confidentiality, starting the process of awareness and creating a plan, influencing the right corporate culture throughout the organization, and providing equal benefits and policies, are but a few.

The purpose of this article is to shed positive light on the goal of companies to hire LGBT individuals because this is a large part of the workforce.  In order to remain successfully competitive, LGBT awareness and inclusion must be addressed, including having a best practice hiring plan.  According to the Human Rights Campaign, despite inconsistent laws regarding sexual orientation and gender identity here and abroad, thousands of employers are improving their employment policies, benefits, and other practices reflecting a more positive equitable treatment of their LGBT employees.  Keep in mind, however, unlike other diversity categories, such as race and gender, employers are not required to collect statistics on the number of LGBT individuals they hire for reporting purposes with the EEOC.  So, what can a company do to help identify existing LGBT employees?  Perhaps gather statistics through anonymous confidential employee surveys.  This way, the employee is assured that any disclosure of sexual orientation or gender identity is optional, voluntary, and strictly confidential.

Logically, understanding diversity, accepting differences, and including LGBT employees in the workplace is critical for any organization’s growth and long-term stability.  If you are not a team player, expect to be regarded as a company whose views are unfair and discriminative in nature.  You take the risk of losing your ground as a leader in your industry.  Remember, the key to a successful company is a company that has a solid plan to help recruit, retain, and promote diverse and LGBT employees.  This plan would be crucial to any business success in this evolving and diverse marketplace. 

Moreover, the advantages of having a diversified and LGBT workforce over your competitors can be evident in providing approaches towards team building, proactive problem solving, increasing creativity and productivity, employee loyalty, higher synergy and moral standards, increased leadership commitment and interest, stronger values and integrity, as well as integration of business and consumer support.  Additionally, with globalization as a motivator, the openness and acceptance of diversity and LGBT inclusion in your workplace helps broaden the mindset of global thinking and understanding.  All efforts to provide a fair work environment based on mutual understanding and consideration of LGBT employees must be carefully planned, cultivated, nurtured, and measured to ensure overall strategic success. 

In a May 2011 article written by Melissa Donaldson, Director of Inclusion practices at CDW, LLC, she reported the following on CDCW’s inclusion initiative.  In 2002, CDW’s executive committee, led by CEO John A. Edwardson, launched an inclusion task force.  The purpose of this task force was to benchmark and research best practices for diversity management – both internally and externally – as well as to identify areas of strength and opportunity already at play in the workplace.  The 10 member group met for 15 months, resulting in a key recommendation to establish a single point of ownership for overseeing diversity practices focused on leadership development, corporate culture and market outreach.  Building off this foundation, CDW developed its diversity and inclusion practice, formally called Connections@CDW.  With respect to LGBT, CDW made the following three components critical to its diversity and inclusion practice.

1. Shape the culture

In 2009, CDW formally launched the Gay, Lesbian Organization for Business Allies and Leadership (GLOBAL), a network built for LGBT employees, one of several employee resource groups within the organization. CDW calls these groups “connection nodes.”  By design, GLOBAL creates opportunities for leadership within the group and thereby gives those employees who feel passionately about developing an LGBT-friendly workplace the opportunity to spearhead programming, interface with senior leaders, mentor others with similar perspectives and network with peers.  The grassroots approach instills employees with a sense of ownership for the company’s position on workplace diversity and helps support CDW’s quest to offer progressive and meaningful programs that truly echo the needs and interests of employees.  With a strong foundational support for diversity within the employee community, the company’s leadership is able to addresses issues in the workplace facing LGBT employees, such as harassment.  CDW makes harassment-prevention training a part of its management diversity and inclusion training.

2. Influence policy

Equal benefits are the bedrock of any business espousing true support of its LGBT employees. LGBT equal rights lobbying organization the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Corporate Equality Index, which has rated private-sector companies on LGBT-friendly policies since 2002, has gradually evolved its standards to press employers for greater accountability beyond the usual medical, dental and vision care imperatives. Toward that end, CDW offers enhanced domestic partner benefits, which include elements like support during gender reassignment procedures.  Moreover, CDW’s policy has no ambiguity toward harassment; it clearly calls out protection of both gender identity and sexual orientation at each location.

3. Establish partnerships

CDW makes a point to partner with those companies that share its corporate values. For example, it partners with a health insurance provider that does not discriminate against gender reassignment procedures. Additionally, partnering with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce helps CDW identify strategic partners for supplier diversity initiatives that increase the company’s ability to meet unique customer needs and support the development of underutilized businesses.

Equality in the workplace is just good sound business.  If you create an environment where all employees feel respected, valued, and included, then you have established a best practice which can be simulated or modeled after.  Lastly, since the marketplace is so diverse and global, attracting, developing, and retaining the best talent from diverse backgrounds and the LGBT community is critical to remaining the employer of choice.

Wendy Oliveras is the Founder & CEO of Oliveras & Company, Inc.  She is also a columnist, author, search consultant, and career planning and development advisor.  She can be reached at (201) 947-6662 or via email wo@oliverascoinc.com.  Please also visit her at http://www.twitter.com/wendyoliveras; http://www.linkedin/in/wendyoliveras; http://www.examiner.com/x-22670-NY-Search-Consultant-Examiner; or http://www.oliverascoinc.com.

Diversity, Inclusion, Cultural Competence and Linguistic Competence, What Do They Mean?

For decades we have heard the concept "Diversity". In today's businesses, diversity has a much different meaning then before.  Another concept that is taking a strong force is Cultural Competence. There is a clear difference between Diversity and Cultural Competence, however, they are used interchangeably.  Diversity is the distinction of race, ethnicity, nationality, culture, religion, age.  Cultural Competence is a working definition, there are an array to choose from, cultural competence is the set of values, traditions, beliefs, and systems that group of people share.

Another definition that is very important to know and understand is linguistic competence.  The definition of cultural competence by the National Center of Cultural Competence is the ability of an organization and its personnel to understand and convey information that is easily understood by individuals, including Limited English Proficiency. Now let's go back to Diversity and Inclusion at the Workplace.  There cannot be diversity and inclusion without cultural and linguistic competence at the workplace.  Businesses and organizations must pay attention to the cultural differences  among their employees and how it affects management and staff communication as well peer interaction.

Let's look at the following situation.  HR hires a Chinese community educator to train the Chinese community on a specific health condition.  Management ask the educator to develop an educational curriculum for the trainings.  The educator is asked to implement the curriculum in a bilingual format.  The educator asked management in what Chinese dialect should he deliver the training?  Management response is, well you are Chinese, don't you speak Chinese?  The educator responds yes, but I only speak Cantones.  Management finds out that the Chinese community center's patients, the majority speaks Mandarin, two different dialects.

The lesson learned: Businesses and organizations should not make assumptions about their employees' culture and language base on their race or ethnicity.  Therefore, we must move beyond diversity and inclusion, cultural and linguistic competence knowledge is a requirement to do and stay in business.

For more information contact Helen Dao at helen@daoconsultingservices.com.

The Largest Minority Market

On a article released by SHRM (Society for Human Resources Management) in 2007, they identified people with disabilities as the largest minority group in the United States.  U.S. Census Bureau announcements released in 2007 put the number of people with disabilities at 51.2 million, or 18 percent of the population, compared with 44.3 million Hispanics who represent close to 15 percent of the population.

To read full article, click the below link:

What is the Largest Minority Market?

Benefits to Going Bilingual (Guest Blogger)

It is currently estimated that 11.5% of the United States population speaks Spanish at home, and the number of Spanish speakers will be expected to increase to about 530 million by 2050.  Interestingly, in the United States alone, the Spanish speaking population seems to be increasing at more than 1 million per year.

As a result of this rising Hispanic population, would it not be strategically beneficial for businesses to start fully recognizing the importance of hiring Spanish speaking employees?  The truth is that regardless of the size of your company, there is an increase in the need for Spanish speaking employees in the private and public sectors.  The Hispanic community is not and will never abandon their beloved Spanish language, so avoiding this expansion could be futile if you want to remain a successful team player in your industry.  Therefore, it is wise to promote diversity and cross-cultural awareness in your organization.

With respect to jobs in the public sector such as education and government, Spanish speaking employees are particularly valued.  Think about it.  If you hire Spanish speaking employees who efficiently handle customer service matters, your large Hispanic clientele will not only be impressed, but they may be more inclined to bring their business to your organization instead.  Additionally, regarding jobs in the private sector, a competitive advantage would be to hire Spanish speakers because diversity is not only here to stay, but it is a global reality and inevitable.  If you do not have Spanish speakers working for you, you should either allocate room for a few now or have some current employees learn Spanish.  That said, the following is a list of a few benefits you would gain if you take the bilingual route:

• The Spanish community will not hesitate to do business with your company if you already have Spanish employees.

• Hiring bilingual employees represents to the Spanish community that your business is able to service their needs without making them feel ignored.

• Having bilingual employees adds value and a competitive advantage by making the customers feel appreciated and understood.

Whatever path you choose, know that there are more benefits than not to going bilingual.  Hiring Spanish speaking employees in your business is an advantage. 

Wendy Oliveras is a columnist, author, search consultant, and career planning and development advisor.

She can be reached at either (201) 947-6662 or via email wo@oliverascoinc.com.  Please also visit her at http://www.twitter.com/wendyoliveras or http://www.linkedin/in/wendyoliveras or http://www.oliverascoinc.com.

Announcement!

Helen Dao will be a guest speaker at The University of Medicine
and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Public Health (UMDNJ-SPH) presenting on "Multicultural Health in Public Health Practice"

Date: May 25, 2011
Place: UMDNJ- School of Public Health, 683 Hoes Lane West, Piscataway, NJ 08854
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

The face of North America has changed and continues to change.  Currently, there are almost 45 million people in the nation who speak a language other than English, and over 30 million who were born outside of the United States.  During the past decade, the number of Spanish and Asian language speakers grew by 50 percent.  Community clinics and health centers are in the position of improving quality of care through the understanding of cultural competence and the implementation of Limited English Proficiency (LEP) strategies in public health practice. This seminar will discuss cultural competence in public health.

Helen will review a definition for cultural competency and its applicability to public health. This seminar will address the barriers to culturally competent care such as: Lack of diversity in health care's leadership and workforce; systems of care poorly designed to meet the needs of diverse patient populations; and poor communication between providers and patients.

For Registration On-line copy and paste the following link into your browser to register on line

https://ophp.umdnj.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=PHSS041311

Or you can register by telephone. Call Carl Donaldson at (732) 235-9451. All seminars are held from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM at UMNDJ School of Public Health, 683 Hoes Lane West, Piscataway, NJ. All seminars carry 1.5 CEU, 1.5 CHES, 1.5 Nurse Contact Hours.

Diversity & Inclusion at the Workplace

Dear Reader,

So we start our Blogging Campaign at DAO!  Here is our first short article on The Power of Diversified Businesses.

The Power of Diversified Businesses

Diversity is a commitment to recognizing and appreciating the variety of characteristics that make individuals unique in an atmosphere that promotes and celebrates individual and collective achievement (The University of Tennessee Libraries Diversity Committee Spring 2001; Revised January 2003).

Studies show that future workforce will have significant demographic variations. Companies report competitive advantage as the key driver of diversity efforts.  Diverse markets require diverse strategies; organizations must know the markets they seek to serve and reflect the same diversity within.

To read the full article visit my website at www.daoconsultingservices.com and look under "News"

This week, we will have our first guest blogger,  Wendy Oliveras, Founder & CEO of Oliveras & Company, Inc.  She is also a columnist, author, search consultant, and career planning and development advisor. Look for her article on Benefits to Going Bilingual!