Line 25 Consulting

Diversity & Inclusion From a Marketing Perspective

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How a Diverse Workforce Advances Your Business

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diverse workforce
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When it comes to developing focused hiring initiatives, there are a number of reasons why having a diverse workforce benefits your company, your customers, and society. According to SCORE, when you make an effort to hire individuals of different backgrounds, skill levels, physical abilities, and nationalities and orientations, you’re able to draw from a richer pool of talent, ideas, skills, and perspectives. This in turn helps foster innovation, which gives you greater leverage in the overall scheme of business offerings. Line 25 Consulting can help pave the way.

Benefits of a Diverse Workforce

Unfortunately, some people believe that having a diverse workforce simply means checking off boxes of people who fit into certain categories with regard to age, race, gender, or sexual orientation. Diversity in its truest form means being open to actively soliciting staff members who will help you grow your business in a holistic and organic way. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, when you have people with varied life experiences, skill sets, and areas of focus, you avoid a homogenized approach to everything from customer cultivation techniques to marketing strategies, strategic planning, and operational objectives.

How to Expand Your Hiring Scope

One of the best ways to cultivate a diverse workforce is to utilize more local freelancers instead of going through big-name agencies or search firms. This will automatically draw a wider range of applicants, and the approach concurrently has a positive impact on your local economy. If you create a hiring strategy in line with implementing a mentoring or internship program, you can also find ways to nurture future job applicants. This provides young people with exposure to a wide range of personality types, working styles, values, and beliefs which can help them develop a diverse pool of role models to emulate.

Actively Solicit a Diverse Candidate Pool

You can take diversity hiring initiatives to an elevated level by offering opportunities to people who are often excluded from typical hiring pools, including senior citizens, veterans, and differently-abled individuals. You can do this by making your work environment more accessible for those with special needs, as well as encouraging frequently overlooked groups of individuals to apply. Not only does this make your company representative of the client base that it serves, but you’re also creating a rich and layered pool of experts that give your company an added advantage.

While you certainly don’t want to use your diversity hiring initiatives as a way to “virtue signal” the good work your company is doing, neither should you hide the fact that you are striving to be inclusive, progressive, and hire the best people for your teams without regard to ethnicity, age, race, gender, or ability.

Diverse Workforce With a Marketers Touch

Line 25 Consulting is home to a team of marketing experts who specialize in creating holistic and comprehensive approaches to applying inclusive marketing to your organization. We will guide your organization through our 5-point framework in order to attract a diverse workforce, cultivate a team of belonging that leads to external success. Visit the site to learn more, or reach out for a free 15-minute consultation.

How much Diversity is Enough?

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Like many organizations, I’m sure your workplace has become more intentional about diversity, equity, and inclusion in recent months. Maybe there has been an influx of recruiting, sponsoring social justice organizations, and enhancing employee resource groups. Perhaps, you like the changes at your company. As these changes continue to happen, one has to ask, how much diversity will be enough?

For starters, there can be no such thing as too much diversity if done right. Companies hire the candidate that is best for the job ( or at least we expect them to) and if that person happens to be a person of color (POC), or a woman, or a member of the LGBT community that should not be written off as simply being a diversity hire. According to Ideal.com, a diversity hire is hiring based on merit with special care taken to ensure procedures have reduced biases. Many companies have adopted this “trend” of diversity hiring in order to make their company more diverse, without regard for how this affects company perception.

Unless there’s a major senior role hire or promotion, the public does not notice that a company has diversified its staff. Moreover, employees will definitely notice these changes that happen around them, and it’s up to the employees to hold their company accountable. In addition, consumers have become very attentive to the ways that companies engage on social media, and have even called out companies for their lack of DEI displayed. In short, there is no such thing as too much diversity.

Hire an Inclusive Marketing Consulting Firm

At Line 25 Consulting we know diversity has become a tricky conversation to navigate due to the many different voices that are contributing to the conversation. We push for diversity for companies who see the need to make a change. If you believe your organization needs a DEI facilitator to help with these conversations, please don’t hesitate to reach out via email at ngome@line25consulting.com or call (713)298-5851.

Is There Such a Thing as too Much Diversity?

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Diversity has been being pushed so much in all realms of our lives from the workplace to commercials and so much more. This push comes from people of color (POC) who are tired of being left behind, lack representation and are not included in conversations. The question is, is there such a thing as too much diversity?

diversity

This is not as simple as it may seem because there are many underlying circumstances that shape anyone’s answer. When I first considered this question I chuckled because of course there is no such thing as too much, there can’t be. But do I think this was as a queer Black woman? Is my unconscious bias setting in? After all, we all have it.

From a media standpoint, visuals help form our perceptions of what we see happening around us. As a fan of television, it has been quite interesting witnessing the shift in media and seeing how this changes the way that we view diversity. I will say while it is nice to see characters that are not cookie-cutter like we have in the past, it has been an unusual experience living through a time where diversity is now a necessity. Let me explain further. You’ve been keeping up with your favorite television show for five seasons, and suddenly a character who never showed interest in men comes out as gay or lesbian. You are caught off guard, pleasantly surprised but still confused. Now, this character’s entire storyline revolves around their gay identity and their struggle as a member of the LGBTQ community. Now let’s say the show introduces a black character, again you’re pleasantly surprised, that is until you notice this character’s entire story arc is based on their black identity. It is important to see these characters, but not in the continuous cycle of stereotypes and hardship.

These instances are not uncommon because this is what happens in television now, and it is an attempt to appear more diverse, but at what cost. When characters are reduced to their identity as a black person or a gay person, or a Muslim or Jew, it diminishes their autonomy as a person. They have now become a token for the show and ticked a diversity box. This is when too much diversity becomes to exist, not because of the character’s existence but because of what they are meant to represent. This does not only apply to television but to our everyday lives. We see it happen in the workplace and often times we may not be able to make the connection.

Therefore, diversity is best received when done with the right intentions. When diversity is pushed only to fix a companies image or reach a quota, it can feel forced and inauthentic. While one might think that POC will benefit no matter the circumstances, representation is only worthy of praise when done right.

Your Inclusive Marketing Company

Maybe you’re not in media, but you know your company needs help with their DEI and inclusive marketing initiatives. We would love to collaborate with you. Take a moment to schedule a 15-minute discovery call, reach out via email at ngome@line25consulting.com, or call (713)298-5851.

Keeping Up with the Paralympics

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The 2021 Olympics are underway and just days into the competition the world has been glued to the events unfolding on television and social media. Simone Biles dropped out of the competition due to mental health reasons, Naomi Osaka lost in her third-round match, and Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui declared gold in what is being called the biggest upset of the Olympic games, maybe ever. Needless to say, the 2021 Olympic games have been a whirlwind, and the Paralympics have been nothing short of disappointing. 

paralympics

The Paralympics are international competitions parallel to the Olympics which are designed especially for athletes with disabilities. The Paralympics are not just an effort to diversify the Olympics but exist to provide the same opportunities that abled body people have to those who are disabled. Paralympics.com provides a brief history of how the games came to be and the road to becoming an internationally recognized event and providing opportunities for those who may not be able to compete in events in the Olympics.  

The Paralympics are a great representation of what it means to put diversity and equity first. Diversity is not defined by race or gender, but by the ability of the athlete despite physical barriers. It is through the Paralympics that the visibility of disabled athletes is put on the front stage, and celebrated.  Attached below is the Men’s 50m Breaststroke, where we can see the diversity amongst the swimmers, and how they function in their perspective events.

Diversity Training

The Paralympics are a great example of fair representation based on interest. We can’t teach you how to swim or run faster, but we can make diversity training fun. If you are looking to have an empathetic and easy-going facilitated conversation on diversity and inclusion, Line 25 Consulting is the way to go. Contact us today to get started.