Leaders in Global Equality and Diversity since 1962
A World of Difference
ORC's Monthly Newsletter for Diversity and Inclusion Specalists Making a Difference in Their Organizations. Sign up for ORC Worldwide's Global EDI mailing list.
November 2009
Portal to Another Dimension
Introducing ORC’s new Global EDI Networks Portal, your gateway to a new dimension of networking. The portal takes you to all our high quality information—reports, research, blogs, and the latest diversity and inclusion news—and helps you connect quickly and easily with your fellow members and ORC staff.
And continue getting real time diversity and inclusion updates from ORC on Twitter!
Best Practice of the Month: Embrace Language Diversity
The diversity of languages in global companies can be a problem to work around, but, like all aspects of diversity, it can also be an opportunity. Employees may actually be more creative and participative in their mother tongues. Linguist Joseph Poth observed when he was leading the language division at UNESCO that “we see it regularly at international gatherings. Delegates who speak minority languages often don’t speak up. They have very good ideas, but don’t dare to express them because they feel uncomfortable using UNESCO’s official languages.” [“In praise of multilingualism: Interview by Araceli Ortiz de Urbina,” UNESCO Courier.]
What can companies do to minimise language-based conflict and take advantage of the language diversity in the workforce? Here are a few ideas:
- Teach tips for communicating in polylinguistic teams (eg, avoiding idioms and slang, checking from time to time that people are following you, stopping occasionally to allow time for people to process what’s been said and formulate questions or responses, mixing oral discussion with written contributions and feedback, providing summaries and notes of discussions)
- Provide language training (in both English for non-native speakers and other languages used by the company’s workforce or customers)
- Use translators in important meetings, provide materials in translation as much as possible
- Educate employees about cultural differences that may express themselves in language
- Accommodate: e.g., in units with workers speaking different languages, organise work so that bilingual employees can help others less fluent in English; post instructions and signs that are pictorial and/or multilingual
- Use your workforce’s linguistic skills to develop new products (e.g., AT&T’s language service that provides foreign language translation and assistance for over 260 languages and dialects)
For more on language and the workplace, see ORC’s article, Language Diversity.
It All Hinges on Performance
Performance ratings have tremendous power in meritocratic organisations. They impact pay, opportunities for developmental experiences, and advancement. ORC’s research has found a direct link between an organisation’s diversity in the higher management levels and their practices related to performance ratings. In particular, the following practices are all associated with diversity success:
- Monitoring the distribution of performance ratings
- Including others besides the immediate supervisor in the evaluation process
- Training managers to recognise and avoid "microinequities" in their treatment of colleagues and subordinates
Many companies select high potentials based in large part on who demonstrates consistent superior performance relative to their peers, but current performance alone is insufficient for predicting who will succeed as a leader in the future. To ensure the diversity of the high potential pool, it is important to:
- Assure that the criteria for potential are not themselves unnecessarily favoring a particular established group. Criteria used by companies with highly diverse high potential pools include learning agility, emotional intelligence, and mastery of leadership competencies.
- Provide supports such as onboarding and coaching for individuals at significant junctures in their careers
- Discuss diversity explicitly in talent reviews
Watch for the report of our latest study, Talent Management Processes for a Diverse Leadership Team, due out later this month.
