Beyond the Diversity Agenda – Diversity and Inclusion as Innovation Drivers

(3 min read)

Why should companies put diversity on the agenda? In short: Diversity and inclusion in the workforce lead to increased innovative strength in companies, this has even been scientifically proven. Forming teams from a diverse group of employees, brings different perspectives, experiences, soft and hard skills to the table. As a result, companies can look at customer problems with foresight and develop more creative, individual, and innovative solutions.  Thereby a broader customer base can be served, which will then be just as diverse as the company’s workforce.

Stefanie K Johnson, Professor of Management at Colorado University, and author of the bestselling book ‘Inclusify’, writes about this topic in the CXO Magazine by NTT DATA. In the article ‘How Diversity & Inclusion Drive Innovation’ Johnson substantiates the positive interdependencies of diversity and inclusion in the context of increased corporate innovativeness with relevant scientific studies.

Diverse teams indeed make better decisions, but diverse teams with high inclusion make the best decisions. According to a study, decision-making with diverse, high-inclusion teams can improve by as much as 60%. Stefanie K Johnson

As stated by Johnson it is not enough to focus on diversity. After all, a company must take the responsibility for the inclusion of every employee, through appropriate actions and cultural norms. This is the only way to ensure that employees feel comfortable enough to express their own individual opinions.

Learn how NTT DATA Business Solutions defines diversity, inclusion and belonging and what we do to create an equal, inclusive workplace for our employees.

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The latest issue of CXO Magazine has been published. Learn more about NTT DATA’s aspiration for a sustainable business world in the fourth issue: The Sustainability Transformation.