People at Work Series | Diversity

Over the years, our team of consultants at OrgVitality has seen recurring patterns and themes in employee survey data and focus group discussions. Some are readily apparent; others are more nuanced and emerge only through careful analysis. All are useful to anyone working in the field of talent management. In the spirit of cooperation, we are sharing some of the most consistent themes we've seen over decades of survey work, with a new series, "People at Work." In this series, CEO Jeffrey Saltzman aims to organize these observations, although many insights cut across multiple categories.

For the sixth part of this series, we focus on both diversity and leading through times of crisis:

1. Organizations with higher levels of diversity tend to outperform similar organizations with lower levels of diversity.
2. There are a lot more commonalities than differences among employee populations. This is true globally. People are people. They tend to want the same basic things.
3. There are very little differences between what employees want out of a job regardless of which country or culture they are embedded in.
4. Stereotypes regarding an employee’s characteristics are usually wrong. Putting people into various positions should be based on ability to perform and not on stereotypes.
5. While there are many jobs that require common skill sets among incumbents, each person is unique and brings diverse talents to the organization. The organization that can embrace those diverse talents will benefit greatly. Organizations that treat people as fungible are at a disadvantage.
6. During times of crisis, people have more positive views of senior leadership until the leadership demonstrates they are not up to the task. People want to think those at the helm can steer the organization through the crisis and they give them the benefit of the doubt.
7. People who are involved in helping the organization work through crises are more positive than those who are not directly helping.
8. The benefits seen in attitudes among those helping the organization work through the crisis will dissipate over time. Organizations tend not to be able to hold on to that positive shift long-term.
9. During times of change, crisis, and/or challenge people want to hear from the top of the house.
10. During times of change, crisis and/or challenge you can’t over-communicate.