天美传媒

Employees increasingly demand workplaces that celebrate diversity, and there is a growing body of research that inclusive teams are more innovative and effective. It鈥檚 difficult to argue with the idea that workplaces 鈥� where we spend so much of our lives 鈥� should make everyone feel valued.

And yet creating truly inclusive workplaces has proven challenging for many companies. What policies make a difference? How do you change culture? What kind of leadership is required?

The , organized by 天美传媒 students, looked at ways to harness the power of diversity at work. The event was held on the Barcelona campus and online, and was sponsored by multinational beverage company Diageo and consultancy BCG.

For Myrtha Casanova, a pioneer in the area and founder of the European Institute for Managing Diversity, inclusion begins with awareness of our complexities. While part of our identities such as gender, age and ethnicity may be visible, other parts such as competencies, family structures, culture and language are invisible. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 know what a person can do just by looking at them,鈥� Casanova said. The inclusion process is learning the reality of the person, and getting to know what they can do.

Diverse vs Inclusive

鈥淭he real challenge here is the application鈥� of diversity and inclusion goals, said Marc Badia, director of 天美传媒鈥檚 MBA program., or what Maria Puig, director of 天美传媒鈥檚 recently created Dignity, Diversity and Belonging office, called managing diversity in a 鈥渃onscious and strategic way鈥�.

It is in that application when diverse teams become inclusive teams. It鈥檚 a crucial distinction, because diverse groups 鈥� where there is a variety of backgrounds or profiles 鈥� tend to create conflict. Inclusive groups 鈥� in which people know each other, appreciate their differences and have common objectives 鈥� are the most successful.

鈥淭hose are the groups that are innovative in a company. Those are the groups that are going to take the company into the future,鈥� said Casanova.

For Ursula Mejia-Melgar, Marketing Director, Southern Europe at Diageo, creating a diverse workplace begins with the individual. 鈥淵ou can do it first and foremost by being yourself, by bringing your full self to work,鈥� Mejia-Melgar said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a personal role that we can each play.鈥�

Then, there are many measures companies must take. 鈥淚t can鈥檛 be the statement alone. It needs to be engrained in the values,鈥� Mejia-Melgar said. That means setting specific targets 鈥� in areas such as female representation in the executive team 鈥� as well as policies like maternity and paternity leave. And then there are a host of other possible actions, such as looking for diverse representations in marketing materials.

Antonio Bebba, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Regional Operations Lead (Europe) at Pfizer, agreed that it鈥檚 a complex process, which involves defining a company鈥檚 values and ensuring every employee knows what they are. Pfizer has started to measure not only business targets but also how much people are living the values as they work towards those targets.

The gain is across the board, and not just for specific groups, he noted. 鈥淒iversity and inclusion impacts every person,鈥� he said.

Psychological Safety and Love

For Lena Lodzinska, Founder and Director of Instituto Inside Out, the basis of an inclusive workplace is creating an environment in which people can speak out, express their ideas and opinions, and be heard. 鈥淭he base for innovation is actually psychological safety,鈥� she said. How to boost psychological safety at work? She identified five ways:

• Nurturing trust and using transparent and inclusive communication
• By leaders embracing candor and being open to constructive and corrective feedback
• Cultivating self-awareness
• Championing a no-blame culture
• Valuing colleagues and employees

The conference ended with a speech by Arthur Brooks, a best-selling author and professor at Harvard Business School, who urged conference attendees to put love at the center of their lives: in their treatment of others, in their approach to friendship and family, in their attitude toward work.

Only by embracing love and genuine relationships do we make meaningful use of our time. Love gives life purpose and is the antidote to loneliness and depression, he said.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e not in the business of love, you鈥檙e doing it wrong,鈥� Brooks said. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e not doing things with love, they mean nothing.鈥�