Have you ever wondered why so many of the people responsible for ‘diversity and inclusion’ report to the CEO, or another very senior person? If you are a cynical person you might say that it is because organisations these days need to be seen to be doing the right thing. If you are not so cynical you might explain this by pointing out what could happen to organisations who don’t take diversity seriously. Well there is the risk of law suits which of course is what worried the D&I specialists’ predecessors – the equal opportunities folk. There is also reputation. This is very important and no organisation wants to be considered to be unfair to any group of employees or potential employees.

These ‘away from’ (what they don’t want) motivations are perfectly laudable. However, organisations who are really good at creating a clear line of sight between their diversity strategy and business results have strong ‘towards’ (what they do want) motivations too.

In many countries in the developed and developing world populations are becoming more diverse which means customers and consumers are more diverse in their preferences, values and needs. How can you respond really well to these needs if you don’t have great insight into them? And, with the best will in the world, the best insight comes from them right? So if you are trying to appeal to Generation Y consumers who best to figure out how to do that than your Generation Y employees. If you give them the chance that is. The problem is that a lot of new product and service development work takes place at senior levels of the organisational hierarchy. And those at the top tend to be older. These are the kind of issues that a good Generational Diversity Strategy addresses.

ITV, a British broadcaster recently made a very smart move when they had a group of their high flying graduates devise a mechanism for anyone in the organisation to put forward new programming and content ideas. The scheme has been hugely successful. Senior management have been blown away by the quality of ideas and the thinking behind them. And a large majority of them are being backed. This sort of thinking is common sense but unfortunately most organisations’ structures and procedures block it. A good Generational Diversity Strategy addresses these blocks and ensures that all possible talent is brought to bear on the challenge of innovating and growing.

Recent research by HR Network Europe showed that  only 26% of  200 + European companies surveyed had a Generational Diversity Strategy.  This low number is surprising. Perhaps they don’t have a problem attracting and engaging the best employees and consumers. Or maybe they haven’t thought about what such a strategy would do for them now and to in terms of future retention of employees and clients. Maybe they should take a leaf out of ITV’s book.

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