Shifting Workforce Demographics Highlight Need for Diversity Management

Similar to the U.S. population itself, America’s labor force of over 168 million workers has been changing for decades. It’s older, better educated, and increasingly diverse. 

Research repeatedly shows that diversity is positive for work teams, offering many performance benefits because of the multiple perspectives it brings to problem-solving, decision making, and innovation. However, the benefits of workforce diversity are not automatic. 

There is also potential for negative effects. Diversity can easily lead to interpersonal tension that reduces collaboration and communication. 

Projections of growing workforce diversity, along with its potential to bring both benefits and challenges, highlight the need for organizations to create conditions that ensure diversity has a positive impact on employees and performance.

A closer look at workforce diversity

While racial diversity is often the first thing people think of when it comes to workplace diversity, differences in employee characteristics can also be seen at a deeper level. 

Age, gender, race, and visible disabilities are surface level differences. Deep-level diversity takes into account one’s personality, attitudes, values, and cognitive abilities. As a result, even if the surface-level diversity is low (e.g., workers are of similar age), their personal values (e.g., work ethic or political views) may vary greatly.

All types of diversity can strongly detract from or strongly enhance work.

What does this mean for organizations?

First, it’s important to note that diversity management to this point has been largely shaped by legal concerns – preventing bias and discrimination. While these measures can help build a diverse workforce, they don’t address how to avoid the tension sometimes created by diversity. And they don’t consider how to capitalize on the potential benefits.

The goal of a diverse work team is synergy – everyone blending their strengths and perspectives to produce exceptional results. Results that are better than could be achieved with a more homogenous team.

To do this, organizations must shift from a perspective of creating diversity and preventing tension to one of ensuring the open exchange and use of divergent ideas. 

Discover development programs to build synergy in a diverse workforce.

What do these interventions look like? 

Inclusion is crucial for encouraging this free exchange of ideas. It broadens our understanding of diversity to encompass individuals' deeper personal characteristics, not just legally protected categories.

1. Signal sincere support for diversity at every level. 

Respect and interest in employees’ unique perspectives is the goal. Leaders, managers, or team leads should clearly identify the behaviors they expect from the team. They should also model these behaviors – always seeking to understand and show appreciation for diverse perspectives. 

Say: “That’s an interesting approach – can you walk me through your thinking? I want to make sure we’re considering all angles.”

2. Make team members aware of individual contributors’ expertise. 

When the team knows their colleague’s skills, they can more easily tap the experience and expertise of everyone at the table.

Say: “I want to take a moment to recognize the unique strengths each of you bring to the team. Jordan has deep experience in data analysis and helps us interpret trends. Priya is our go-to for client communications – she’s great at translating technical details into clear, engaging messages. Lena’s expertise in UX design ensures our solutions are user-friendly and accessible. As we move forward, I encourage you to lean on each other’s strengths and collaborate openly. It’s how we can succeed as a team.”

3. Team leaders should be trained in how to elicit ideas and input from everyone.

The goal is to integrate diverse perspectives to the job at hand. Achieve this by guiding discussion, asking all members to share their views, and inviting thoughts and concerns that are different, rather than promoting agreement with things already voiced. 

Say: “I really value the different experiences everyone brings to the table. Let’s take a few minutes to hear from each person before we make a decision.”

4. Team members should be trained on how to make decisions as a group. 

   Once various views are offered, the aim is not to choose the “right” one, but rather to combine and build on the best aspects of all the ideas. This process takes practice. Team leaders must model this behavior of inviting diverse perspectives and seeking their integration rather than choosing one perspective over others. 

Say: “We’ve heard some really strong ideas, and rather than choosing one direction outright, I’d like us to explore how we might combine the best parts of each.”

5. Offer diversity training for employees.

   Trust and mutual understanding are not limited to management. Individual contributors can greatly influence the motivation and feelings of psychological safety of team members. Training can help employees all operate from the same understanding of teamwork, information sharing, tolerance, and fairness.

Say: “Every idea matters here. Even if we don’t use a suggestion exactly as it’s presented, it can still spark new thinking or lead us to a better solution. So please don’t hold back. All your contributions are appreciated.”

6. Have accountability structures in place. 

How will you confirm that the team has integrated input from all members? The structure should include both processes and checkpoints. 

Some examples: Rotate the facilitator role so a different team member is responsible for ensuring every voice is heard. Create a shared document where ideas are recorded. Spend the final 5 minutes of meetings considering whether all voices were heard. Survey team members to determine if they feel heard. After reviewing these items, meet with any individual team members when you see patterns of exclusion or dominance.

7. Reflect on and celebrate collaboration. 

When a project is successful, reflect on the collaborative process. Point out the team’s effort. Do recognize individual contributions, but focus on the fact that everyone worked together to reach the goal.

Diversity alone is not the end goal. It doesn’t matter how diverse a team is on the surface if some members are excluded or made to feel that their contributions are inferior. True synergy means building supportive team climates driven by leadership and reinforced with employee-level behaviors.