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Diversity stressors can have organizational benefits.

Avantika Banerjee

There is a significant and growing body of research which establishes the fact that diversity is a material benefit to an organization and is the driver behind innovation, creativity and increased ROI. However because it is also a concept which can create internal conflict, stress and a feeling of “discomfort” among teams – it’s creation and implementation within the organization is not always realized. This discomfort or unease experienced with diversity its implementation and how it impacts people, has its own unintended benefits that organizations should harness to create collaborative, creative and open work spaces. What are the benefits of embracing being uncomfortable vis-a-vis diversity related … Continue reading Diversity stressors can have organizational benefits.

Diversity, Gender Diversity, Global Trends, Leadership, Management, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Diversity Strategy: 6 Factor Analysis

Avantika Banerjee

As organizations tackle gender diversity and appropriate strategies, it is essential to take a step back and ask – Why does your organization want to or for that matter need to build a diversity strategy? Here are 6 foundational factors to consider when analyzing why diversity is important? and what will it help you achieve? Moral/Ethical Value: Are you seeking to implement a diversity strategy because of the moral value associated with it? Because it is the right thing to do? Profit Margins: Do you want to increase your profit margins and positively impact your bottomline? Long Term Growth: Do you want to create a sustainable long … Continue reading Diversity Strategy: 6 Factor Analysis

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Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable – The Gender Lens for Women.

Avantika Banerjee

Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is a premise which is increasingly gaining traction in terms of leadership development and success. There are various articles [e.g. lifehack, inc., inc., forbes, psychtoday] that address this and conversations surrounding it, but a preliminary review reveals, that current literature appears to driven by either a gender neutral or male driven perspective. For women getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is an essential survival skill. It is unique to the challenges that women face in the work sphere. The fact remains, it is an unequal playing field and barriers exist at every stage placing women in uncomfortable … Continue reading Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable – The Gender Lens for Women.

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Unconscious Gender Bias – Identifying & Managing it.

Avantika Banerjee

As organizations seek to build a more diverse and multi-cultural workforce, one of the more significant impediments towards developing an equitable environment are the unconscious gender biases affecting behavior and lack of processes addressing them. Some such points to consider when developing related diversity initiatives are: The trap of “Act like a man” and “Don’t be a girl”. Our socio-cultural environment has common gender normative concepts such as “men don’t cry” or that “women are emotional” that establish behavior and expectations. These concepts are reinforced in the work sphere where women in leadership roles are judged as being masculine or aggressive. Part … Continue reading Unconscious Gender Bias – Identifying & Managing it.

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Diversity’s Last Mile Challenge

Avantika Banerjee

  Be it telecommunications, transportation, public management, government, non-profits, technology services or e-commerce, there is one challenge common to all sectors: the last mile challenge. Simply put –  it is the actions taken that enable the delivery of goods or services to the final destination or to the final consumers/beneficiaries. When viewed from the lens of Diversity, I believe we are at a stage where organizations are facing “Diversity’s Last Mile Challenge”. While there is an increase in corporate leaders, entrepreneurs , government agencies, fortune 500 corporations  as well as startups who are talking about diversity while also implementing diversity … Continue reading Diversity’s Last Mile Challenge

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How to manage a multi stakeholder process

Avantika Banerjee

We all know in some format what a multi stakeholder process looks like; without going into the theory of it, in essence the end goal of this process is it promote better decision making by ensuring that the views of the main actors concerned about a particular decision are heard and integrated at all stages through dialogue and consensus building. This is the UN perspective on it and admittedly one that I am partial towards. That said, having wrangled together a few multi stakeholder processes, here are a few tools that I have used and found beneficial- Draft out a … Continue reading How to manage a multi stakeholder process

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Culture Code: Healthy Organizations 

Avantika Banerjee

While I was spinning away at my soul cycle class, the combination of loud hip hop and motivational words led to honing in on two concepts that can make for a better organizational culture. Embrace your authentic yourself Every team or department has a unique identity and and value proposition. Healthy organizations enable teams to define themselves, embrace their identity and establish their space within the intra organizational dynamic. Set your intent Be it a short term project or long term strategy, setting the intent at the onset establishes the essential road map to be followed. The simple act of … Continue reading Culture Code: Healthy Organizations