If you look around your plant floor, I’m sure the layout, equipment, and technologies are different today from what they were 10—or even five—years ago. You’ve put time, effort, and money into improving every aspect of your operations. You’ve cut costs and made investments where they were necessary to make your products better, faster, and more cost-effective than the competition.
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Now, what about the intangible parts of your company? Have you invested in your culture and workforce in the same way? Beyond operational excellence, are you seeking inclusive excellence?
To be clear, inclusive excellence is the pursuit of a high-functioning organization where everyone understands their unique role, their expertise in how they contribute to the success of the business, and what their future in the company looks like.
As we know, when organizations are inclusive, they have greater productivity, retention, and profits. The numbers don’t lie:
• A study by McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for ethnic, gender, and racial diversity in management were 30% (or more) likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians.
• The latest research from Korn Ferry shows that 80% of the World’s Most Admired Companies purposely create diverse teams to improve performance and creativity. The research shows that diverse teams make better decisions 87% of the time and are 70% more likely to capture new markets.
• A survey by Deloitte found that 83% of millennial employees feel more empowered to do their best work when they believe their organization fosters an inclusive culture.
• Additionally, inclusive workplaces are more attractive to job seekers. According to a Workday survey, 78% of global leaders say diversity, equity, and inclusion became increasingly important in 2023, with 85% saying they have set aside budgets for DEI initiatives.
To better recruit and retain workers, it’s time for American manufacturers to move beyond simple operational excellence—making processes as efficient and cost-effective as possible—and start thinking about inclusive excellence, which prioritizes people above products and profits. This people-centric model has five aspects, demanding a more thoughtful and intentional approach to:
1. Recruitment. Who are you actively seeking to recruit, and who might you be overlooking, whether by choice or circumstance? What obstacles are there that prevent people from accessing the fantastic career opportunities your company provides? Are your employees delivering the performance you expect? If not, what barriers might be hindering their productivity? It’s crucial to include frontline workers in these conversations because they should be able to say, “Don’t discuss my role without my presence to share my perspectives and opinions.”
2. Training and education. If we want individuals to succeed, we must provide them with the necessary tools and resources to achieve their goals. What assumptions are you making about your employees’ knowledge of your company? This includes technical job skills, interpersonal skills, understanding the organizational culture, and knowledge of the company’s history.
3. Employee engagement. Do your employees feel engaged within the community and outside the business? Does your strategy for recruiting new talent also encompass a plan for retaining them? Are you using the latest technologies to gauge their sentiments and productivity on a monthly, weekly, and even daily basis?
4. Organizational culture. What is the true experience of working at your company? What are your core values, and are your employees genuinely embodying them? Who is excelling at your company, and what factors contribute to their success? You likely don’t have all the answers. Many MEP centers provide assessments of your company’s morale, evaluating both its strengths and weaknesses. These objective, third-party surveys are essential for uncovering hidden issues that affect your workplace and employees’ morale.
5. Organizational infrastructure and investment. What are your company’s employment policies, and how do they promote or impede inclusion? What communication systems are in place? Are they effective? How are performance metrics determined? Many elements of this framework are established by leadership, making it challenging to objectively assess and implement necessary changes. This is where an external consultant, like an MEP center, can be invaluable.
Now that you’ve decided to approach inclusive excellence in a serious way, what are your next steps? Consider the need for FOCUS, using this five-step process.
F: Find specific areas that need attention by using one of the previously mentioned third-party assessments.
O: Outline the path of least resistance to long-term change.
C: Communicate the changes to be considered to ensure everyone’s feedback is collected and reflected upon.
U: Use best practices, and other available resources when possible.
S: Specify the particular attributes about the changes that you see as beneficial.
Take another look at your plant floor. Chances are you know your capital investment strategy, your production processes, and your quality assessment inside and out. But do you have that same meticulous approach to your workforce?
Through inclusive excellence, we can engage our employees and team members, leverage their diversity of perspectives and life experiences, and create organizations capable of solving the complex challenges of our modern world.
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