Topics for a Diversity Meeting

Within the small businesses of local communities is a diversity of workers. This population includes people of different cultural backgrounds, ages, genders and levels of experience. When you helm this staff of workers, it is your responsibility to get the most out of your team. Address diversity topics in your staff meetings to smoothly facilitate the operations of your business and to take advantage of the benefits of having a varied workforce.

Share with your workers how a diverse staff increases the economic potential of your business. Diverse staff members are able to attract a diverse set of customers, which equates to more sales. Your company is at an economic advantage when it can hire from a large pool of workers. Explain that you were able to choose the best employees because you had a large number of candidates due to the influx of diverse workers into the job force. Also, explain that hiring a diverse staff contributes to a lower turnover rate because companies that don't hire varied populations are often not committed to inclusion and set themselves up for hostile working conditions.

It is likely that some of your staff members speak English as their second language. The level of their fluency in the primary language spoken in your establishment can cause some issues. Talk to your workers about remedies for these concerns that can ultimately enhance and enrich everyone's work lives. For instance, offer tuition offset for workers who wish to learn English more proficiently and for workers who would like to learn another language commonly spoken in your community and workplace, such as Spanish. The more versatile you and your staff are at in your communications, the better you will be able to understand, share concepts and provide directives.

Inclusion involves actively engaging your workers so that everyone's thoughts, emotions and concepts are considered and celebrated. A diversity meeting can focus on the benefits of a team that encourages collaboration among people of different backgrounds. Promoting group efforts and planning for these in your meeting help workers learn more about each other and enjoy working together; they overcome fears of being able to relate to one another and celebrate both their differences and similarities.

All your employees have individual strengths, particular work methods and interesting ideas. Dedicate time in your diversity meeting to focus on specific attributes that can facilitate the work process and heighten engagement. You might discover, for example, that you have workers who are skilled in calligraphy, website design or landscaping or who possess technical talents. This opens the door to exciting projects, the seeds of which can be sown in your staff meeting. Your workers will leave the gathering inspired and ready to work.