Diversity and inclusion: what is the importance for Cultural Transformation?
Diversity and inclusion is a topic that has been increasingly debated within companies, and these changes have been happening for a number of factors, from the appreciation of changes in society, advancement of technology, through the creation of new inclusion laws and the search for innovative solutions.
According to a survey conducted by Accenture, called Getting to Equal 2019: Creating a Culture That Drives Innovation , for companies to reach the goal of being more innovative, they need to invest in structuring actions for diversity and inclusion.
This is because, in this way, it is possible to create a culture of innovation in the corporate environment.
In this same study, other factors were pointed out, such as: an inclusive company makes the environment more conducive to having safer employees to propose new ideas, that is, they do not see barriers to proposing disruptive actions.
A data that proves the fact pointed out by the study is that more diverse companies have a culture of innovation 600% greater than those with a low degree of diversity. In addition, even compared to organizations with a medium level of diversity, the culture of innovation is still twice as high in companies that have D&I projects.
And to help more companies take the first step towards a more inclusive culture, Blend Edu , a startup focused on innovation for diversity, operates in the market to train and mobilize people within organizations to take strategies from paper and put them In practice.
“Diversity is inviting us to a party, inclusion is inviting us to dance” — Vernā Myers
Why are more and more companies investing in D&I?
According to research by McKinsey & Company, companies with the greatest gender diversity are 27% more likely to outperform others in terms of long-term value creation .
In addition, for startups and companies looking for investment to boost their growth, having a well-defined diversity and inclusion strategy has been a criterion taken into account in investor contributions, as Larry Fink, Global CEO of BlackRock , the largest asset management company in the world.
These are just some of the countless studies that show how working on this issue internally positively impacts the organization, strengthens the institutional image and value, increases financial returns and enhances team collaboration and innovation.
Putting diversity and inclusion into practice in organizations
Leaders of several companies already know that diversity is a necessary , sustainable and profitable topic, but, many times, they do not know how to apply these solutions on a daily basis.
Many professionals, when faced with the subject for the first time, may ask themselves: where to start? How to create a diversity and inclusion project in the company? How to optimize my budget and invest in stocks?
With the objective of supporting companies on this path, as a form of support for the theme, Blend created the first business community focused on diversity and inclusion, called Diversidade SA . An environment to drive benchmarking , collaboration and continuous learning about diversity and inclusion in an accessible and low-cost way.
The Diversidade SA community brings together, in a single place, several features, such as: live events for all employees of your organization, with big names in the market — such as Rita von Hunty, Emicida and Lázaro Ramos — , learning trails and online courses to support the advancement of this theme, in addition to case presentations and good market practices with companies that are at a more advanced level of maturity for D&I.
As part of the community, companies are able to keep the theme alive throughout the year — at an affordable price, and in a collaborative way.
And that’s why 100 Open Startups partnered with Blend Edu, to further leverage these solutions and transformations within more companies.
“What we have observed is that, although large companies are already working with the theme, this issue still cannot reach startups and small companies spread across Brazil. However, we already know that investors and stakeholders are demanding this position from organizations. Precisely for this reason, we joined 100 Open Startups to put diversity into practice in the ecosystem, bringing scalable solutions with low investment costs. In addition to bringing innovation to a niche that can often be considered “traditional” in the way it operates”, comments Davi Gelenske, Partner and Commercial Coordinator at Blend Edu.
Who is Blend Edu?
Transform organizations by leveraging diversity. This is the great purpose of the startup Blend Edu, which since 2018 has been working within companies with the aim of creating bridges for a more plural and inclusive future.
The organization creates projects, training and solutions to drive a cultural transformation, having already co-created with companies such as TIM, Grupo Boticário, Embelleze, Cielo, Dasa, Globo, among others.
Blend operates through several pillars, including diagnostic projects and strategic consulting, courses, lectures, workshops, in addition to sensory and immersive experiences to raise awareness among teams.
Learn more about the startup at this link or send a message to the email: contato@blend-edu.com .
