Key Points

• Lean Six Sigma and diversity are an ideal choice for navigating the complexities of modern society.
• A diverse workforce brings a wealth of different experiences and points of view.
• Institutional learning on the whole is strengthened by a diverse workforce.

Lean Six Sigma and diversity are natural partners when looking at continuing current efforts or even starting brand-new projects. There is something to be said about what diversity brings to the table in a grander scope. Diversity is a wonderful thing, and something worth integrating into any workforce on a larger scale.

So, with that in mind, we will take a closer look at Lean Six Sigma and diversity. We’ll look at how these principles align with LSS and why you’ll want to start building more diverse teams going forward. It isn’t just something that you do for lip service, but rather something that can benefit your organization as a whole.

What Is Diversity in the Context of a Business?

In business, diversity can be seen in a few different ways. The primary definition we work with is the presence of a wider range of individuals. That means people from different walks of life, different ethnicities, and even sexual orientations. Now, this is a controversial topic in recent memory, but diversity is something that benefits organizations.

As you’ll discover when you explore Lean Six Sigma and diversity, you want that greater cross-section of society on the whole. Now, you might gear your products or services toward a specific demographic, but that is only part of the equation when looking at the overall market. Ideally, you’re trying to sell to as many individuals as you can across all demographics.

Further, having a diverse team or workforce is going to benefit your organization in the long run. When you’re varying up things like experiences, knowledge, and points of view, you have a far greater breadth to draw from when developing institutional knowledge. It isn’t simply enough to acknowledge those of different backgrounds, but instead invite them to the table.

What Encompasses Diversity as a Whole

Diversity isn’t just about hiring people of a different ethnic background. That’s well and good, of course, but that paints a rather reductive and narrow picture of things. Instead, a diverse workforce is one that not only acknowledges those with different ethnic backgrounds, experiences, and so forth, but also includes them.

Having a workforce that is truly mixed and different has greater standing benefits than you might think. Historically, there is perhaps something to be said about homogeneous workforces. However, the more practical line of thought in the modern era is that you’re missing out sorely by not including these individuals as both a segment of the market, but also as members of your team.

As such, what encompasses diversity isn’t simply gunning for sales or token hires. Instead, you’re looking to make these individuals an integral part of both your team and your customer base. The United States is a diverse place, and you’re missing out if you haven’t started looking into integrating diverse lines of thinking in your organization.

Looking at Lean Six Sigma and Diversity

So, with a bit of this out of the way, let’s take a closer look at Lean Six Sigma and diversity. Realistically, you aren’t changing much with the way things are done in the workplace. You’re still leveraging and using the same tools and methods you’re used to. Instead, a diverse workforce gives you a competitive edge of sorts when it comes to things like solving problems, learning from past mistakes, and innovating on the whole.

This isn’t an overnight process by any means, and is one that some organizations are going to struggle with. Ultimately, if you aren’t a diverse organization right now, it’s going to take months to years to make the switch and reap the benefits. However, there’s never a better time to start than right now.

Today, we’re outlining the benefits of the intersection of Lean Six Sigma and diversity. Some of this might seem quite obvious after a bit of thought. However, it behooves anyone to pursue these sorts of goals to increase their competitive standing and better represent both their customers and stakeholders.

Enhanced Problem Solving

Solving problems and making decisions based on data are cornerstones of the Lean Six Sigma way of doing things. When looking at Lean Six Sigma and diversity, you’ve got an edge when it comes to approaching problems. Not only are you pulling from the same well of data that you’re used to using, but you’ve also got varied viewpoints to temper that data.

This is something seen in the likes of software development quite heavily. Often if you’re pulling talent from the same educational institutions, they’re going to have a similar way of doing things. As such, when it comes time to debug or fix critical errors, they might run into their implicit biases and struggle to ascertain what is wrong with things.

A diverse workforce, pulling from different experiences, is going to allow for some outside-of-the-box thinking when it comes to solving those same issues. All experiences are valid when it comes to getting results, and this is one area where a diverse workforce shines.

Increased Creativity and Innovation

Ultimately, a diverse team is going to be more creative than a homogeneous team. This is at no fault of the homogeneous team. When you’re pulling from different experiences, there are ultimately going to be different solutions to getting the intended results.

A 2015 study by Max Nathan and Neil Lee highlights this sort of thinking. Nathan and Lee go on to state that diverse groups “leverage a wider pool of perspectives and skills.” The study goes on to show just how effective having a diverse workforce can be in terms of not only creativity, but also delivering the results to your intended demographic.

As such, when looking at Lean Six Sigma and diversity, you aren’t just looking at solving problems more effectively, but approaching creative solutions you might not have considered at all.

Reduction of Bias in Decisions

Try as we might, everyone has biases and prejudices they carry with them. We can learn to reduce these behaviors and work past them. However, in a vacuum, these are going to influence the decisions we make and how we approach said decisions in the first place. That said, a diverse workforce is going to make operating past those limits far easier than you might think.

A different point of view can help us get out of the tired routines and biases we carry in our heads. Additionally, it can help to remove or even temper those biases when making decisions that will impact our organizations on a larger scale.

Better Overall Communication

Diversity takes work to accomplish. I’m not talking just in terms of ethnic diversity, but also in things like cognitive diversity. As such, when you’ve put in the legwork and established a workforce that embraces Lean Six Sigma and diversity alike, you’re opening the pathway to greater and stronger forms of communication.

Keeping an open feedback loop is paramount to the success of any organization leveraging these sorts of business methodologies. However, when you’ve taken the time to establish a diverse workforce, you’re arming your workforce with the means to effectively communicate their ideas in a frank, honest manner while encouraging them to listen to different points of view.

Stronger Collaborative Efforts

When you have a homogeneous team, it’s a lot more difficult to make your employees feel valued when it comes to their contributions and standing during a project. If they are ultimately bringing similar lines of thinking and doing things to the fore, then they can feel like little more than a cog in a greater machine.

When embracing diversity, employees can see their unique points of view as a benefit, rather than the norm.

Enhancing Culture of Learning

Our final point today rests on organizational learning. Any organization is going to develop its institutional knowledge over time. We learn from the mistakes and successes, and better apply those lessons to the projects we start tomorrow. A diverse workforce brings varied experiences that allow us to achieve a better understanding when learning, and it allows for the strengthening of standard operational procedures and best practices.

Other Useful Tools and Concepts

Want something else to go with your morning coffee? You might want to take a closer look at the psychology behind the resistance to change you might experience at your organization. Chang is always a touchy subject, but our guide covers how to best navigate the issue.

Additionally, you might want to consider what the future of Lean Six Sigma holds. New technologies are emerging all the time, and learning how these developments are going to impact LSS is important for the overall success of your organization in the future.

Conclusion

Lean Six Sigma and diversity are a natural fit, and one you’ll want to combine as soon as humanly possible. You aren’t only gaining a better representation of both your stakeholders and your customers, but you’re also strengthening your organization for the future.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©Ground Picture/Shutterstock.com.