Category: Australian Entrepreneurs

Strategies to have an all-inclusive workplace

Undoubtedly, many organisations are striving to have a diverse workforce. This includes individuals of different religions, races, ages and views. It is a meticulous process; it requires much effort and time. Unfortunately, it is not easy to make every member of your workforce feel authentically welcomed.

For your company to have a flawless service delivery, employees need to have a feeling of being appreciated, respected as well as accepted. With the challenge, many organisations struggle to determine how to place diversity and inclusivity (D&I) into practice. 

What does inclusion in the workplace mean? To create a culture where employees will feel welcomed, respected and appreciated is something that requires a robust approach. Look, while getting the right talent in your organisation may seem a solution, it may turn out to be a problem if the employee doesn’t feel included totally.

Inclusivity is a culture that is slowly built, and well accomplished, it leads to reduced turnover and higher performance. Try to recognise unique backgrounds, personalities, experiences as well as the things they do incredibly well, i.e., their strength.

Holding effective meetings

Trust me how employees relate amongst themselves show how much a workplace is inclusive as compared to anything else. The experience that one gets when he/she interacts with colleagues is more impactful on their performance.

When people meet, they share ideas. How they share them can help understand a raft of issues and how to improve them. How meetings are handled again may show the level of inclusivity. Everybody must feel part of a meeting. To so you can:

  • You can distribute the material and agendas to be discussed beforehand. This gives time to the slower calibre to internalise.
  •  In case you have remote workers rotate meetings in different time zones
  •  Have the right technology for virtual meetings in cases of teleworkers. Allow them to fully participate in the meeting.
  • Resist the assumption that you know more than others.

Embrace and celebrate employees’ differences

In a diverse workforce, you expect to have many differences. This is usually the cause of many misunderstandings. To avoid that:

  • Treating each other with respect is essential, regardless of your position in an organisation. Whether they are ideas or opinions, take them with kindness even if you do not agree.
  • Value strength of each of your employees; when you point out the strength of an employee, it motivates them to perfect on it. As such, they’ll do stuff more naturally and effectively. By demonstrating that you value their strength, it can make them identify blind spots related to observing, evaluating or showing respect for others.

Practising fairness

Organisational leaders are obligated to be fair in their undertaking. This starts with hiring workers. If any unfairness is shown, then it alters the angle of inclusivity. Similarly, when it comes to assigning duties, making promotions, or evaluating compensations, every employee needs to be treated fairly.

It is vital to hold Managers accountable for what they do because it is up to their leadership techniques that to foster an organisational culture of transparency, confidence, respect and freedom of expression.

Any organisation must:

  • Try a strength-based work culture – such a culture will encourage, embraces and celebrates each employee’s unique contributions.
  • Focus on the manager: managers are like coaches. They need to cultivate strengths and fostering cohesion and inclusivity continually. Managers appreciate the unique character of each employee.

Australian Entrepreneurs Who Made It Big Time

We are constantly hearing about Ricard Branson, Bill Gates, Donald Trump, etc. who are great entrepreneurs and made millions. Today, I would like to shed some light on our local entrepreneurs who also made great things happen for themselves.

Kerry Packer – Publishing and Broadcasting Limited and Australian Consolidated Press

Kerry Packer was a media mogul and a very wealthy entrepreneur. He was the major shareholder in Publishing and Broadcasting Limited and Australian Consolidated Press. He died in 2005 and left an empire to the value of 4.2 billion dollars. His empire owns shares in several media-related and other fields.

John Ilhan – Crazy John’s

Crazy John’s is the largest privately-owned mobile company in Australia. He was a millionaire before the age of 40 but sadly died at the age of 42. He was a philanthropist and started the Ilhan Food Allergy Foundation.

Rupert Murdoch – The News Corporation of New York

Rupert Murdoch is a name well-known to may. He is a successful businessman and media mogul that is worth billions. He is estimated to be the richest man in the world. He owns several newspapers and telecommunications and media companies.

John Singleton – Various

John Singleton may be the most famous Australian entrepreneur and definitely has an interesting personal life. He started with advertising agencies and from there went into radio and publishing. He has ties to Lonely Planet publications, Qantas Airlines, and Macquarie Media.

Dick Smith – Dick Smith Electronics

Dick Smith started young and at the age of 17, he started Dick Smith Electronics. He has entertained people for a long time with all his antics and unconventional tendencies. He was a philanthropist and loved Australia dearly. One of his greatest achievements was the ‘Australian Geographic’ magazine.

These guys are some of the best businessmen in the world. Their achievements not only made them rich but also did a great deal for Australia and its people.