The Business of We: The Proven Three-Step Process for Closing the Gap Between Us and Them in Your Workplace

by Laura Kriska

Overview

Increase employee retention and productivity and prevent misunderstandings that lead to lost revenue, lost time, and increased legal risk with this leader-focused new approach to understanding, managing, and maximizing organizational diversity, cultural difference, and inclusion.

Success in the marketplace will depend on our ability to collaborate across difference. Yet, inevitably, Us versus Them gaps disrupt workplace efficiency.

The Business of WE:

• Provides a practical roadmap for creating trust with others who are different from ourselves—those who speak another first language, worship in another faith, or see a different reflection when they look in the mirror.
• Helps you create a WE mindset throughout your organization, bringing teams together into cohesive units and increasing employee retention and productivity.
• Walks you through the steps in fostering a workplace that is inclusive and respectful of all employees—one of the most critical, yet most widely mismanaged keys to success.

At a time when stakeholders are demanding real change, and nothing less than comprehensive solutions that lead to meaningful and lasting solutions will suffice—The Business of WE arrives just in time to help you stop Us versus Them gaps before they start and foster authentic connections across race, ethnicity, religion, age, and any other factor of identity to exponentially strengthen your entire organization.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400216802
Publisher:	HarperCollins Leadership
Publication date:	01/12/2021
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	255,511
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Laura Kriska is a leading cross-cultural consultant specializing in communication and teamwork with culturally diverse organizations. For 25 years, she has worked with thousands of professionals in industries including manufacturing, finance, energy, biotech, electronics, entertainment and auto racing.

She has developed a global framework for understanding cultural differences and a process applicable to any multicultural group. Organizations hire her to teach global professionals how to achieve clear communication, strong professional relationships and effective teamwork.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Section I Framing the Organizational Challenge

Chapter 1 Diversity Can Be Divisive: A Growing Problem in a Culturally Varied Organization 13

Chapter 2 The Synergy of Cross-Cultural Compatibility: The Benefits of Bringing People Together 43

Chapter 3 Conventional Wisdom versus Practical Knowledge: The Need to Close Deep Gaps (Rather Than Create Superficial Bridges) 70

Section II The Process

Chapter 4 Foster Gap Awareness 107

Chapter 5 Conduct an Us versus Them Assessment 135

Chapter 6 Create a Gap-Closing Action Plan 156

Section III Moving Forward

Chapter 7 Overcoming Resistance and Apathy: The Obstacles to Achieving Cultural Intelligence 187

Chapter 8 Home Team Advantage: Why the Traditional Majority Culture Must Take the Lead 210

Chapter 9 On Beyond Diversity: The Need for Building Internal Infrastructure 233

Recommended Reading 259

Notes 265

Acknowledgments 279

Index 281

About the Author 291