Most companies tout a strong commitment to diversity, but the exact meaning of the effort isn’t always clear. What’s more, the effectiveness of such a commitment is often uncertain. Are hiring quotas an adequate means to achieving workplace diversity and the enhanced performance it promises? Not according to many studies, which indicate that the diversity movement isn’t necessarily creating better organizations.

The problem appears to be that many companies put all their efforts into attracting diverse candidates but drop the ball when it comes to giving people reasons to stay. For all the progress that’s been made in hiring practices, the full benefits of diversity have yet to be realized.

Getting past the rhetoric

To be sure, many organizations have diversity programs that extend well beyond basic hiring quotas or affirmative action goals. But too often, such programs tend to focus on rudimentary training in workplace awareness and behavior. The result is that diversity exists within the workplace, but is not necessarily of the workplace.

In contrast, achieving true diversity depends on fostering an inclusive environment where everyone is encouraged to contribute. It also depends on strengthening the mental and emotional health of the workforce at every level. This often means addressing the issue of “rankism,” prevalent in many companies.

Rankism is believed to be one of the key reasons workplace diversity may not be thriving. It can be as obvious as bureaucratic hierarchical structures and highly stratified organization charts, or as subtle as simply ignoring the value that diverse perspectives can offer. Whether fully exploiting differences or altogether discounting them, workplace rankism is a conspicuous demarcation between the purported “somebodies” and the so-called “nobodies.” It’s a polarizing practice that alienates people, making them feel undervalued and underused. And most importantly, it undermines an organization’s development by discouraging contributions from a diverse employee population—a population that, based on sheer demographics, represents both the future of every company’s viable employment base and its efforts to successfully compete.

In order to genuinely realize the wide-ranging potential that diversity can have on an organization’s success, companies and their leaders must go beyond simply meeting regulatory requirements or just encouraging etiquette. They must complement their efforts to attract and hire a diverse employee base with active steps to retain and wholly integrate them.

From attitude to assimilation

Clearly, a company’s structure and work practices can optimize the value of diversity and help create high-performance teams. But doing so requires a commitment to diversity management. Overall, the most significant efforts linked to sustained performance gains are integration and learning.

When group members are encouraged to bring all relevant insights and perspectives into the workplace, and when teammates are consciously interested in learning from one another’s skills, experiences, and perspectives, then the impact of diversity on performance is substantial. What’s more, high-performing diverse teams practice respect for both people and their ideas, and their company’s leadership diligently works to make all employees feel they belong and are positioned to be successful.

It’s important to remember that establishing a workforce that embraces diversity is an ongoing process. Organizations must not only build a strong diversity initiative, they must link it to their overall business success. They must set the stage so that everyone is allowed to maximize his or her potential in order to achieve the organization’s goals.

Also, inner diversity is as important to an organization’s overall development as are cultural differences. Companies can reap benefits by understanding and channeling various personality and behavior styles to better suit workplace objectives.

The right thing to do is also good for business

Diversity can be an incredibly powerful tool for an organization. A diverse workforce provides invaluable insights that benefit a company’s decision-making, its operations, its marketing, its success. To extract the wide benefits of diversity, it must be constantly cultivated and it must pervade the organization. But diversity can only be truly effective when actions go beyond compliance.