I have friends from different backgrounds, professions, nationalities and sexualities, and also my family and children represent diversity in education and even in political opinions. Hence, I spend time not only with people similar to myself and that makes the every-day life rich.
I have always worked in an international environment where diversity has played a remarkable role.
For instance, I worked 22 years at Finnair in different positions and at various organizational levels and witnessed the airline business to change from a quite small and infrequent one to a big and diverse one having numerous cultures and countries, work tasks and personnel groups not to forget an inclusive leadership climate.
Creativity Requires True DEI
At Ensto we develop and produce products which minimize climate change, and in order to achieve this, we need creative teams that have an open and inclusive working environment. Here, everyone is encouraged to think differently and express their opinions without the fear of being wrong or being who they are.
It is of utmost importance to enhance the diversity, equity and inclusiveness in all of our daily actions. My team at Ensto consists of members from different ages, genders, nationalities, religions and education – that is truly a fortune and makes every day super interesting and inspiring. I always try to encourage people to be open-minded and raise different views; I want to hear opposite opinions as that is the only way to improve things and make the processes even better.
Committing to DEI as Leaders
We have defined value driven leadership principles, and we all should regularly ask our subordinates what the area is where we as leaders should improve to become even better. Then, based on the answer we shall commit ourselves to drive the development and after a while, ask if there is a change that can be seen. No one is perfect, but we must have the attitude that we want to become better. I hope that all the superiors take the results of our DEI surveys seriously and together with their teams, build a plan on how to improve the opportunity areas and follow the progress. All modern companies develop their DEI activities constantly and are already at a good level in those. Today, DEI is a must-have thing – not a nice-to-have one!
Kirsi-Marja Ura
The writer of the blog is the Senior Vice President HR, Communications & Marketing, Sustainability.