It’s not easy immigrating to a new country and trying to navigate a new workplace with different shorthand, customs, and rules… especially when that workplace isn’t set up so all employees feel seen, heard, and safe no matter their background. This was Ayo Owodunni’s initial experience when he immigrated to Canada from Nigeria back in 2016, before he became a City Counsellor for Kitchener Ontario and a management consultant for large-scale organizations such as Spotify, Canada Life, Microsoft, Thomson Reuters, CIBC, TMX Group and Hydro One.
Seeing as over the past 5 years, Canada has welcomed over 1.5 million immigrants, with 6 out of 10 being economic migrants with years of professional experience and education, Ayo realized fairly quickly in his work that big change needed to happen on the institutional level. This is what inspired him to write his new book, The Immigrant View: The Guide to Helping Immigrants Thrive in Your Organization, to help companies develop a more inclusive culture and take advantage of the extensive skill sets that newcomers to Canada bring to the table as employees.
In this episode, we discuss the specific challenges that immigrants may face in the workplace, the qualities of inclusive leadership, the importance of cultural intelligence, as well as practical steps for building a harmonious and diverse team.
For full episode show notes visit: https://jessicamoorhouse.com/378