Your competition is implementing a diversity awareness program, but they are not just any competition. It's the huge chain with three stores in your city. Managers there can discuss diversity because they have a dedicated human resources department, a head office and a responsibility to comply with Employment Equity legislation because they have more than 500 employees.

But big business hasn't cornered the market on socially responsible business practices. And just because your company's human resources department is a team of one (you), doesn't mean diversity has no impact on your business. Yet when I raise the subject to small business, I usually hear: "We have payrolls to meet, customers to satisfy, business to conduct and we don't have enough staff to do it, so where is there room to discuss diversity?"

But to ignore the impact of diversity, no matter how small your company, is potentially damaging - or at least damaging to your company's potential.

Hiring for diversity is often seen as something that an employer has to do to meet employment equity standards or to appear socially conscious. What a missed opportunity.

Employing a cross-cultural staff can bring a company additional contacts, new ideas, different experiences and unconventional thought processes - thinking out of the box. Research from UCLA professor Carol Kovach indcates that a group from different backgrounds with different mindsets can make a work team and workplace much more effective.

Canada is a cultural mosaic. Even if all of your business is done domestically, it is very likely that many of the people you deal with on a regular basis come from different cultural backgrounds. A client who is originally from Egypt can be very different to do business with than one that was born and raised in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

While some would say that business is business, no matter what culture you are dealing with, that is not the case. Dutch cross-cultural specialist, Geert Hofstede, calls culture 'the software of your mind' and he argues that it has an impact every decision an individual makes. In Germany, for instance, advertisements focus on the technical capabilities of a product because Germans want the facts. In North America, it's the superlatives and catchy pictures that sell.

Cultural software affects buying and selling. In collectivist cultures, the oldest family member often makes all purchasing decisions. In indirect cultures, pressure from a salesperson can be detrimentally intimidating. And imagine how confusing our contracts appear to someone from a country where a verbal contract is legally binding.

There are also occasion when "yes" actually means "no". If you're negotiating with an Indian-born entrepreneur, for instance, and he appears to agree with your terms, be prepared for the deal to stall when it's time to sign. The intent is not to mislead, but in India, it's disrespectful to say no directly. (It helps to know this before you begin negotiations.)

You don't need to be a cross-cultural expert on every nuance of every client's heritage; general understanding helps cope with delays and differences that may crop up. Within your company, make time to spend a session with

your staff or work with a consultant to develop an employee guidebook aimed at raising cultural awareness.