Fuelling Diversity at Workplace

Annoyance may be the best signal of working at the correct edge of diversity. Over-inclusiveness feels intrusive, and stifles individual contributions. People need to learn that someone disagreeing with them does not mean that they are disrespected. But equally we must learn to disagree respectfully. To make inclusion work, the goal is not to find magnets that are strongly attracted, but to manage and maintain the creative tension that comes from open and honest differences. A little bit of disagreement (with respect) creates an environment where ideas can come alive. Diversity is so important to growth and innovation. Here is a fresh new perspective on fuelling Diversity, and not falling prey to compulsive Groupthink.

Emotional Intelligence

Hear Hear!!! Sadly, yet to be accepted and appreciated in many companies… we are still waiting for the day when leaders, HR and managers, staff will listen and stop being too afraid of diversity and the courage of speaking up when things are wrong and need addressing! Change does not come from being afraid or choosing the easy route. It comes from being open to change, to failure (since we are human after all) and accepting failure and listening to all, not just the exclusive few! The importance of Emotional Intelligence in leadership is important for balancing this type of culture. Diversity actually works best when teams are a little uncomfortable and annoyed. You need people to be appropriately disruptive and ask those difficult questions. It’s all about creating an environment where you can safely challenge, it needs trust especially if you want to be truly customer centric.

Related: Words that Define Trust

The Quota System

This whole thing about diversity is off. You don’t want diversity on your team or in your company. You want effective and efficient teams. With an E&E team you can quickly develop and optimize products. You can develop sales and marketing campaigns that are the best in the world. You can run operation, manufacturing, and production better than your competition. You can use your existing capital better. In other words be successful in a world-wide market with world-wide competition. If you could hire all 62-year-old grandmothers, and no one else, that accomplished this E&E organization then do it. It would not be diverse at all but best in the world. You are not striving for diversity. If your diversity is just a masked quota system…. well remember Ayn Rand, we think she covered this a few decades ago.

Diversity at Workplace

Diversity is very important in all walks of like not just on the job but where ever you are and being able to think outside of the box. Inclusion may be periodically annoying, but it need not, should not, and likely would not be agonizing every minute if done right. Groups and individuals build and grow capacity through engaging in conflict-they get more effective and efficient at it through practice, see the benefits, put the pain into perspective and thus perceive it as less and less negative overall. Kinda like working out-it may continue to “hurt” sometimes even after you are” fit,” but one continually puts such short-term, minor pain in a new and larger context. Conversely, running a marathon without working up to it is not a great strategy and does not lead to motivation or sustainability. It takes acute leadership to know how to interpret the value of “noisy complainers”.

Political Correctness

Ironically, the search for inclusion has led to political correctness. A zero tolerance approach to this has silenced diversity and debate, with corresponding reduction in creativity. Organizations definitely need to be further thinking and support and invest in long-term capacity-building and adjust their reward systems accordingly. We all have to get comfortable being uncomfortable. It’s very unproductive to have a group of yes-sayers. Problems could be ignored inside the company, but your customers will not appriciate it. People who find problems and take part in fixing them are creating satisfied customers. And satisfied customers are profits for the company. If diverse culture are so underperforming, then why do companies insist it’s a benefit? Don’t confuse compliance risk with strategy or performance. The truth is that no matter who you are, most people would rather work with others who have the same cultural biases - for exactly the reasons we’ve described above. The ‘tax’ of having everyone modifying their own ethics, morals and cultural biases to some unified front isn’t sustainable. This has been proven time and again.

Bottomline of Fuelling Diversity at Workplace

Psychological safety is indeed one of the most important things we can ask for in the workplace. It is interesting how the word “Diversity” can be used different ways. Diversity is NOT JUST measured by differences in the workforce (gender, race, heritage, discipline, etc). Diversity in the sense of projects, teams, etc. means the differences of point of view, technical knowledge, product knowledge, etc. and have more to do with “what you bring to the table” than about who you are or how you identify yourself. It is interesting how each ingredient, tool, or appliance brought different “talents” to the project of making a cake. The right balance of each, the unique talents of each, and “involvement” of all result in a cake. Any deviation creates a flop. True diversity includes diversity of opinions. “You are entitled to your opinion” is not a platitude, but an actual principle.

Please remember: Diversity does not always mean race, creed, color, sexual orientation, etc.

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