Article: The Power of Diversity in the Workplace
“The variety of life is our insurance policy. Our own lives and livelihood depend on it.” Said United Nations Environment Program
Life on earth is abundant and immensely diverse. The term “biological diversity,” designates the world’s species, ranging from the smallest bacteria to the giant sequoias; from earthworms to eagles. This community of life is called the biosphere, and humans are an integral part of it.
Just as the natural world benefits from connectedness we can benefit from being connected to each other. Commercial organizations need diversity to become more creative. Harnessing the power of workplace diversity has become an important issue for management today.
Make sure you are not left behind. The first action to be taken is to decide that diversity has a role in optimizing company performance. The next decision is to devise a plan and start learning about your employee’s aspirations, abilities, ways of thinking and personal and professional commitments and goals.
Creating an open door policy for those that wish to take advantage of learning from a leader would send a very strong message not only to your employees but to all the leadership in the organization for them to do the same. By embracing diversity a leader may discover new approaches to problem solving and creating efficiencies in the workplace.
Diversity a leadership competency:
- The effective leader or manager listens to all contributors without prejudice, rather than listening to just a chosen few. Not listening because of a low view of the employee restricts the amount of information to make good decisions. On the other hand having a high regard for certain favorite individuals may cause one to give greater importance to the message than the message deserves.
- Delegating projects to those who are qualified rather than just a few ‘deserving souls’ sustains a cooperative and motivating work environment.
- A clearly defined job description and measureable accountabilities contributes to productive performance reviews. Holding all employees both seasoned and new to the accountabilities the job requires is practicing diversity.
A human body has many different members such as hands, feet, arms, etc. Each member is important to the overall health and functioning of the body. Your mouth would never say to your hand, I have no need of you. Treating your company as if it were a living body, each employee from the cleaning staff to the president is viewed and treasured as important.
Connectedness means treating all employees with respect and understanding. Create and execute strategies that will tap into your human capital assets making diversity the heart and soul of your culture.
About Jason Kleid: Jason is focused on optimizing performance and getting results. Underscoring this philosophy is a belief that it is always the individuals in any organization, where the greatest potential for improvement and possibility of change resides. It is the mind (ones thinking) where new ideas broaden understanding and cause things to happen. However, it is the heart (inner person/motivation) where transformation occurs.