Why Must we Embrace Diversity?

Diversity is about empowering people. It makes an organisation effective by capitalising on all the strengths of each employee. It is not the Employment Equity Opportunities or Affirmative Action. These are laws and policies. While on the other hand, diversity is trying to understand, valuing and using differences in every person.

Simply enforcing government regulations will not get you to be the best. To obtain that competitive edge you need to create work teams by using the full potential of every individual. Teams are much more than a group. A group is a collection of individuals where each person is working towards his or her own goal, while a team is a collection of individuals working towards a common team goal or vision. This helps to create a synergy effect with teams… that is one plus one equals more than one. An individual, acting alone, can accomplish much; but a group of people acting together in a unified force can accomplish great wonders. This is because team members understand each other and support each other. Their main goal is to see the team accomplish its mission. Personal agendas do not get in the way of team agendas. Personal agendas are a huge waste upon an organisation’s resources because they do not support its goals. By using the synergy effect of teams you create a competitive advantage over other organisations that are using people acting alone. You are getting more for your efforts!

If team members do not accept others for what they are, they will not be able to use the abilities of others to fill in their weak areas. Hence, the team effort will fail. Their only goal becomes the ones on their personal agendas … to make them as an individual look good while ignoring the needs of the team and the organisation.

Embracing diversity is the first item for a leader to consider in building effective teams. Every team building theory states that to build a great team, there must be a diverse group of people on the team, that is, you must avoid choosing people who are only like you.

Diversity is what builds a team … a team will not be built if every member of the team does not embrace diversity.

Why is Embracing Diversity a Challenge?

Our bias and prejudice are deeply rooted within us. From the moment we are born, we learn about our environment, the world, and ourselves. Families, friends, peers, books, teachers, idols and others influence us on what is right and what is wrong. These early learnings are deeply rooted within us and shape our perceptions about how we view things and how we respond to them. What we learn and experience gives us our subjective point of view known as bias. Our biases serve as filtering devices that allow us to make sense of new information and experiences based on what we already know.

Many of our biases are good as they allow us to assume that something is true without proof. Otherwise, we would have to start learning anew on everything that we do. But, if we allow our bias to shade our perceptions of what people are capable of, then the bias is harmful. We start prejudging others on what we think that they cannot do. When people communicate, they also use these biases or filters. For example, if you know a person as a heavy drinker and the person tells you he was in a fight last night, then you may draw the picture of the person in a bar-room brawl.

On the other hand, if you know the person as a boxer and he told you the same thing, then you would probably visualise the person in the boxing ring. Where these biases become destructive is when we prejudge others.

Simply giving a class on diversity will not erase these biases. Indeed, even the best training will not erase most of these deeply rooted beliefs. Training can only help us to become aware of them so that we can make a conscious effort to change.

Embracing diversity is more than tolerating people who are different. It means actively welcoming and involving them. Developing an atmosphere in which it is safe for all employees to be different, asking for help if needed, etc. People should not be viewed as weak if they ask for help. This is what helps to build great teams – joining weakness with strengths to get the goal accomplished.

Actively seeking information from people from a variety of backgrounds and cultures. Also, including everyone on the problem solving and decision-making process.

Including people who are different from you in informal gatherings such as lunch, coffee breaks and spur of the moment meetings. Creating a team spirit in which every member feels a part of.

What Exactly Does Diversity Include?

Click here to view a video that explains the The Importance of Diversity In The Workplace

Diversity is not only black and white, male and female, homosexual and heterosexual, Jew and Christian, young and old etc.; but the diversity of every individual, slow learner and fast learner, introvert and extrovert, controlling type and people type, scholar and sports –person, liberal and conservative, etc. Although it includes gender and racial differences, it goes beyond that to touch on the fabric of our everyday lives.

This is what leaders need to focus on … helping people to realise that it takes a wide variety of people to become the best and that they need to have the ability to be able to rely on everyone in their team, no matter how different another person may be. An organisation needs controllers, thinkers, dreamers, doers, strategisers, analysers, organisers and team builders to reach the goals that make an organisation the best.

Organisations need an extremely diverse group of people on each and every team. Most organisations picture diversity in very limited terms. The essence of diversity should NOT be to picture diversity as race, religion, sex, age; but to picture it as the uniqueness that is built into every individual. Only by accepting the uniqueness of others, will people want to help the team as a whole to succeed.

How we tend to categorise people:

• Worker characteristics
• Personal characteristics
• Traditions
• Differences characteristics
• Seniority
• Position level
• Experience
• Union or Non-union
• Salaried or Exempt
• Education
• Training
• Sexual orientation
• Physical status
• Ethnic background
• Religious background
• Socio economic status
• Culture
• Marital status
• Gender
• Age

It is these characteristics and experiences that make a worker unique. Diversity occurs when we see all these unique characteristics and realise that workers are more valuable because of their differences.