Diversity

All the ways in which people differ from each other - personality, behaviour, beliefs and attiudes - the lot!

The word diversity includes all the differences that make each of us unique. There is a tendency immediately to think of racial or gender differences, but these are but a fraction of the story. As important (if not more so) are differences in:

• personality
• behaviour
• thinking
• beliefs and attitudes
• motives
• background and culture
• education
• language
• religion
• age
• skills and abilities
• interests.

Everything you can think of that makes people different comes under the broad heading of diversity.

Valuing diversity means reaching beyond how people look or appear and putting value on their behaviour, ideas and perspectives. The verb valuing is absolutely critical (much better than managing diversity). Valuing diversity goes beyond merely accepting it, or even respecting it, and involves genuinely welcoming and benefiting from different points of view. When handled properly (an important proviso) diverse behaviours, ideas and perspectives result in more creativity, better decisions and more synergy. Because every organisation already has diversity to a greater or lesser extent (put any two people together and, unless they are clones, you’ve got diversity) it might as well be turned to advantage. Not to do so needlessly stores up trouble (friction, low cohesion, low morale, high turnover, possible litigation) and wastes an asset that is right there just waiting to be tapped.

There are three operating assumptions that underpin the whole business of valuing diversity:

Assumption 1

Everyone, without exception, has potentially useful ideas to contribute, whatever their skin colour, gender, education and previous experience.

Assumption 2

Ideas, only useful when they are expressed, have to be actively solicited (as opposed to expecting people to volunteer them).

Assumption 3

The quality of decisions increases in direct proportion to the number of different ideas generated: the greater the diversity, the better the eventual decision.

The fundamental skills you need for valuing diversity are outlined here.

• Give people an opportunity to mull things over and prepare their ideas rather than impose spontaneous idea-generating sessions on them. If, for example, you are going to brainstorm (see Creative thinking) give participants advance notice of the topic.
  
  
• Make it clear whether you are in consultative or collaborative mode. This absolutely vital. ‘Consultative’ means you welcome all ideas and will then go away and decide on a course of action. ‘Collaborative’ means you want people to join you as equal partners in reaching a decision together. The latter is much more ambitious than the former. Increasing and broadening consultation is a good way to start demonstrating that you value diversity.
  
  
• Err on the side of consulting individuals rather than people en masse. Pressures to conform, acquiesce and not lose face are much greater in a group, which militates against the diversity of ideas. Also people are more likely to feel inhibited and reluctant to speak up in a group - especially if there are some opinionated people present (as there always are in a diverse group).
  
  
• Avoid putting people on the spot by asking them bluntly for their ideas. ‘Sidle up’ to their ideas by finding out how things are going, what is going well, and what could go better. It is up to you to winkle ideas out rather than have them handed to you on a plate.
  
  
• Listen like mad without interrupting and use the usual ‘I’m listening’ signals. Ban any behaviour on your part that indicates displeasure or disagreement. Weighing up the ideas and judging their usefulness comes later as a separate act. Gathering ideas and judging them as you go along are activities that simply don’t mix. Just stick to neutral paraphrases of the idea and supplementary questions.
  
  
• Always thank people for their ideas and explain what you are going to do next (eg consult more widely, make your mind up, announce a decision next Wednesday).
  
  
• Subsequently, give people feedback to help them see you valued their ideas. This is especially important if their ideas were not incorporated into the eventual decision.