When I train leaders and organizations I often listen for their thoughts and attitudes on diversity. Leaders who possess self-awareness tend to welcome diversity and are open to finding ways to use it to improve their workplaces. If leaders believe that diverse people can get along and work together well, then they promote diversity; if they think that people can’t be trusted and don’t welcome a variety of viewpoints, then they will be suspicious or fear it.
You get results based on the thoughts you bring to workplace. Some of the words (which come from thoughts) I’ve heard people say that may hinder diversity practices include:
- They’ll never get along.
- They are different than us.
- It’s always been that way.
- Diversity’s a joke, let’s just do it my way.
- I don’t trust that person.
- I bet they’re talking about me.
- I’ve tried everything and nothing works.
- They have an attitude.
As thinking human beings, we have a choice as to how we approach almost any topic including diversity. Think about the phrases above and what kind of results you might get in the workplace if you thought that way. Now think about what kind of results you might observe if you increased your self-awareness and thought along the following lines:
- We can work on this.
- We’ll figure out a way to bring them together.
- I’ll start a conversation with him/her.
- I value different opinions.
- We value all people in this workplace.
- We focus on promoting collaboration, not conflict.
- I’m going to trust that person.
What kind of results would you get if your thoughts were more like these? Think of the effect that might have on your workplace. Diversity is really just a state of mind. What you think about ends up being what you see in your workplace. If you’re self-aware and open to new things, then diversity will be an excellent tool to help you build a high-functioning organization. How will you improve your self-awareness and use diversity as an asset?
Cheers,
Guy