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October 2007 - Diversity in the Workplace
- What is Diversity?
- What Can We Do to Promote Diversity Awareness?
- What Can We Do as Leaders?
- Differences between Diversity, Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity
- Categories that might be considered in diversity programs
- Summary
- Resources (links, books, articles, the lighter side)
Diversity
in the Workplace
What is "Diversity"? 
Diversity is recognizing that there are many different individuals at work, each one with a unique set of characteristics, talents, gifts, skills, personality traits, physical abilities, background, appearances, thoughts, feelings, beliefs and viewpoints. It is the variety of those differences that make the workplace a diverse place.
Diversity awareness helps us to appreciate those differences rather than complaining about why someone "isn’t exactly like me" in thought, behavior, ability or in any other way.
Once we change our focus from seeing the differences to appreciating the uniqueness, we can see the glorious patterns that these differences can bring to us. They enable our workplace to tap into a richer variety and find more creative ways to solve everyday challenges.
In learning about diversity, we learn to appreciate that everyone really is unique and has unique talents, feelings, gifts, thoughts, personalities, histories, beliefs, etc. It’s like the Fall leaves turning a wide variety of brilliant colors. It is because of the great variety that we can really see and appreciate the differences. Yet, the combination provides a beautiful tapestry that is only beautiful because of its great variety. So, rather than put people in small boxes with labels, we can just let them be whatever they are in all their glory and learn more about a wider variety of people, even if they see things very differently than we do. Or, more importantly, we can appreciate people because they see things differently than we do.
Cornell University describes diversity this way: "Diversity is about learning from others who are not the same, about dignity and respect for all, and about creating workplace environments and practices that encourage learning from others and capture the advantage of diverse perspectives."
Max DePree writes in Leadership is an Art:
"The simple act of recognizing diversity in corporate life helps us to connect the great variety of gifts that people bring to the work and service of the corporation."
"A whale is as unique as a cactus. But don’t ask a whale to survive Death Valley. We all have special gifts. Where we use them and how determines whether we actually complete something."
"When we think about the people with whom we work, people on whom we depend, we can see that without each individual, we are not going to go very far as a group. By ourselves, we suffer serious limitations. Together we can be something wonderful."
"In addition to all of the ratios and goals and parameters and bottom lines, it is fundamental that leaders endorse a concept of persons. This begins with an understanding of the diversity of people’s gifts and talents and skills. Recognizing diversity gives us the chance to provide meaning, fulfillment and purpose, which are not to be relegated solely to private life any more than such things as love, beauty and joy. The art of leadership lies in polishing and liberating and enabling those gifts."
What Can We Do to Promote Diversity Awareness?
Training is usually a key step in promoting diversity awareness. There are a myriad of courses that can be purchased or created to teach people the value of diversity.
Employers can also provide day-to-day opportunities to showcase the talents of the workforce. For example, create a diversity committee in the company and ask them to set a theme each month to highlight some type of diverse trait of their workplace.
Some examples of thematic diversity programs:
- Focus on veterans with stories, photos, examples of uniforms
- Focus on the creative abilities of employees, whether artistic, dramatic, written etc.
- Focus on a specific heritage or culture, including speakers, exhibits, dress, articles, photographs
- Invite a native dance group from a local school or community group to perform during the lunch hour
- Invite a music group from a local school or community group to perform during the lunch hour
- Focus on history lessons on how a particular group contributes to the US (or to whatever country you are in).
- Hold a potluck lunch with an international theme. Ask employees to bring different types of food to share, charge a small amount to sample each type of food and donate the proceeds to a local charity.
- Provide open discussion groups as "brown bag" lunches with a variety of employees who are willing to participate to talk about their particular background, origin or special interest
- Invite professional or community expert speakers to talk about diversity.
- Sponsor storytelling events where ordinary people or professionals can provide stories about their heritage
- Invite children from a local school to visit the workplace. Create programs to teach them about the type of work you do and let them meet with employees to exchange ideas and thoughts.
- Schedule visits to various parts of your business so employees can learn more about others who work in different parts of the business.
What Can We Do as Leaders?
As leaders, our job is to set a good example and to teach others what we expect from them. We can that by recognizing the many talents and gifts of our employees. When someone complains about someone who does something differently, we can encourage the complainer to consider the unique value the other person brings to the workplace. We can teach people to look for the positive traits of others not for the differences. We can be a role model for respect and dignity no matter what we do and no matter who we are working with.
We can "walk our talk" by participating in diversity training and diversity events with employees. We can sponsor events and programs that encourage diversity and the great variety of talents our employees possess.
We can learn more ourselves, ask questions and be willing to see things differently. We can reach out to a variety of people for opinions and ask for more information when we don’t understand something that someone says or does, instead of judging them to be "wrong" just because they see the world differently.
Differences between Diversity, Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity
Diversity is inclusive of everyone and recognizes that we all have unique differences from each other. Diversity seeks to see those differences in a positive way for the betterment of our business.
Affirmative Action is taking proactive steps to reach out to different groups for education, hiring or recruiting practices. For example, advertising jobs in community news media, ethnic associations, special purpose membership groups, etc. It also means active recruiting that tries to reach members of minority or under-represented groups. Most "quotas" for affirmative action have been eliminated since the quotas themselves became a method for discrimination against some groups.
Equal Opportunity laws provide a legal basis for non-discrimination in employment, education and housing
Categories that might be considered in
diversity programs
Legally "protected" categories:
The US Federal government has a number of categories that cannot be used to
discriminate against someone in employment. The US employment categories
are: age, sex, pregnancy, race, national origin, disability, religion,
retaliation and sexual harassment. Included in retaliation are a variety of
protected actions such as filing a charge of discrimination, opposing unlawful
practices, picketing in opposition to discrimination and refusing to obey an
order reasonably believed to be discriminatory. Union membership is
protected by federal labor laws.
Additional protected categories:
Many individual states, cities, counties or
countries have additional categories that are protected. Some examples we
found include:
Presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability; Use of a trained dog
guide or service animal; Creed; Citizenship; Ancestry; Perception of Age; Sexual
Orientation including Gender Identity and Gender Expression; Marital Status;
Family Status; Family Responsibilities; Domestic Partnership Status;
Whistle-Blowers in government jobs; Atypical Hereditary Cellular or Blood Trait;
Genetic Information; Arrest Record; Unfavorable Military Discharge; Filing a
Workers’ Compensation Claim; Height; Weight; Source of Income; Socioeconomic
Status; Educational Association, AIDS/HIV Status; Civic Interest; Political
Affiliation. An exhaustive search would probably turn up even
more.
Other diversity categories to consider:
Political views; foreign language; regional or national
accent; how someone uses
the English language; education; ergonomics issues; physical appearance; tenure
or seniority; socio-economic status; personal values; morals;
life philosophy; moral beliefs; parental status; learning styles; communication
styles; working styles
and methods; energy levels; early birds vs. late-nighters; personal interests;
personality; geographic origin; family origin; past history; local customs;
skills; talents; abilities; health and medical needs; goals; diet preferences; exercise
preferences; and free speech.
Summary
Diversity is so much more than legal "protected categories." With such great variety in diverse characteristics, we can easily see that we have a wide variety of areas to be aware of and a great variety of people to learn more about.
Internet Resources
- Cornell University Library "workplace diversity" resources
http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/research/subjectGuides/workplaceDiversity.html - Highlights from Leadership is an Art "http://www.giftedleaders.com/LeadershipIsAnArt.pdf
- Leadership is an Art excerpt "http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadershop/0324-8excerpt.html
- "Native American School Opens Door to New Lives"
http://success.yellowbrix.com/pages/success/Story.nsp?story_id=110441866&ID=success - About the "Giraffe and Elephant - A Diversity Fable"
- Equity and Diversity Toolkit http://www.psm.act.gov.au/equity_and_diversity_toolkit/planning.html#BA
- Adding Value With Diversity: What Business Leaders Need To Know http://www.aimd.org/files/PamelaTudor.pdf
- Storytelling events in Washington http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~rvohs/WAstoryevents.htm
- Supports the growth and expression of Indigenous youth through digital
media making.
http://www.swinomish.org/native_lens/native_lens_news.html - Center for Shamanic Education & Exchange http://www.thepowerpath.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=80
- State of Washington Workforce Diversity Program http://www.dop.wa.gov/Employees/Diversity/
- CA Postsecondary Education Commission Ethnic and Gender Diversity of
Students
http://www.cpec.ca.gov/Accountability/DiversityFirstOptions.asp?Report=Enroll - US Government Equal Employment Opportunity http://www.eeoc.gov/
- Diversity Program Checklist http://www.realtor.org/divweb.nsf/Pages/toolkitcheck?OpenDocument
- Jump-Starting Your Law Firm’s Diversity Program
http://www.workforcediversitynetwork.com/docs/Article_JumpStartingYourLawFirmssDiversityProgram.pdf - How to Establish and Operate a Diversity Program
http://www.alumni-osu.org/midwest/midwest%20papers/Suessine%20&%20Cseh--Done.pdf - Evaluating a Diversity Program: Describing the Impact of Gender Communication Training in a Large Multicultural Work Environment http://www.awwa.org/files/Sections/howto/Howto_diversity.pdf
- Diversity Programs in the Workplace http://diversity-programs-in-the-workplace.blogspot.com/
- Xerox Supplier Diversity Program Celebrates 20 Years of Success http://www.outputlinks.com/html/news/xerox_121205.shtml
- The New Rules for a Diverse Workplace http://www.myarticlearchive.com/articles/7/160.htm
- Edgy ‘Tapestry of Possibilities’ works to stretch comfort zones of new
students
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Aug07/Tapestry.skit.jl.html - Intersections of Identity: Using Social Identity Development Models in Teaching http://www.ibiblio.org/ism/articles/hackman.html
- Start a Task Force for Diversity http://diversity.monster.co.uk/367_en_p1.asp
- Sample Diversity/Inclusion Plan http://www.alz.org/Resources/Diversity/downloads/ABOUT_SampleDIPlan.pdf
- Creating an environment for global diversity: global diversity in the workplace is not just a human resources issue, but a business strategy that embraces many elements. Here's how 10 multinationals are successfully managing the process
- Creating Diversity (PowerPoint slide show) http://www.idealist.org/media/en/hrp/docsmedia/creatediversity.ppt
- Religion in the Workplace: Making a Good Faith Effort to Accommodate
http://www.realwork.com/articles.asp?filename=religion%2Ehtml - Creating a diverse workforce http://www.firstnetlearning.com/downloads/CreatingADiverseWorkforce.pdf
- Diversity – The Impact on your Bottom Line
https://brc.manpower.com/BRC/files?name=March_2005_Diversity_Webinar_Slides.pdf - Diversity Programming with Pizzazz http://www.reslife.net/html/pwithp_1003a.html
- Diversity Recruitment http://www.nasrecruitment.com/MicroSites/Diversity/articles/featureD16.html
- Fostering Respect • Creating Community http://www.purdue.edu/humanrel/contribute_pdf_docs/2007_diversity_assessment.pdf
- Cultural Competency Exercises http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/InSite?page=md-rr-04&doc=md-rr-04-06
- Cultural awareness exercise http://www.nickheap.co.uk/articles.asp?ART_ID=226
Books
- Disclosure: We get a small
commission for purchases made via links to Amazon.
- Leadership Is An Art.
Articles
Related newsletter articles:
May 2003 - Respectful Workplaces
May 1999 - Respect in the Workplace
December 2005 - Lighten the Load
August 2003 - How to Work Better
with Co-Workers
June 2003 - Companies are People
Too
May
1996 - Business and Professional Code of Conduct
July
2000 - Dealing with Co-Workers We Don't Like
February
2006 - Compassionate Communication
February
2005 - The Nature of Conflict and Managing It Effectively
March
2006 - In Search of Corporate Soul
August
2006 - Leadership Vision
The Lighter Side
- Diversity Humor III http://www.grantland.net/diversity3.htm
- Diversity Humor http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/2003/07/diversity_humor/
- Lost At Sea Diversity http://www.geocities.com/redmondrose/diversity__in_the_middle_of_nowhere.htm
- Tolerance, Compassion & Diversity Inspirational quotes http://www.inspirationline.com/Quotes/inspirational-quotes-tolerance-diversity.htm
- Diversity Quotes http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_diversity.html
- Diversity Quotes http://thinkexist.com/quotations/diversity/ and http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/diversity/
- Quotes For Unity In Diversity http://www.cultureofpeace.org/quotes/diversity-quotes.htm
We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.
.. Anne Frank
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