DIVERSITY, INCLUSION AND TEAMWORK

More than ever, a workplace is a diverse collection of individuals proud of who they are: their gender, their sexual orientation, their religion, their ethnic background, and all the other components that make an individual unique. One of the challenges for workplace leaders is how to help these diverse individuals work as a team. 

We all know what happens to organizations that don’t have effective teamwork: they fail. And, failing to embrace diversity can also have serious legal costs for corporations. 

Success can only happen when we learn to recognize and celebrate diversity in the workplace while bringing individuals together.

Defining Diversity 

The Oxford English Dictionary defines diversity as, “A diverse range; a variety.” Well, if you look around you, your organization, your community, your church, your classroom etc., you will definitely see a diverse range of people; after all, we’re all individuals with unique qualities and no matter where we are, folks are going to be DIFFERENT. 

But diversity is about more than just differences. It’s about recognizing those differences, accepting them, and allowing them to change our perceptions.

Some of the advantages to being a part of a culturally diverse team or organization can be measured with just more that dollar signs. 

Valuable advantages can include:

• Different points of view 

• Better productivity 

• Healthier teamwork and cohesion 

• Improved ability to attract business from a variety of sectors/geographical areas

• Possibility of lower legal cost 

• And my favorite…YOU JUST MIGHT LEARN SOMETHING! 

Could there also be some disadvantages? As with anything else…Of course there can. 

Some people might have a real problem adjusting to a diverse workplace or environment and interacting with people who are different from them?  However, is becoming open-minded and learning a bad thing?  

The answer to that question must be answered by the individual upon the results of a true heart search.  

Defining Related Diversity Terms 

There are many terms out there in relation to diversity. 

Some include:

• Affirmative Action (AA)

  • A plan put in place by U.S. President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. It requires a business’s workforce to mirror the community. For example, if a community is 85% Asian and 15% Mexican, one would expect the workforce to have the same sort of proportion.

• Assimilation 

  • A process where a minority culture is expected to adopt the behaviors and standards of the majority culture. For example, when women first joined the workforce in the 1960’s and 1970’s, they were often expected to wear business suits and de-feminize their appearance to match the norm of the time: men in business suits.

• Bias

  • An inclination towards a certain belief, often interfering with objective judgment.

• Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)

  • Introduced as part of civil rights legislation in 1964, this effort attempted to ensure positions in the workplace for “protected classes,” which included groups like women, veterans, African-Americans, and people with disabilities. Because this program was not entirely effective, Lyndon Johnson introduced the Affirmative Action mandate in 1965.

• Prejudice 

  • An opinion formed based on biases, without complete information. Also refers to an irrational hatred of a specific group (often ethnic or religious).

• Sexism 

  • A prejudice against a particular gender. Often appears in the form of role stereotyping.

• Stereotype 

  • A conventional, usually oversimplified opinion applied to a particular group.

Changes in Our World 

Each of the aforementioned terms has an interesting origin and history behind it. Can you recall a time you were impacted either positively or negatively by any of those terms?  Everyone has a story to tell, I’m sure. 

There have been many changes in our world and the dynamic it is made of will constantly change as time goes on. 

Ask yourself, what changes have occurred during your present time of employment? What changes have occurred in other places you frequent? What about your community? Is it growing more diverse?  

Do you see:

• New races or ethnicities living in your neighborhood 

• New places of worship different from those you are accustomed to

• New types of restaurants with food you’ve never tried

• More senior discounts as our population ages 

• Women in many different types of roles 

• Biological orientations presenting differently from what you are accustomed to 

• People with disabilities in all types of roles within organizations 

• And much more…

Although these changes are inevitable, some will still see them as challenging, just as some see them as beneficial. 

Another moment of introspection for you. Have you found it difficult or easy to adapt to the changes in your world? 

Self-Awareness 

I personally like to begin with me. Taking inventory of my thoughts, perspectives, and perceptions about the world around me, especially in the workplace, helps me to recognize any creeping notions that may be contrary to my values. 

How do you evaluate your view on the differences that make humanity great?  

How would you answer yourself, if asked these questions? 

• Do I try to look for similarities between people instead of differences?

• Do I have biases?  What are they? 

• Am I interested in learning more about diversity and do I try to seek out information whenever I can?

• Do I like being in new situations and trying out new things?

• Do I try to look for the positive aspects in situations and people?

• Do I follow the platinum rule; Treat others the way THEY want to be treated?

• Am I an effective communicator?

• Do I practice empathy and put myself in other people’s shoes?

• Does diversity and discrimination mean different things to different people? 

The key to embracing our differences is first acknowledging that we ARE different. And it is those differences that make this world an awesome place to live in. Always new things to learn, always new things to experience. What role are you playing to make this world a better place for ALL?

GO BE GREAT! GO BE YOU! 

Thank you! 

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LEADERSHIP REQUIRES COMMITMENT

Why is it that some people seem to have success at everything they touch, while others never seem to quite reach the pinnacle of their journey?  No, before you even speak what you were thinking, the answer is not, some people are lucky, while others are not. The simple answer is commitment. Commitment is the attitude and behavior of sticking with something until you achieve the goal you set out to achieve.

Let us consider the chicken and the pig. To produce an egg and bacon breakfast, which is more committed?  The chicken is required to give an egg to the meal—he contributed.  The pig is required to give his life—he sacrificed.  That is the difference between the leader during a crisis and everyone else.  Many consider themselves leaders, but it is the one who is not just willing to contribute or offer a possible solution, but who actually does stand in the middle of the crisis while remaining committed to and sacrificing for the vision.  The chicken contributes one egg and moves on.  The pig however is all in.  The pig realizes that without him, there is no breakfast.

You must develop the mindset of the pig, as your organization enters the crisis.  There is a story in the Bible where Jesus and his team are on a ship traveling to the other side of the sea. During the journey, they encountered a storm that threatened to destroy the ship and cause them all to perish.  When the team went to Jesus for the answer to what they should do, he asked them why they lacked faith in the process.  As a leader in the middle of a crisis, you must do two things. First, you must commit to your vision.  Then you must commit to the process.  The vision is not the reality of where you are today. It is the picture of what you look like once the vision is matured.  During the process you will engage in a series of events and situations that move you toward the vision you see, as long as you continue to move toward the vision.  

When I was in middle school, living in Germany, I knew that I would graduate from college and become an Air Force officer. No one in my family had been an officer in the military. My father was enlisted in the Army and with 8 kids, my parents were not going to pay for me to go to college.  There was no roadmap in the family for getting to college or becoming an officer. But I knew that I was going to college and was going to be an officer.  I didn’t apply for any scholarships until I was in college and the only thing my dad and I knew about being an officer was what we learned while I was in JROTC in high school. My grades were good enough to get into a state university and I ended my first semester in college on academic probation with a 1.9 GPA.  The only thing I had working for me was that I saw myself as an officer in the Air Force.  My academic counselor said I would be disenrolled from school if I didn’t pass all of my classes and get my GPA up to a 2.0.  My parents’ answer to my situation was, if you get kicked out of school, you can enlist, but you can’t come back home.  My ROTC instructors said, I would not be able to remain in the program, if I didn’t get my grades up and I didn’t qualify for a scholarship. They said if, I worked hard enough the next year and a half to get my grades up, I might be able to get a scholarship.  I looked at the crisis that I created and at my vision and said I’m going to achieve this vision. I found a job that allowed me to study while at work and focused all of my efforts on correcting my course and staying true to the process.

The second commitment you must make is dying to the process.  That requires you to sacrifice what needs to be sacrificed and embracing things that others consider abnormal or impossible.  The process is how you get to your what.  You must remain committed to the process even if you are the only person dedicated to it.  I had to walk over a mile most mornings to catch the bus to my school which was 20-30 mins away to make it to class at 8:00 a.m. and walk from the bus to my job and do my assignments in between job tasks before walking home when I couldn’t get a ride. I followed this process for the entire spring semester of my freshman year and the fall of my sophomore year.  At the end of my sophomore year my grades had recovered, and I earned a state ROTC scholarship.  In 1987, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.  

I achieved this vision because I remained committed to the vision and the process.  That’s not to say, I did this by myself. Many people were on Team George, but they were only as committed as they saw me.  In your leadership journey, you are guaranteed to experience crises.  Your team will always look to you for answers.  Their faith in the vision and the process will only be as strong and committed as yours.  Jesus said, “We’re going to the other side”. He defeated a storm and raging seas to convince his team that they would get there.  I saw my future as an Air Force officer and had to create the trail for my family to see and follow.  I was first. Now I have a son, a niece and a nephew who are officers in the Air Force and Army.