Are you dancing? Are you asking?
What’s the difference between being asked to the dance and being asked to dance ? This is a well established and good example of explaining the difference between Diversity and Inclusion.
Go sort these women’s issues
Typically, the pale, male and stale brigade announce they have a woman or an LGBT person on the board and they are tasked with dealing with HR or other soft topics and never get asked their opinion let alone to manage with anything else as that’s straight man’s work. And it ticks all the boxes of their Diversity policy. None of the ticks in the Inclusion box.
People like me, people like us
Most organisations typically like to recruit ‘people like us’ so they wont challenge the status quo. Most individuals (and many organisations) have cognitive dissidence – not even realising that have biases let alone doing something to counter it.
You are black – therefore your politics are…
The furore about a recent ex UK prime minister’s non-white chancellor demonstrated that colour is immaterial to diversity if all about you were also educated at Eton. Another politician said , in effect , “All black people think like this (or should)”- unless they are from a privileged group and are not, or much less, oppressed. Some people think “All Spanish people behave like this”- but depending on social status or location may not. – ‘some’ Spanish people may, most probably don’t .
How many stereotypes do you belong to?
Stereotypes are the biggest disaster – for any category the majority just don’t fit because they also belong to many other types which may be more prevalent.
Gender and Sexuality – sorted – so we are diverse.
There are other types of diversity except gender and sexuality. And yet most of the talk is about these two. The woman’s lobby and the LGBT+etc lobbies have ensured that. And coming up a good third is Race/Ethnicity and country of origin. Is dealing with these enough ? – many organisations dont know any better.
Class, education type and education level, country of residence, age (generation), religion, culture, organisation all are different spectrums of diversity.
Neurodiversity and Worldview
And worthy of inclusion are NeuroDiversity and Worldview. Neurodiversity is used to explain the diverse ways of thinking, learning, processing and behaving. People who think differently can come up with different ideas. ADHD, Autism, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, and Tourette’s syndrome are all examples of neurodiverse conditions.
Worldview is about values and cultural behaviours. The concept worldview usually refers to an interpretation of reality that provides an overarching framework for the constitution of the world or the cosmos. Various belief systems, religions, ideologies, and science itself are examples of worldviews that contain differing pictures of the world. All of us have different pictures – the more the pictures differ the more diverse the team. For example, the family is more important than the individual. Power is more important than doing the right thing.
Looking at different perspectives and listening to others – to make more money
The point about having a diverse and fully included team is that it looks at things from different perspectives. And research shows over and over that organisations with the most diverse teams are the most successful and profitable. Many people think they are diverse until someone challenges them with a different opinion.
Those who think logically typically take a different perspective compared with those who think emotionally. The extravert thinks differently from the introvert. Having a team or organisation with all these categories in various of the four combinations are the most powerful diverse teams you can have. This is called cognitive diversity.
Cognitive : Introvert or Extravert ? Logical or Emotional
Working with people who think and communicate the same way as you, regardless of their other diverse characteristics, will not get you the benefits of a diverse team. To get the benefits, above all, you need a team that is cognitively diverse. Just invite all the combinations both to the dance and also to dance . Read more here
At Smart Coaching & Training we have a diverse team of 20 associates in four continents speaking 11 languages. We pass the tests on diversity for sex/gender, race/ethicity, sexuality, education, class, generation. and fail on the boring-interesting spectrum. See our associates here
Written by David Rigby © 2022 Smart Coaching & Training Ltd
