Championing Diversity at Work

Championing diversity in the workplace is both rewarding and necessary for getting the best out of people and developing a resilient and collaborative mindset. The challenge is finding that sustainable, happy balance between the individual’s capabilities and capacities with the role expectations and the wider mission. A department leader might foster an inclusive, supportive and productive team, but harnessing the collective talents of a diverse workforce requires executive willingness to underpin a paradigm shift in working relationships.

Only an involved and evolved leader will be able to develop the kind of working dynamic that allows for bottom up as well as top-down management. This symbiotic partnership is key to freeing up the intelligence, ingenuity and raw talent that sparks innovation, productivity and wellbeing. Once a pattern of mutual trust and achievement is established, the cycle becomes a self-sustaining philosophy of individual and collective thriving.

Culture can blossom anywhere.

Workplace culture always filters down from the top, but it can also blossom in pockets, in the middle of a hierarchy, in a branch, department or a site where real communication is conducted with confidence. Positive team synergy acts as a living, breathing creed for those within its sphere and a beacon of light to others.

There are many ways to support inclusion and diversity, and much is written on the subject from business, academic and psychological perspectives, but it is those insightful and curious people in key positions that make it happen. Our unique differences can either cause strife or strengthen our bonds of understanding. A well led, cohesive team will mitigate for one another’s weaknesses and learn from one another’s strengths, but only if they see the benefits and it’s in their interests to do so. It is leadership that sets the tone of competition or collaboration.

Although bonding takes time and we might only stay in a job for a short while, the climate we work in has a huge impact on our worldview, quality of life and personal development. All our collaborations need to be rewarding, whatever the agreed currency, as the dynamics of the team, the tribe and the community, profoundly shape our lives.

Many of us work in organisations where we are unlikely to meet the decision makers who have the most impact on our lives and struggle to institute even the most reasonable adjustments that keep people happy and working at their best.  Our working landscapes are peppered with mindless, heartless regimes that refuse to reform their employee model without forceful pressure. In the face of this faceless bureaucracy, the most we can do in the short-term, is band together in our departmental huddles and protect one another’s integrity as best we can. Hopefully, with the aim of pursuing a healthier working environment where we are treated as the independent, autonomous, and sovereign individuals that we are.

Tolerance makes us stronger.

Camaraderie relies on having a shared mission through which we all are valued. It means being able to share our needs and aspirations, communicate how best we work and value the ability and support of one another.  When we engage with open-mindedness and a co-operative spirit, we are best placed to solve problems and resolve conflict. We don’t need to accept everyone’s bizarre behaviour, weird habits or distasteful opinions but we ought to be able to hold enough unjudgmental space to listen and learn or at lease tolerate different ways of being. Being ok with a bit of discomfort can only make us stronger.

Mankind has always benefitted from diversity so challenging our own bias, prejudice and stereotypical thinking allows us all to flourish. In an environment where psychological safety is encouraged, people blossom, have more fun and are more productive.

Human Resource managers are often tasked with solving every employee issue and left to mend myriad holes left by disengaged executives. Many are overburdened in trying to manage a vastly diverse workforce without an organisational ethos that embraces the facts of life. Localised pockets of great team cohesiveness can provide a navigational steering light that might, incrementally adjust the trajectory of the whole enterprise and bring it into the real world.