A Wide Range of Different Things

Originally shared in A Daily Dose Of Leadership on July 28, 2020.

It’s a rare day right now where we can scroll social media or turn on any other media source and not see something that speaks to the need for more diversity throughout society. While I agree with that sentiment wholeheartedly, I’ve grown extremely concerned about the way that message is being shared and how limited that message often is.

Just prior to this post, I shared an article on LinkedIn called Why Do Diversity & Inclusion Matter? where I included the definitions of each term that popped up in a quick Google search. Both definitions were simple and straight to the point… 

With each being defined so simply, why have both become so complicated in the workforce?

Let’s start with what diversity looks like…

In so many cases, it seems like too many people look for varying skin color to determine whether or not a team is diverse. I’ll circle back to that shortly, but there’s so much more!

In a recent blog, I referenced a large organization that dictates how different segments of that organization must conduct interviews in order to check a box in working toward diversity. I also argued that I believe they’ve missed their goal by a long shot, but I’m also not completely convinced they care…

In The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John Maxwell shares something he refers to as The Law of Magnetism stating “who you are is who you attract.” Even without any ill intent, the idea alone creates a significant challenge to developing a diverse workforce and a diverse organizational culture. And even when we recruit for and hire others with different training, we can easily end up having an entire team of people who think (and sometimes even look) just like us unless we’re incredibly intentional throughout the process.

Let’s be honest, referrals are one of the best sources we can ever hope for in finding quality candidates simply because it eliminates some of the unknown. But with a referral, there’s also a high likelihood that we’re getting someone very similar to the people we already have on our team. The more we’re able to widen our circle, the better chance we can have at reaching others who don’t think and act like we do – well, unless we’re jerks and turn them off before they ever consider joining the team we’re leading…

The biggest challenge I’ve seen in teams that lack diversity over the last two decades has been an ability to think outside their own status quo. I don’t mean this to be negative toward any company or individual, but it’s really hard to see the whole picture when you’re inside the frame!

When we build a diverse team, one where the members have different experiences and different thought processes (notice I didn’t say different values), it’s much easier to challenge the way we’ve always done things. If everyone thinks alike, there’s a strong chance we’ll all nod in agreement that we’re already doing things as well as they can be done – and the competition will pass us like we’re standing still!

And by the way, when we’re intentional about finding and attracting people who have experience in a wide range of different things, we also tend to end up with a team that resembles what the majority of folks are referring to when they use the term diversity; people of different race, religion, nationality, etc… But looking for that alone isn’t very likely to build the diversity in thinking or skill set that a team really needs to continuously improve.

But once we find the amazing people who bring those differences to the table, it’s often even more difficult to give them an environment that makes them want to stay. In the next blog, I’ll share a story or two highlighting this point.