I’ve met a lot of well-meaning leaders who lack self-awareness and don’t appreciate the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. I attribute this to the fact that we often set up our workplaces as dictatorships where everyone follows the party line and any deviation means an immediate punishment or banishment. Here are some examples of the value of diversity and inclusion in the workplace:
- Diversity can help you identify what your employees love doing and what makes them uniquely valuable to your company.
- Inclusion helps you build a workplace where people aren’t bickering with one another and actively sabotaging each other’s growth and progress. When everyone feels they are an important part of the group, you reduce the chances of people being unhappy and doing counterproductive things.
- Diversity means that you have a much larger pool of perspectives, ideas, talents, and life experiences to draw from to make your organization stronger.
- Inclusion means that you build a workplace where people accept and value one another instead of tearing each other down.
- Diversity means you value each person just as they are instead of forcing them into a conformist box.
- Inclusion gives you the opportunity to build a cohesive, collaborative, welcoming workplace.
- Diversity means you’re a confident leader who isn’t scared of a variety of ideas and points of view.
- Inclusion means you’re a leader who possesses the self-awareness to realize not everyone thinks and behaves like you or is less important to the success of the organization.
The whole point of self-awareness, diversity, and inclusion is to build workplaces where people are valued and feel important. It’s the opposite of the alienated person in the cubicle or on the assembly line who is only a number. Diversity and inclusion help you build a vibrant, forward-moving organization that uses the wealth of knowledge and experience its employees offer.
What will you do to develop self-awareness and value diversity and inclusion in your workplace?
Cheers,
Guy