Diversity Training Helps Leaders Succeed
Posted on January 26, 2011 by Guy Farmer, One of Thousands of Leadership Coaches on Noomii.
Some leaders think that diversity training is about beating people up about their beliefs. Find out the real story...
Think about this idea: Diversity training is about creating a greater number of opportunities for our organizations. As leaders, we tend to forget that diversity isn’t about making people feel bad about what they believe, it’s about helping everyone be stronger individually and collectively.
When we get along better with each other we create workplaces that function better. Diversity training is a valuable tool that opens the door to many opportunities including:
1. Validating and incorporating other points of view so we have access to richer information and ideas.
2. Building empathy and understanding so that we can work with other people more effectively.
3. Removing obstacles that keep us apart to create better morale and productivity.
4. Shifting away from an “us vs. them” mentality so that we can collaborate well.
5. Freeing up valuable time to think and act on other ideas because we aren’t focusing on the noise.
When we use workplace diversity as a tool we move away from focusing on differences to finding ways to work together. Diversity training creates opportunities because it gets rid of much of the chaos that gets in the way of positive performance in the workplace. Forward-thinking leaders understand that employees who get along well create happier companies on many levels. What will you do to use diversity to benefit your workplace?
Take care,
Guy
Diversity Training and Team Building
