Optimising Diverssity

I have decided to spell Diverssity with 2 S’s – and I have a great group of leaders at GUD Filters (Pty) Ltd to thank for this piece of insight. By way of background, throughout this year I have had the really pleasant task of running my Critical Conversations for Leaders in Progress programme with sixteen up and coming leaders at GUD. Each month we spend a morning in a group session discussing and learning about a topic and then we meet one on one with a view to incorporating the most important areas of that topic into their leadership development and their workplaces.

November’s module was entitled Thriving on Diversity, and the structured discussion was animated and, at times, emotional. Over the next three days as I conducted the coaching sessions, it struck me that the question of managing diversity could usefully be broken down into two aspects, both beginning with S:
1. Sensitivity and
2. Synergy.

Sensitivity has to do with acknowledging and respecting our differences and treating others as people, rather than as a label. There is no rocket science here – this is the part we are all familiar with and the focus of most conversations around managing diversity (with one S!). We need to be sensitive to people who have different racial backgrounds, religions, dietary preferences, levels of experience (a euphemism for age!), the other gender etc.

For me, however, these differences sometimes obscure the real magic behind the concept of managing diversity – namely, that these differences inform different thinking capacities and approaches. In turn, this reminds us that even within people of the same race, religion, gender, age group etc, very real differences are evident – after all, we are all unique, aren’t we.

The question is really whether we sufficiently leverage these differences in thinking. Typically, managers and leaders meeting with their teams “lead” the meeting by dominating the meeting, by explaining how things are going to be done, giving (their) solutions to problems, acting as the conductor as they decide who will provide their monthly report. The result is that if there are six people present we get 1+1+1+1+1+1=1! Who said there are no “I’s” in team!

What if the leaders of teams took a different role? What if they saw themselves as facilitators - facilitators of learning and of creating real Synergy? What if they didn’t see themselves as needing to provide all the answers but ensured that they got everyone’s views on the table and then, in collaboration with the team, decided how they could meaningfully deal with the multiplicity of views? Wouldn’t the result be exponentially different to that we are getting in the typical environment? Wouldn’t our example look something like this over time: 1+1+1+1+1+1= 111,111?

So, if we optimise diverssity instead of managing diversity, isn’t our only question as leaders how we might optimise the diverse thinking in our teams?

Thank you, the team at GUD!

I would like to take the opportunity of thanking all my clients for supporting me during this and previous years. I really appreciate it. I would also like to take the opportunity of wishing everyone who receives this newsletter a very blessed festive season and a happy and successful 2012. Oh yes, and (in case we blink) make that for 2013 too!!

Best wishes

Lauron