October 4th, 2007
It is incredibly frustrating to me that there is still a lot of uncertainly regarding the business case for diversity in the world of business today. I have to admit that those of us in the field of diversity and inclusion have failed when it comes to effectively communicating the "business case for diversity." The business case is strong, and there are actually numerous business cases for investing in diversity and inclusion. I think that there are probably a number of reasons for this lingering confusion and doubt, but maybe the biggest reason is that diversity itself means many different things and different types of diversity are connected to different investments and different business cases…a fair amount of the confusion may be about us not providing enough clarity in our work. So…I thought it might be good to break this issue down a little bit and provide some clarity.
For starters, this is how I approach the issue of diversity:
First of all, diversity means difference. Period. It does not mean race relations, feminism or affirmative action. It means difference and difference comes in a lot of different forms.
Second, difference is an attribute of a relationship, not a person. There is no such thing as a "diverse person", however there is diversity in our relationships / interactions / transactions with other people…there is diversity (difference) in every single one of our relationships. Diversity is not a set of tools or behaviors for someone to rely on when interacting with someone of another race…diversity and inclusion work applies to every interaction we have with another human being.
And starting from that framework, there is no business case for diversity itself…diversity is just a fact of life. There are however, strong business cases for taking action (individually or organizationally) to proactively leverage diversity and inclusion…one of the keys here is that action is required. Business leaders really need to stop talking about their commitment to diversity…what is needed is investment (time, treasure and talent) across the organization. Continuing with this framework, diversity (difference) on its own is neither a good thing or a bad thing, it is just is…whether it plays a positive role or a negative role in your organization or community depends on what you do with it. Diversity can lead to tension, oppression, bias, avoidance, war, etc. OR, it can be a driving force for creativity, vitality, synergy, evolution, etc. It depends on whether proactive action is taken or not and on the environment.
The vast majority of the diversity discussion tends to focus on race, ethnicity, gender and orientation. Those dimensions of diversity are important and they involve many issues that are far from resolved. We do not want to overlook those issues or play down their importance, but to stay true to my framework, I tend to focus on three domains of diversity that can all play very important roles in our life, in our development, our relationships, our worldview, etc. Each of these domains means different things for our organization and are tied to different actions and different business cases.
1.) Identity Diversity: this domain contains all of the stuff that we tend to focus on when we talk about diversity (age, race, gender, orientation, faith and I would also include things such as marital status, type / level of education, profession, parental status, veteran status, etc.). These are things determined at birth or part of our life experience that can play a key role in our identity…how we see ourselves and we want others to see us. Some of these things are beyond our control, some of these things exist in decisions we have made which is worth keeping in mind.
2.) Cognitive Diversity: this domain contains differences in how we process the world, our surroundings and our situations mentally. There is a lot of good writing being done regarding cognitive diversity right now. The Difference, by Scott Page is probably the most comprehensive work that I have come across on the topic. The book is all about cognitive diversity and does a nice job of talking about the role that different heuristics or problem solving skills can play in an organization or on a team. He has written some other stuff on the topic as well, this article is one of my favorites and is about diversity trumping ability. This is another interesting piece regarding cognitive diversity. A lot of the potential, untapped value of diversity lies in this domain. Some of the confusion regarding the value or the benefit of diversity comes about when practitioners attribute the benefits of cognitive diversity to another domain. All domains are important and potentially valuable, but they all manifest their value in different ways, and when we are talking about proposed business cases, we must be clear about what type of diversity we are talking about.
3.) Value Diversity: fairly self explanatory, but very overlooked in the workplace. A lot of times when we are grinding against someone else in our organization about a project or a process or a policy and we simply cannot get through it, there is an underlying difference in values that is not getting to the surface. We have fooled ourselves into believing that we leave our values (and all of the other important stuff) at home, so that it does not get in our way at work, but that is a little silly…and impossible. How our individual values connect to our shared values is powerful stuff and needs much more attention.
Okay, good stopping point…stay tuned for Part 2, which will start looking at the role that each domain of diversity can play in our organization (or community). In the mean time, make sure that you register.
And…here is a new picture of our beeeeeaauuuuuuutiful baby girl. Sorry, I cannot help myself…I am madly in love.
