May 12th, 2010
I know smart people.
When you have no original ideas of your own, like me, you have to find ways to be around smart people and I have a massive collection of smart people in my life. One of them is Mark Hirschfeld. It is always cool to see someone that you have known for a while do really cool things and Mark has recently put out a book with Leigh Branham, called Re-Engage…which happens to be about employee engagement.
I was fortunate enough to catch one of Mark’s presentations this week. I have not read the book and I never recommend books that I have not read, but I am going to to recommend Re-Engage…and I will be reading it soon myself. I would have read it anyway because I have always thought highly of Mark and his work, but I was really impressed by some of the research that he shared during his presentation.
One thing in particular that stuck with me was the data showing that organizations with greater age/generational diversity have lower employee engagement…and the correlation is pretty strong. I like this data (maybe Mark will show up here and drop some actual numbers for us), because it is a good reminder for us that diversity (in whatever form) is not like some magical dust that you sprinkle on an organization and it just automatically gets awesome.
Diversity is hard.
Most really important, really valuable stuff is hard. Honesty is hard. Change is hard. Leadership is hard. So is diversity.
Increasing the diversity (or difference) in a social group changes that social group. Always. Every time. Any time you bring more difference or pay more attention to existing difference in a social group you increase the potential for in-group/out-group dynamics, stereotyping, tension, conflict, etc. We have a very real tendency to see difference as the cause of these dynamics, but this is not about the difference…these outcomes are about the container that the difference exists in.
If you want to reap the rewards of diversity you have to be able to create the right kind of container…you have to be able to support a robust ecology of differing perspectives and different experiences. Most organizations are not able to do this…and most organizations do not last very long.
Be good to each other.
Hi Joe, thanks for the kind words. The organizations we’ve studied are having difficulty engaging employees of all ages. This particular research encompasses 3,200 employers across the US., so we’re very confident about the results. Many are missing an opportunity to use their diversity, in this case with age, as a strength. Per your request I’ve posted how significant this "crosswind" is to creating a highly engaged workplace on our web site: http://www.re-engagebook.com. Looking forward to additional discussion on this important topic!
I agree – it’s all about creating the right kind of container. Difference is the reality of our world, and although it may make people uncomfortable and lead to things like stereotyping and tension, this is not a reason to hide from it. Organizations should embrace diversity, using it to expose individuals to diverse perspectives, ethnicities, religions, etc. Although in the "wrong container" this could negatively affect group dynamics, in the "right container" it will make everyone’s experiences more fulfilling.