As I am writing this it is 9:00 PM and our Jewish clients and my family have just finished celebrating the High Holy Days and today we are asked to reflect on our lives. This brings me to the content of this post. We have also heard or read about the Rev Jones in Gainesville, who felt it was his calling to burn the Quaran, because it did not agree with his teachings. I have previously talked about the presentor at a recent conference who suggested we should do a multi-facted background check to determine whether an applicant "fit our corporate culture." We see and hear fairly regularly lately that the US is losing its competitiveness in the global market. You open the newspaper or turn on the news and you hear about "political purity."
Competitiveness comes from the introduction of innovation and collaboration. One of the tools of a high performance team is the art of brainstorming. This only works if you consider all views on a particular issue. Not only those views that you agree with but those that might be totally different then yours. When business enterprises operate from the perspective of ruling out all those who do not think the way they do, dress the way they do, talk the way they do and fit a sterotype of the perfect organizational employee, in the long run you diminish not only your own organization but the global workplace as well.
If we go back in history we can find many examples of individuals who made great contributions to our lives, our society and our futures, who if they had been in the mainstream would have been lost in the shuiffle. If we are going to talk about diversity of backgrounds within our organizations we need to walk the ealk and talk the talk. There is a real possibility that your current corporate culture may be contributing to the root cause of your problems.
Strategy: Recognize that different life experiences enrich the workplace by introducing new ideas and viewpoints. These experiences may open doors that you never dreamed of that can take your organization to new plateaus of performance. So in return value the diveristy of opnions with your organizations. If you talk the talk that you have an open door policy, be sure that you really do. Refrain from making judgements about the value brought to the table by someone who does not exactly look and act like you do. We don't all like the same kind of music but that does not diminish the contributions we all can make to our organizations. If you disagree with my thoughts or have responses of your own, feel free to let me know your thoughts.
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