Tag Archives: diversity

The Ultimate gesture of Respect

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I know many of you watched the 20120 Summer Olympics because I saw your gazillion postings on Facebook. I’m good with that. I don’t get into them that much though I loved the opening ceremony with Rowan Atkinson aka Mr. Bean. He cracks me up.

I do, however, watch the Winter Olympics and especially love snowboarding. It’s probably due to the fact that there’s nothing else to do in Chicago in Winter except hibernate. I kid.

While the Summer Olympics shenanigans were going on I had to hear about it from everyone else and one such case was that of Olympian Oscar Pistorius, the first double amputee ever to run track in the Olympics. Here’s a guy who at 11 years of age had his legs amputated and yet has kept the dream of one day running in the Olympics.

Oscar’s dream was to compete against “able-bodied” athletes in the Olympics, and the man also known as “The Blade Runner” was able to do just that in the 2012 Olympics in London.

Not only did Oscar compete in the men’s 400 meters, he qualified for the semi-finals, which was his personal goal.

Let me first say, that before the Olympics I was somewhere, out and about, and overheard a conversation where someone said, “Yeah, but if they let this guy participate in the Olympics, the rest of them are going to feel entitled.” Ok, this burned my butt. What? And this was in America where I heard this statement. Land of the free, home of the brave, equal rights for everyone. I was appalled.

Entitled? Shouldn’t everyone, no matter their circumstance or disability, be entitled?

I love stories of folks, against all odds, fighting their way to the finish line. They inspire me to go beyond what I feel, think or am going through.

You can read more of the back-end of the story HERE and how he had to fight to be allowed to participate. Some agree that he had the right and some don’t.

Though there are still naysayer’s rambling about shoulda, coulda, woulda’s, yet this story has inspired people from all over the world, including fellow runner and World Champion sprinter from Grenada, Kirani James. Watch what he does at the end of the race:

As soon as the race was over, James, who finished first in the heat and is a favorite to win the gold, walked over to Pistorius, and traded nametags with him in the ultimate sign of respect for all he has accomplished. I love that. And when James was asked about this gesture afterward, said:

He’s an inspiration for all of us. What he does takes a lot of courage, just a lot of confidence. He’s very special to our sport. He’s a great individual and it’s time we see him like that and not anything else.

For Oscar, he leaves London having fulfilled a lifelong dream and saying:

“It just felt really magical. If I could predict what it would feel like or imagine beyond my wildest dreams, this was probably 10 times that. To step out in front of a crowd this massive, it’s a mind-blowing experience. I’ve had support in the last couple of days like I have never felt before.”

This is truly a story of perseverance on the part of Oscar, and adding Kirani James’ inspirational gesture, a story of great sportsmanship. It shows great love and respect for humankind. One without barriers.

Isn’t that, not only the Olympic Games, but what life is truly about?

Now, if we could put this into practice with work, home and our everyday lives.

Photo Credit: BeaumontEnterprise

Can we all just get along? Generational Diversity according to Malcolm Gladwell

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From selling $8.00 T-Shirts to author and keynote for #SHRM12′s annual global conference, Malcolm Gladwell began his session with the phraze, “The tipping point of society is that magic moment when social behavior tips and spreads like wildflower.”

This is something that we are terrified of happening in our cushy little world be it with our children on social media or in our workplaces – where we totally feel loss of control.

Let’s face it, we are in the middle of a cultural fundamental shift in how generations choose to not only communicate (think social web) but how they see the world.

Here are a few take-aways from Malcolm’s session on the distinctions of generational diversity and our organizations:

There are major distinctions about this generation. Let’s look at the Occupy Movement.

  • Did they have a leader? No Where they following a bunch of ideas? No. Did they have an organization? Not really, only a general assembly and if someone wanted to speak or had a contribution they pulled your name out of a hat and allowed you to speak. It was about building a network of folks who had similar beliefs and were passionate about it, but they all had a say.
  • There was no organized manner of doing things. There was no hierarchy.

We are seeing a fundamental shift in how generations view the world, their beliefs and their work places. It’s critical to the success of our organizations that we roll with this generational paradigm shift with them.

We’ve had these paradigm shifts throughout history and if we were to go back we wouldn’t even recognize the workplace.

The New Social Organization

The new generation of folks who were born in the 80’s have a profoundly different notion of how organized groups behave. These are those who grew up on video technology. These are the new millennial’s who are invading our organizations.

They are not hip to a hierarchy like we were where, where we accepted rules, went along with the flow and  if you got beat up you just.didn’t.fight.back. We were passive in our growing up with hierarchy’s where  one guy at the top made all the decisions in the organizations and you just went with it. Like it or get the hell out!

The new millennial’s don’t think this way. They don’t even think in terms of a hierarchy. They have swung full throttle and believe in an even level playing field.

  • It’s about their network. It’s not closed, it’s opened.
  • It’s not centralized, it’s decentralized.

In the end, understanding that one form is not better than the other and are instead simply two different forms with each having their own strengths and weaknesses. Not, that one is wrong and the other is right.

It’s key that millennial’s understand that they need to learn from others and their experiences. Many kids don’t understand that. And our challenge is to understand that both can coexist and work together.

The most successful companies understand these two models (think Apple). They have the best of the hierarchy and the best of a network. When you incorporate these two things you have the best of both worlds.

Photo Credit: MojoRising

Embrace your weirdness

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Yesterday several of us in the HR / Recruiting space (How’d I get here? That’s for another time) attended Craig Fisher’s TNL in Aurora, IL where we discussed all kinds of issues from Jason Seiden’s profersional to a panel about influence, today’s candidates and how to stand out in the current job market. That last one reminded me of Joe Gerstandt’s “Fly your freak flag.” Embrace diversity!

As Jason and Craig were discussing “Pimping your LinkedIn Profile” I was thinking of my own profiles throughout the myriad of platforms and taking mental notes on how I could do a little improvement in that area. I’m all about being different, standing out, freak flag flying – if you will. Just ask those who attended the conference what I wore.

How boring would it be if we were all the same? (Okay, maybe if we were all like Jason or Joe that might be cool).

I’ve always been one to stand out among the crowd, not because I’m so gorgeous but because I like wearing vintage (hats, coats, and clothing). I haven’t adhered to those fabulous standards of mine the past couple of years for trying to “fit in.” In fact, this past summer in Vegas as SHRM I felt like I was wearing someone else’s skin. I took suits and frumpy outfits so I wouldn’t stand out. WHAT WAS I THINKING?

I suppose in all my madness of trying to conform and act like “HR” in my plan of attack I blended in quite nicely. But I felt uncomfortable and ready to shed my skin (so to speak). Looking back, I would do things differently – as far as being true to me in my weirdness and said “F, you – if you don’t like it.” Because, that’s always been my motto!

This is something we don’t think about when writing our online profiles, especially on Linked In. I’m guilty as charged. It’s almost as if we are back in high school – trying to fit in.  The point the fellas were trying to get across in their session was to stand out. Not only incorporating keywords that would increase your page rank but in mixing a little “something-something” about you personally and your style to get you noticed by the right people (your target client / audience). The ones that you are trying to reach, and as Jason said “who is going to write the check” not your peers.

Here’s a recap of the session over at HR Fishbowl.

What’s making you stand out in the crowd? Are you being true to yourself? Are you reaching your target audience? Who are you influencing online and offline?

Some great questions to ask yourself, indeed.

Photo Credit: Brooke Moss

Building a Leading Diverse People Culture

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Yesterday I had the privilege of sitting in on the session “Building a Leading People Culture – Flexible and Inclusive Work Environments” presented by Jackie Lillie, Midwest sub-area inclusiveness and flexibility leader and Dot Proux, Ernst & Young, LLP – Chicago. These two chicks were way smarter than me and mostly spoke about things over my head but I did get in on a few things about diversity and inclusion. (look for my take on Flex – next week)

Diversity 

Here are a few things I found interesting. The first being “Diversity is strategy.” I’m sure you already knew that as smart as you are, but to me – it made one of my ears go up and I found myself sounding like Scooby-Doo saying “What’s that Scrappy?” I suppose I knew that myself but had never heard anyone use that word along-side it.

We heard so much about “engagement” this past week but I liked hearing it from the diversity end when I heard “If people feel included they will be engaged.” And that is so true.

If we could somehow do away with all our viewpoints of how we think this world or work place would be so much better if we didn’t have to deal with this particular group of people (be it women, men, blacks, whites, religious, non-religious, gays, non-gays) we could somehow have a mostly drama-free somewhat normal workplace and get rid of our dysfunctional mindset.

I think one of the great points also mentioned that made me really stop and think about the above was that one of the things Dot Proux noticed in her own behavior at work and her feelings against women being in the workforce was this:

“The things we experienced in our childhood or throughout our own life can sometimes cause us to be bias towards hidden things that we have not yet acknowledged.”

This so makes sense – It impacts our decisions even and especially in the workplace and how we engage and relate to our employees.

For instance, she told her own story of when she was 9 years old her mother had to go back into the working world after having been a stay-at-home mom. She explained how this so affected her that she then continued thinking “women shouldn’t work, especially if they have children” into her adult years and into her own practice.

After having been coached on the issues associated with a more diverse strategy at Ernst & Young she realized that she had these viewpoints because of her own experiences and that she needed to put those feelings aside and go forward.

Here are some Initiatives that get to the root of leading with a diverse and inclusive strategy:

  1. Creates Executive accountability to be mentors and champions
  2. Bias education for all levels
  3. We need to teach people to lead inclusively
  4. Increases role models and builds divers leadership teams
  5. It should be embedded in all communication and “people” processes
  6. It challenges our evaluation and development processes for equity
  7. It’s integral to our business operations and growth, which deepens our client relationship
Leverage

Diversity-inclusiveness – really go hand in hand. Diversity is about the mix and inclusivity is about leveraging that mix.

Leveraging diversity through inclusive leadership – is a journey!

I’ll end with these closing high-lights:

*Learn to appreciate differences and attitudes and biases towards (self, others)

*Identify and transform exclusive patterns and behaviors (that you’re not being exclusive)

*Embed and model inclusive practices into the culture (D&I should be looked at in everything you do)

Diversity Training the Michael Scott way

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Does this remind you of what goes on in YOUR office? If so, you may want to address these issues – but not like Michael Scott.

At dictionary.com the definition of diversity is simply – being different. That’s it! And that’s what makes this great nation of ours so great! If everyone were just like YOU, that would totally suck!

Sometimes words like diversity, work-life balance and these type of buzz words are great to talk about, but what about implementation? Please tell me you don’t use post-it notes such as in the above video and handle in this manner.

Issues related to race, gender, age, disabilities, religion, job title, physical appearance, sexual orientation, nationality, multiculturism, competency, training, experience, and personal habits are encapsulated in that one word – diversity.

Defining diversity

Diversity is generally defined as acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing, and celebrating differences among people with respect to age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice, and public assistance status (Esty, et al., 1995).

Diversity issues are now  becoming more than just buzz words and are projected to become even more important in the future because of the ever-increasing differences in our U.S. population. Companies are starting to focus on diversity and in looking for ways to become totally inclusive organizations because diversity has the potential of yielding greater productivity and competitive advantages (SHRM, 1995).

Valuing diversity

Maximizing and capitalizing on workplace diversity has become an important issue for management today. Supervisors and managers are the targeted audience because they need to recognize the ways in which the workplace is changing, evolving, and diversifying.

Since managing diversity remains a significant organizational challenge, managers must learn the managerial skills needed in a multicultural work environment. Supervisors and managers must be prepared to teach themselves and others within their organizations to value multicultural differences in both associates and customers so that everyone is treated with dignity.

So, unlike these videos and their diversity training in The Office, we know that managing and valuing diversity is a key component of effective people management, which can improve workplace productivity. Ensuring that every employee is given an equal opportunity, regardless of their sexual preference, gender or nationality.

Demographic changes (women in the workplace, organizational restructurings, and equal opportunity legislation) will require organizations to review their management practices and develop new and creative approaches to managing people. Changes will increase work performance, customer service and overall morale.

Here’s what could happen if you don’t mind your diversity P’s and Q’s. Not to mention slapped with a law-suit.

Diversity: Being different is totally cool!

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I recently took a trip (via METRA) to the city for a speaking gig for my business. I always find it intriguing to ride the train. There are so many diverse groups of people in one small space. It always reminds me of Richard Sherman ‘s Bus Stories. He has such a fabulous writing style in describing fellow passengers and what they may be thinking or experiencing on said bus rides.

Here we have such diverse nationalities coming together for the same purpose (we all need a ride). Several of them speaking different languages – and we’re all headed to the city for our own reasons. Some folks seem very friendly and wanna chat, which is okay by me. Sometimes I’m in a chatty mood (more so on the way to the city than on the way back) and some just choose to sit silent next to you (that’s also cool).

I sit and contemplate “I wonder what their story is. Have they dealt with a crapload of family issues before leaving for work? Are they heading to the city to visit a loved one or have a fun day? Do they work in the city and ride this god-forsaken train every day? (That would stink).

Everyone has a story. Just like in our workplaces, people are dealing with multiple facets of family dynamics and some either leave that at home, on the train, or bring it to work. Some find a colleague and use them as counselor (which I do not advocate) and some just need to get things off their chest.

I think understanding that we all have “things” we deal with on a regular basis and being somewhat sympathetic goes a long way. Of course there are those who will continue to push the envelope, come into your office and unload on you every day with their personal problems. Somehow, we have to put a stop to that. I call them “time robbers” who steal our time and never take our advice. I’ve learned over the years to just flat-out tell them, “look, if you’re not going to take my advice, don’t talk to me about it anymore” and most of the time it works.

I work virtually so my constant intruder is my husband. Sometimes I would love to put an “out of the office” sign on my door but think he would probably guess I’m still in there.

I think one of the things I love most about living in the Chicago area is its diverse population. It mixes it up a bit, and I like that. Being from Southeast Alabama, we mostly have three diverse groups: Rednecks (whites), Blacks, and a few Hispanics (who work in our tomato fields). Somehow, it’s just not that exciting unless a redneck gets out of control. That can be somewhat exciting.

In the end, its diversity that makes up this great nation of ours. The freedom of expression, whatever that may mean for each diverse group and I’m fascinated by that.

The “Spirit” of Diversity

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I flew to SHRM on “Spirit” airlines and let me just say, lesson learned. If you want to hear more about that experience go to my post “Have you got Spirit?“.

While taking the red-eye back to Chi-town yesterday (which I don’t recommend) I began looking around the plane at the diverse group of fellow passengers and couldn’t help think “wow”! If I could have gotten away with taking their pictures with my handy-dandy camera in my phone, I would have. Instead, I thought that to be very intrusive to take pictures of characters with their mouths wide open while they slept.

Instead, I’ll describe them for you. On the same row with me of course was my business partner and friend who constantly talked to me but kept me laughing all the same. Next to her was an older gentleman, who even though had to go pee a million times and he was seated next to the window while I was in the aisle seat, I had great patience and sympathy for (My Dad has to pee a lot because of his prostate issues).

On the row across from me was an older guy snoring up a storm and next to him some pretty old chicks who talked incessantly (I’m not sure how he was able to sleep through that). One of them had to be wheeled to the gate because of some kind of debilitating unnoticeable handicap.

About 1/3 of the way into the 3 1/3 hour trip I started smelling something so nauseating I almost threw up in my own lap. I looked at Sue (aka – business partner) and noticed she had her shirt covering her nose so I asked her “what is that horrible smell?” She said, “OMG I don’t know but it’s coming from up there” and pointed to the seat in front of us where this not-to-bad looking guy sat next to Mr. Rapper. (We had to smell that smell, which apparently was halitosis to the umpth degree , the whole trip).

Somewhere from the back I kept hearing a kid talking so loud and was thinking, “Why would a kid be on the red-eye and why was what was he doing in Vegas in the first place?”

From the moment I found my seat I noticed that it was extremely cold and thought I would ask for a blanket (apparently, I thought this to be Delta or some sort of REAL airline) once we were in the air so I didn’t cause a scene and then asked the flight attendant if I could have a blanket to which she replied, “Ma’am, we don’t have blankets on the plane.” I was literally so cold I had to come up with a plan. If I could get my feet warm (I was wearing flip-flops because in Vegas it was about 112 degrees) than it would probably help all over. So I took out a few things from a zippered compartment in my backpack on the floor in front of me, took off my flops, and stuck my feet in their (like a pair of slippers). It helped a little.

I started thinking that this is the most diverse bunch of folks I had ever seen in once small space. Now, Vegas did have its diversity I noticed while walking the strip several times (I should have taken pics on that too but thought it might be illegal to post).

Isn’t this just like some of our workplaces? We have the older group of workers that may have disabilities, we have the Rap Stars (who refuse to turn off their music when told to turn off their electric devices – they are constantly pushing the envelope of RULES), we have the worker with extreme halitosis and we are constantly handing them mints or gum, we have those who love to bring their chatty kids to work, and we are constantly having those who think it’s too hot or too cold.

I love hearing my friend Joe Gerstandt talk about diversity because basically he says it’s just being “different.” That’s why we all love (or maybe just me) people watching. Yeah, we all think we’re normal and wonderful, but I couldn’t imagine living and working every day with folks who are just like me. How boring would that be?

In the end, it takes all kinds.

Generational diversity; The patchwork quilt

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Yesterday morning I sat in on a session entitled “Addressing the Global Talent Mismatch in the workplace” at SHRM 2011. When the speaker asked the attendees (most of them in Human Resources or some kind of Human Capital Management role) “How many of you in the room know what to do when it comes to addressing the generational diversity in the workplace, especially with the older generation?” I admit, I wasn’t too shocked to see only a few hands go up.

Hmmmmmm……… Our workforce diversity is forever changing and we don’t know how to prepare for that? Well, I’m sure that is why they were sitting in that session at 7:00 in the morning so they could get some answers.

Some of the information discussed was of course the generational differences;

  • Traditionalists – 65 and older (not really open to changes and feel they have made it this far on what they have experienced)
  • Boomers – Like the Traditionalists they feel that getting rewarded in the workplace is all about having done their time” ( a different mindset) – they even think in terms of their loyalty toward their employers as counting for something
  • Both Gen X and Y are of the mindset that they are “entitled to change and break the rules” and possibly think that it’s up to them to come in and be the change
Traditionalists and Boomers are more adherent to policy and procedures where as the younger generation question policy and are constantly pushing the envelope, (why do I have to do this?) – they feel a sense of entitlement and believe that is it part of their job to continue to question.

Now don’t get me wrong, we did talk about performance in this session and we decided that it goes across all four generations – but in different ways. We also discussed that  sometimes if you have an older (55) super performer they are usually not perceived as “old” in the workplace, by their peers. I know this even when I look at my husband who is about to turn 57. He is definitely the overachiever and is constantly being told that he does not look or act his age. (Sometimes I tell him that he doesn’t act his age but in a different manner :) )

How do we attract and retain experienced workers? The stats given during the presentation are that (14%) of businesses are even trying to do anything about attracting older workers, and only something like (23%) are knowledgeable of how to retain older workers. (Please don’t blast me with emails on where to find these stats because they were up on the power point presentation by the presenter and I really don’t have a clue).

Older workers NEED MORE WORK LIFE BALANCE. This seems to be the theme for the SHRM conference this year – Work, Life – Flexibility. When it comes to older workers we find that they want career choice and they’re needing flexibility practices in place to take care of parents and are also planning for retirement.

Using flex as we have with nursing mothers (working mothers) and using it in the same manner, making a strategic plan of how we can translate this same practice with older workers and elder care, is certainly something to consider and is one companies strategic plan. By using the same guidelines in helping working mothers and changing it up a bit when it comes to aging parents, they noticed they went from a 40%  turnover rate down to 14% – Now that is ROI. By the way, half of their employees were over the age of 45.

Here are a few creative approaches suggested by members of the audience:

  • Some companies are taking older workers and making them contract and some part-time.
  • Some suggested using older workers to train / sponsor the high potential project team. Having the younger generations train the older on new technologies within the workplace to be more productive and valuable within the organization (okay, that was my suggestion that I offered to the group).
  • Interns coming in (especially with attracting new talent for the future and in strategic planning) and utilizing technology such as videos geared toward their long-term strategic planning of how to attract and retain their workforce.
I imagine the generational diversity in the workplace to look something like that of a patchwork quilt – knitted together and all working for the common good. I do believe it can be achieved.