Beyond superficial diversity

What do you think about when you hear the words ?????????????????? & ??????????????????? What’s the image that comes to mind? Do you see a group of people with different skin colors? Men and women? Young and old people working together?

Diversity and inclusion is about including members of underrepresented groups in the business world. Why are they underrepresented? Because dominant groups have strong networks and – often subconsciously – keep everyone who is ‘different’ out.?

In the Netherlands, this dominant group is what Joris Luyendijk calls the 7-checks; white, heterosexual, male, with high education and at least one parent who is born in the Netherlands and is highly educated or wealthy. This privileged group of people forms a type of new aristocracy, who hardly interacts with people from different social, ethnic or educational backgrounds. Their bubble is so strong, they tend to even forget they are in one. This dominant group in business excludes and discriminates – again, often subconsciously - through the ‘just-like-me’ effect. We all are guilty of this social categorization bias (the fancy word for just-like-me effect), but if you are part of the dominant group in business, you could fall into the trap of actually starting to believe the best people for the job are just like you.?

Including underrepresented groups is what most organizations mean to do when they strive for diversity, diversity as a goal. ????’?? ???????????? ?? ?????????? ?????????? ?????? ???? ?????????????????????????? ???? ????????????????. However, often the argument of diversity and inclusion is linked to creating an organizational advantage. Yet superficial – often visible - characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, or age do not necessary make an organization more successful. To really use diversity to the advantage of the organization, they need to search for ???????? ??????????????????.

Deep diversity is about how people differ on a deeper level, independent of whether they are male or female, their sexual orientation or their level of education. People who differ on a deep level hold different values, beliefs and attitudes. They developed different cultural patterns, and have specific ideas about what is good, right and what works.?

They may have different preferences when it comes to ??????????????????????????: should you be open and honest, or is being indirect and diplomatic a better choice? They could have different styles of ??????????????????????: is it about personal achievement and taking personal responsibility, or do we make a joint effort and share responsibility as a group? And what is the best ????????????? What motivates? How do we build trust? It’s questions like these that emerge in deeply diverse teams.

We tend to dislike it if people have different ways, they seem strange at best, but we often think of them in much more negative terms, untrustworthy, stupid. To be aware of your own ???????????????? ?????????????? is the first step towards recognizing your own biases and blind spots, understanding how you take a certain way of working for granted. The next is to learn to recognize and appreciate those of others, postpone judgment and learn to see and use the advantages of deep diversity.

#deepdiversity #caleidoscopeacademy #caleidoscopiccooperation #culturaleffectiveness?#culturalpattern