Cambridge Chamber of Commerce Newsletter

By Cheryl A. Lieberman

Over the past decade, diversity and inclusion have become the business buzzwords. The management shelf of any bookstore is filled with titles devoted to "understanding", "managing", "increasing", "building," "focusing on", "working towards", "achieving", "leveraging", "exploiting", "creating", and "mastering" diversity and inclusion. As with any publishing fad, the concepts are in danger of being trivialized. Are they real, or are diversity and inclusion the 1990s business equivalent of the pet rock?

As a consultant who spends some of her professional time working with companies to become more diverse and inclusive, I'm of the opinion that they are very real - and what's more, they're critical for the long-term success of any organization. But, I also know that they are commonly misunderstood.

For starters, diversity is not the same as Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity. They start with the assumption that deliberate action must be taken to ensure an equal chance for everyone.

Diversity starts from a less noble and more strategic assumption: that organizations improve their performance when they have access to a large array of talents, perspectives, skills and ideas - in other words, when the people comprising the organization bring to it a range of backgrounds and experiences. It therefore stands to reason that the organization that can best attract, retain and utilize different people will have an edge over its competitors by having access to broader vision and wider competencies.

What does this diversity look like? Today, differences in age, ethnicity, life experience, gender, sexual orientation, physical ability, race, style and others are seen as new perspectives that potentially strengthen an organization. This represents a major shift in thinking. Where such differences were once considered disruptive (and the adoption of a certain "standard style" required for career success) they are now seen as enriching and valuable.

But since differences among people can easily lead to misunderstanding and conflict, and since organizations still need to function cohesively, the challenges a diverse organization faces are greater and different from those of a monocultural organization. How can people of different backgrounds and perspectives work together effectively? How can their talents complement, rather than clash with, each other? How can the organization, regardless of size, encourage and support people in doing their best work?

The only way is by creating a culture that is inclusive, one in which everyone feels a full member and has equal access to top success. This means acknowledging the individuality that the organization prizes. The inclusive organization doesn't try to ignore differences among people. It wants to celebrate them and support them so that they can add value to the enterprise. The inclusive organization hears people's voices, looks for opportunities to learn from each other, and respects those aspects of people that are unique. Finding ways to do that is where the hard work of leveraging diversity and building inclusion begins. There are no boilerplate solutions or easy three-step programs. There also is no end-just as people themselves must continue to grow, so too must organizations. But with the basic concepts in motion, the diverse and inclusive organization generates an energy that helps perpetuate itself. It accesses the richness of its members' diversity to the greater benefit of all, so that its whole is truly greater than the sum of its considerable parts.

Cheryl Lieberman, PhD, is President of Cornerstone Consulting Group and a consultant-affiliate with The Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group.

This article first appeared in the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce's newsletter, Connections.