Diversity Management at Work Place

Diversity as a Challenge

„This is a story of how I experienced the power of workforce diversity management within my team. I lead a small group of four people with different background and different tasks. It has always been a challenge for me trying to find the best approach as a team leader in order to make them work together in an enjoyable and fruitful way. I came across the first difficulty when I decided to organise our first team building...“
Diversity = Opportunity

„Teambuilding can easily turn out to be hated by participants if they feel pushed into something they don´t feel comfortable about. This is what I was aware of and my goal was to come with activities that would evoke positive emotions and passion. I knew that neither bungee jumping nor painting would be the right choice. But I did not perceive negatively about this kind of decision making, I was rather looking for a creative idea which would bring us all together.“
The Right Solution

„I had a vision but I wanted to bring it into life. For this I needed help and I found it. Help is about trust, so I asked a professional instructor, psychologist, amateur actor and a very good friend of mine to support me in defining the program for teambuilding and we decided for an experiment – pantomime and theater practices as a streamline for activities. Surprisingly the concept worked very well and the overall feedback was very positive, which was rewarding not only for me, but also for the whole team. But what were the success factors? Was it only the diversity issue, or was there more in it?“
Lessons Learned - Toolbox

1. Diversity is a topic – be aware of it, work actively with this fact, it will be appreciated.
2. Diversity enhances creativity in processes – diverse workforce possesses more innovative ideas, creative approaches and diverse strategies for dealing with different issues (I was so surprised by the creative outcome of the pantomimes!).
3. Commitment to diversity starts at the top – success in workforce diversity starts with a visible and active commitment by leaders.
4. It is not only about diversity – when leading people it is important to evoke positive thinking, create trust and in the end integrate them into one team.
Diversity brings Value Added

„The valued added of diversity management in workplace is not only in better team performance which positively correlates with company´s performance. Managing diversity from my point of view means managing people in terms of helping them understand each other better, avoiding conflicts and misundestanding. The existence of dissimilar mindsets enhances „out of the box“ thinking, therefore diversity is an important driver for innovations. On the other hand it also contributes to active openess and respect in society. That is why the topic of diversity management should actively be addressed from all perspectives, including business.“

Diversity as a Challenge

„This is a story of how I experienced the power of workforce diversity management within my team. I lead a small group of four people with different background and different tasks. It has always been a challenge for me trying to find the best approach as a team leader in order to make them work together in an enjoyable and fruitful way. I came across the first difficulty when I decided to organise our first team building...“

Diversity = Opportunity

„Teambuilding can easily turn out to be hated by participants if they feel pushed into something they don´t feel comfortable about. This is what I was aware of and my goal was to come with activities that would evoke positive emotions and passion. I knew that neither bungee jumping nor painting would be the right choice. But I did not perceive negatively about this kind of decision making, I was rather looking for a creative idea which would bring us all together.“

The Right Solution

„I had a vision but I wanted to bring it into life. For this I needed help and I found it. Help is about trust, so I asked a professional instructor, psychologist, amateur actor and a very good friend of mine to support me in defining the program for teambuilding and we decided for an experiment – pantomime and theater practices as a streamline for activities. Surprisingly the concept worked very well and the overall feedback was very positive, which was rewarding not only for me, but also for the whole team. But what were the success factors? Was it only the diversity issue, or was there more in it?“

1. Diversity is a topic – be aware of it, work actively with this fact, it will be appreciated.
2. Diversity enhances creativity in processes – diverse workforce possesses more innovative ideas, creative approaches and diverse strategies for dealing with different issues (I was so surprised by the creative outcome of the pantomimes!).
3. Commitment to diversity starts at the top – success in workforce diversity starts with a visible and active commitment by leaders.
4. It is not only about diversity – when leading people it is important to evoke positive thinking, create trust and in the end integrate them into one team.

Diversity brings Value Added

„The valued added of diversity management in workplace is not only in better team performance which positively correlates with company´s performance. Managing diversity from my point of view means managing people in terms of helping them understand each other better, avoiding conflicts and misundestanding. The existence of dissimilar mindsets enhances „out of the box“ thinking, therefore diversity is an important driver for innovations. On the other hand it also contributes to active openess and respect in society. That is why the topic of diversity management should actively be addressed from all perspectives, including business.“