4 reasons why diversity is paramount to any institution.
Cultivating an environment that is diverse and inclusive should be a major premise to any institution- Whether that be a company, school or a social group. A hybrid of multiple perspectives leads to an atmosphere that promotes inclusivity, productivity, and innovation.
When people are in environments that embrace their unique life experiences, information is exchanged more readily. Due to this, not only do people feel valued, but also everyone’s energy shifts because they are happy to be heard. Thus, by embracing diversity, we are breaching the social norm of doing things a certain way because that’s how they have always been done. Allowing repressed communities to speak up and raise different ideas ultimately leads to a more balanced line of thinking.
Accordingly, diversity is a fundamental metric when assessing the quality of an institution. Here, we discuss four reasons as to why diversity will help enhance your organization, and why it’s important.
Diversity fosters innovative environments.
Every culture, nationality, and human being views the world through a unique lens. This is because their personal experiences impact their point of view, and their point of view are impacted by their culture. When people from different backgrounds congregate in environments where they feel safe and valued, they will begin to share their perspective. This really is the outset to building any innovative environment.
If your environment is strictly homogenous, then you genuinely wouldn’t learn anything. And if you don’t learn anything, you won’t be able to trigger innovative ideas that are inclusive. Inclusive ideas are paramount because they consider unique perspectives that may often be overlooked by personal bias or lack of experience. Ultimately, we can learn something from everyone, and the first step is inviting people from all walks of life into the conversation.
A heightened increase in performance.
When an environment contains a diverse group of people, you tend to notice everyone is a lot happier. And when people are happier, then their performance increases. A major reason as to why people’s moods increase in diverse environments is due to the increase in skills diversity provides. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Hence, the benefit of diversity is to make up for areas where other people may be lacking. This ultimately leads to a robust work environment, which in return leads to a heightened increase in performance, productivity, morale, and creativity.
Inspires problem solving solutions.
Diversity leads to interesting problem-solving solutions. As perviously noted, a major premise to diversity and inclusion is the different perspectives it can provide. To that end, two different brains are better than one when determining a solution for an issue. This is because other people’s perspectives can make you view a situation much more differently- in a way where you have never considered before. That can make you stop and revaluate whether you have judiciously tackled a situation, which in return, it will force you to think critically. Therefore, diversity will challenge your mindset, in the best possible way.
Personal bias is eliminated.
A major premise to diversity is to foster environments that eliminate personal bias- whether that’s about gender, race, age, sexual orientation, or religion. By being open to allowing people from all walks of life to enter the door, you are dismantling your personal biases. You are allowing for a more hopeful and inclusive atmosphere that will help promote a welcoming culture. All voices deserve to be heard, and we cannot achieve this step if your personal biases are not set aside. Therefore, making a conscious effort to foster a mediocratic atmosphere will help promote equal representation of supressed folk that deserve a seat at the table.
“Inclusivity means not ‘just we’re allowed to be there,’ but we are valued. I’ve always said: smart teams will do amazing things, but truly diverse teams will do impossible things.”
– Claudia Brind-Woody