We’ve achieved diversity in the workplace. Now what? | Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. | Big Think
Our country is as diverse as it's ever been, but it's also as divided as ever. There was a time when we were really talking about male-female, black-white in America; that was it. Now we've added all of these additional dimensions of diversity. We are now realizing that diversity is not the Holy Grail we thought it was. Once you achieve diversity, you've made it happen; the reality now is that inclusion is the real Holy Grail.
So here we are, with a country where we have achieved diversity, and we have a whole other set of issues. When you bring all of these diverse people together, you realize that it's hard to manage diversity, and that's where inclusion comes in. Making sure that you get the most out of this diversity is essential. Diversity can be great, net-net; it can also have some major disadvantages if not properly managed.
If you talk to people who are 40 and older, they ask, "Is this really about quotas? Is this really about affirmative action?" It's a very compliance-oriented conversation. It's always, you know, "Is this just to keep the company out of trouble?" When you get into the younger generation, those 40 and younger, including some Generation X and then Millennials, even now Generation Z—they understand the value of diversity. They want to understand how a company can tie diversity to its competitive environment.
What's the competitive advantage of diversity? They're not as much interested in the compliance side; they want you to make a case that diversity matters to them—by the way, whether or not they are black or white, male or female, etc. Why does diversity matter? Therefore, it will help them understand why the company is so invested in it.
By the way, I was recently asked this at a conference, and it was a cold hit. They said, "Can you tell us who does DNI well?" I candidly said no; I don't know of a company that does it well. Some are good and are trying to get good, but by and large, doing this well has evaded us.
What we're seeing organizations do is begin to identify the focus on unconscious bias—and that all of us have them. This is not just a white male problem; it is everyone's problem. We all bring our biases into the workplace. If it's a bias against someone who's overweight, or a bias against someone who is not born in the U.S., we all have them. Black people have biases as well.
What I've learned and seen is that organizations that spend their time explaining to everyone that they have skin in this game and that they themselves can benefit from diversity training are doing well. The second thing we see from companies that actually get it is they spend more time focusing on commonalities than differences.
One of the earliest challenges I predicted would come out of this diversity focus—talking two to three decades ago—was we started discussing embracing our differences and tolerating our differences. There was such a maniacal focus on differences—valuing our differences. The fact of the matter is that this is counter to how the human experience actually works.
If I walk into a room full of people who are by definition different from me, the first thing I do is begin trying to find what we have in common. I ask, "Where'd you go to college? Where'd you grow up? Tell me this." What I'm trying to do is find our commonality. Once we can find those things we have in common, we'll get to know more about our differences, but it has to be rooted in our commonality.
Most early diversity strategies really focused on our differences, and I think we've learned that the companies that are doing this better now understand to start with commonalities so that we can ultimately respect our differences.