Valuing diversity Archives

Ask better questions for a powerfully diverse workplace

So you want to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace that’s both good for business and good for your people?! Then there are some fundamental challenges that you’ll need to overcome. There are some mindsets that you’ll likely need to shift.

In the first episode of this three-part video series, I share the initial challenge that many businesses face when trying to create a more powerfully diverse and productively inclusive organisation.

We’re asking plenty of questions about the problems in our workplaces, but we’re not asking enough of the RIGHT questions about the solutions.

18 October 2021/0 Comments/by Jeff Schwisow

Leadership, Valuing diversity

‘Diversity’ is NOT a human resources problem…

…that’ll be solved by changing the demographics of your organisation.

In fact, it isn’t a problem at all.

It’s the most powerful and important leadership opportunity of the 21st century.

It’s a chance for you, as a leader, to tap into the rich variety of knowledge, experiences and perspectives of your people to create a thriving business AND a more fulfilling workplace.

11 October 2021/0 Comments/by Jeff Schwisow

Engagement, Humanisation, Valuing diversity

Are you making your diverse workplace into a tribe?

The evidence is clear – there’s value in diversity.

Research pretty clearly shows that businesses with greater overall diversity are more innovative and have higher profitability when compared with the averages. But to tap into the ideas and perspectives of people with diverse physical characteristics and backgrounds, you have to build trust. That means tapping into our tribal nature and making your workplace a modern tribe.

But here’s the thing about ‘trust’…

2 February 2021/0 Comments/by Jeff Schwisow

Engagement, Humanisation, Valuing diversity

Valuing diversity starts with the diversity you already have

So…

How do you get more value from your diversity and inclusion initiatives?
How do you ensure that your diversity activities don’t alienate employees when you want to make them feel more included?
How do you turn your organisation’s investment in greater demographic diversity into the innovation and revenue returns that the research says we should be getting?

These are questions that I’m asked by clients and event participants when I talk about valuing diversity.

In this short video, I answer the next question that often comes once we start discussing it…where do I start?

19 November 2020/0 Comments/by Jeff Schwisow

Engagement, Humanisation, Valuing diversity

Random Acts of Gratitude – Ben Waites

A couple of weeks back, my friend Mykel Dixon issued an invitation…well, it wasn’t so much an invitation as a dare. A dare to extend random acts of gratitude to people that bring light and beauty into the world.

Not the usual suspects. No agenda. No tit-for-tat reciprocity. Just do it because it’s the RIGHT thing to do.

Right because it’s appreciation they deserve. Right because it’s good for your soul. Right because it’s what the world could desperately use more of.

I thought long and hard on who I could appreciate and knew that it had to be Ben Waites.

Who’s Ben? Check it out…I dare you!

23 September 2020/0 Comments/by Jeff Schwisow

Silence is the path to our best possible future

Engagement, Intrinsic Motivation, Valuing diversity

Does the path to our best possible future live in the silence?

Recently, I was rehearsing the closing of my DIVERSIFY keynote and – for the first time in a long time – I connected to the meaning of the words that makes it one of my favourite songs of all time. I re-affirmed – for myself – that valuing diversity means creating the space for everyone to have a voice but not remaining silent when there are those that try to take that voice away.

Rather than trying to hit the right notes (that are clearly at the edge of my vocal range!) I engaged with the powerful emotions that make this version of the song* so poignant in the world in which we all find ourselves…and that our children might inherit.