What Do They Mean to One Another?

In my 30+ years as a member of one workforce or another, I've seen buzz words follow fads follow trends follow breakthrough ideas. A few have demonstrated lasting value.

However, I've rarely seen these "hot buttons" linked to one another. Two have emerged in the past decade as critical to workplace success: diversity and employee engagement.

Seems about time to see how and why they impact one another.

Certainly, you've seen definitions galore for employee engagement, not only in this blog. A lot has been written, too, about diversity and its meaning. Still, as workplace diversity increases, it's worth reviewing diversity in the definitions of diversity:

• "...social inclusiveness: ethnic variety, as well as socioeconomic and gender variety, in a group, society, or institution" (MSN Encarta)

• "Diversity is a collection of individuals bringing together varied demographic, cultural, human, intellectual, and philosophical differences to help create an environment that honors and respects those differences in a safe and supportive environment." (Natl Inst of Gov'l Purchasing)

• "Workplace diversity refers to the variety of differences between people in an organization. That sounds simple, but diversity encompasses race, gender, ethnic group, age, personality, cognitive style, tenure, organizational function, education, background and more." (DiversityWorking.com, Josh Greenberg)

• "Diversity refers to human qualities that are different from our own and those of groups to which we belong; but that are manifested in other individuals and groups. Dimensions of diversity include but are not limited to: age, ethnicity, gender, physical abilities / qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, parental status, religious beliefs, work experience, and job classification." (Foothill-DeAnza Community College District)

Diversity and employee engagement relate to one another in two distinct ways.

Maximize the positive impact of your diverse employee base and you

• Stimulate employees to engage in work, networks, company/business, and community,
• Define diversity's contributions to efficiency and effectiveness and engage employees in same,
• Engage employees in broader areas of interaction and coordinated efforts.

On the flip side, provide attention to engagement by employees and you

• Generate recognition of diverse ideas, experience, and skills,
• Inspire respect for a variety of unique and valuable approaches 
• Create realization of greater values among a broadly diverse employee population.

I encourage you to keep in mind the CORE approach: Communication to keep all employees informed of the meaning, impact, and values of a diverse workplace; Opportunities to experience and appreciate such diversity; Resources to expedite diversity-based approaches to specific projects; and Engagement modeling by managers who engage in clearly linking employee engagement and workplace diversity.

Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/colouredinks/27921595/

Comments

[Bruce Lewin]

Hi Tim,

Many thanks for this, it was a great piece and really helped me writing a follow up.

http://www.fourgroups.com/blog/archives/04/the-war-for-talent-is-over-and-weve-won/

I tried to do a pingback but wasn't sure it worked, so I thought I'd say hello the old fashioned way!