Diversity now seems to have become a buzzword and you come across it more and more often Numerous companies are developing initiatives to become more diverse, with a particular focus on the right balance between men and women and a good spread of origin. A noble endeavor, but I doubt it goes far enough. Because how do you ensure that people with a more introverted personality, for example, also feel at ease?
Diversity can be of great benefit to a company. It gives an impulse to creativity and innovation and also prevents things from being taken for granted. All beautiful things and there is a lot to be said for paying attention to it.
The discussion about diversity is currently mainly about the male / female ratio and a good spread in ethnical background. How do you get more women and people from different backgrounds around the table? Slowly but surely, the first steps are being taken, and with results. Diversity seems to be becoming more and more normal.
Seen and understood
At its core, diversity is about everyone feeling seen and understood at work. And as far as I am concerned, there's some more work to be done here. Because doesn't that go much further than sex and origin? Shouldn't we also go a level deeper and look at what moves people and what they need? Shouldn't we extend that diversity to the entire personality?
According to personality theory, people can be introverted or extroverted, open or closed, organized or more spontaneous, emotionally stable or fickle, compliant or competitive, and everything in between. As humans, we tend to seek out others who are like us, which also applies to the hiring policy. As a result, more extroverted personalities like to take on other extroverts and so on.
Not diverse
How diverse is a company where many women are at the top, but where those women are all dominant and competitive? Or where people have all kinds of backgrounds, but all are just as disorganized and closed? By looking no further than gender or origin, you may miss that one caring man or that bold woman who could be such a nice addition to the team.
By broadening the concept and also looking at a good spread in personality, you can become even more diverse as a company. This leads to even more new ideas and creativity and ensures a mutual cross-fertilization between people who can complement each other. It is of course important that those people are open to other ideas and to people who are different from them. Moving away from polarization, coming together for new insights. As far as I am concerned, that is the ultimate diversity.
