Collective Diversity starts with an Individual journey!
Date: 20 August 2019 | Author: Edina de Jong – Hodzic
The topic of Diversity has been intriguing me for a while. What is Diversity? When you look at how this topic is defined within the media, corporations, institutions and societies we tend to stick to popular themes on gender equality, glass ceiling, women empowerment, parental policies etc. Although great projects have emerged from those themes (e.g. HeforShe) I still feel we’re missing something in this important discussion. I started wondering what…
When we talk about Diversity, what are we actually measuring? Gender balance in positions of power or closing salary gap for woman or cultural diversity.
It seems very hard to define Diversity. The discussion today is very much focused on removing external barriers like ‘glass ceiling’, ineffective employee policies etc. But have we looked at our internal barriers?
Whatever we haven’t solved on the outside, needs to be solved on the inside. When we allow our individual Diversity to be expressed we will allow collective Diversity to emerge and glass ceilings and empowerment issues will get resolved.
Let’s take a look at the topic of ‘women empowerment’ which suggests that it’s the women opposed to men that need to be accepted and allowed inside the decision-making process. In fact, will this bring the needed change that we’re desperately hoping for? From my personal research and observation I find that although men are more allowed inside of the decision-making process, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they feel empowered. Empowerment is not something you can attain by being part of a group. True empowerment comes from the inside. We have been conditioned to believe that if we’re part of that company or that management team, we will feel empowered and fulfilled. This is an illusion. The truth is that nothing from the outside (promotion, new position, higher salary, new car etc.) can make you feel ‘more’ empowered. Empowerment comes from within. In today’s world we’re giving too much power away to everything outside ourselves leaving us feeling unsettled, anxious, stressed, sick, stuck etc. True empowerment starts when we allow ourselves to look inside and reclaim our authentic inner power.
How do we do this? Only by knowing who we truly are (beyond any external form of gender, race, age, education, cultural beliefs, material belongings, titles etc.) can we allow our individual Diversity and authentic power to express itself. We can go on this path by reading books to help us understand ourselves better, taking courses on self development, coaching etc. I would advise companies that want to make a sustainable impact in this area to include a learning budget for a journey of authentic discovery for their employees as part of their Diversity strategy.
It is not what we do on the outside that will make a difference in the world, it is what we do on the inside!