Diversity in the Work Place
South Africa is an incredibly diverse country. While this offers many opportunities, it also comes with its own set of challenges.
Learning about personality types can help you better understand why people act and speak in certain ways, and, in turn, allow you to relate more to others and communicate more effectively with them.
Effective Communications within one group is challenging enough but when members of diverse groups work together, it can be even more so.
In Chapter 1 of our Courses:
we cover Diversity in the Work Place…
- What is Diversity?
- Understanding Personal Diversity,
- Understanding Cultural Diversity, and
- Managing Diversity in the Work Place.
What is Diversity?
While diversity is important, on its own it’s not enough. There needs to be inclusion as well. So what’s the difference between the two, and why both are important things to have in any workplace?
What are the benefits of different points of view and constructive conflict?
What is the difference between diversity and inclusion?
“Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance,” Verna Myers.
Diversity and inclusion may require a change of mindset from prejudice and intolerance to acceptance and respect.
Achieving this may involve some pain, but the benefits can be substantial.
Understanding Personal Diversity
Have you ever wondered why you just ‘connect’ with some people, and others not?
How would you like to communicate effectively with people you don’t even know?
There are now tools available to help you do so.
It’s easy to work with people you ‘connect’ with.
How do you work with those you don’t?
How do you select people who will work well as a team?
Your job-satisfaction and the success of your business depends on it, so it cannot be ignored.
Why does personality matter, what is it and where does it come from?
How much of it were you born with, and how much do you pick up along the way?
We are all unique. We all have strengths and weaknesses. Consequently, people communicate differently and they do better when communicated to in a certain way.
We delve into an analysis of personality types. There are many personality models, but four of the most popular are DISC, MBTI, Enneagram, and Big Five.
Personality can be predicted from text (like a resumé or a social media account) using artificial intelligence (AI).
How to Use Personality Data
- Improve your Phone Calls and Meetings,
- Upgrade your Emails,
- Effectively Lead Teams,
- Resolve a Conflict,
- Pitch Pricing,
- Recruit the Perfect Candidate,
- Schedule a Meeting.
Enrich your database or Client Relationship Management (CRM) by creating Personality Profiles of your colleagues and clients.
Tools Available
- Get a full Personality Profile from a LinkedIn Profile,
- Google Chrome extension,
- Mobile App,
- Slack gives you advice on how to deal with someone,
- Personality AI, the new technology revolutionizing how we sell, lead & communicate,
- eBooks,
- InfoGraphics,
Predicting Personality
If your job requires communication, like sales, management, recruiting, marketing, and more, this book introduces a secret weapon: Personality AI.
“This book is a powerful, comprehensive guide to personality differences… Insanely valuable advice for any business leader!” Tony Robbins. Life Coach
Learning about personality types can help you better understand why people act and speak in certain ways, and, in turn, allow you to relate more to others and communicate more effectively with them.
In other words you:
- Develop your own style of communicating based on your personality type, and
- Learn to quickly assess the most effective way of communicating with others.
Understanding Cultural Diversity
South Africa is an incredibly diverse country. While this offers many opportunities, it also comes with its own set of challenges.
Effective Communications within one group is challenging enough but when members of diverse groups work together, it can be even more so.
Cultural Diversity is not limited to race and we need to move away from this assumption.
South Africa has undergone a rapid transformation since 1994. Not only has the different race groups begun working together; the younger generation has grown up in a rapidly changing world – socially and, especially, technology.
Do employees challenge their managers, or simply comply with instructions?
Which cultural difference should be accommodated, and which not?
How best do we decide and implement this?
Learn about other cultures, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Being genuinely interested will build endearing relationships and mitigate the consequences of any mistakes you may make.
Managing Diversity in the Work Place
Diversity management recognizes individual differences and demands respect for all cultures, gender, sexual orientations, age, religious/political beliefs, physical abilities or ideologies, and races.
There should be a strong emphasis on communication.
There needs to be a clearly-defined set of guidelines that everyone is familiar with and these need to be implemented in a fair and equitable way.
Invest in diversity training.
Start with yourself and be mindful of others.
A diverse team may take longer to start producing results, but the variety of ideas and skill-sets they bring to the table will make it more successful in the long term.
