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Like attracts like; the challenge of diversity

We are all drawn to familiarity

As a species, we are intrinsically attracted to similarities. We form attachments with those who share our interests and passions, and who are genetically like those we have had the most contact with. This subconscious and innate attraction may be something we all live with – but it is also something we ought to challenge, particularly in the workplace.

Growth and success depend on embracing new ideas, ideals and challenges – and that depends on an availability of influences.

If your organisation is missing the mark on diversity, how can you challenge your own unconscious bias and embrace a wider range of influences, and open your reach to a whole new market?

Bias might be something you pride yourself on not having – but it’s human nature to favour the familiar – and it takes significant, repeated and conscious effort to challenge our own bias, particularly when it means acknowledging uncomfortable truths, and our own limitations.

When you are building a team who will lead your organisation to the next stage of growth and success, it’s important to embrace a range of influencers – to cherry pick your key players from a diverse and varied range of environments and backgrounds, and to benefit from the differences between them, and to allow for autonomy and communication to flow freely from all levels of your workforce, from the most experienced and qualified experts down to the newest and most inexperienced member of the team, who might just see the world in a new way that can make a huge difference to the way things are done.

Changing the way you think, behave and believe is an enormous undertaking – and the first step is acknowledging that we all display unconscious bias, and that we all yearn for the familiar. Only with honest and conscious discussions about this truth can we begin to change – and to embrace diversity, recognising the benefits of challenging our own limitations.

Culture change is one of the biggest challenges any organisation could face – recognising that the way things have always been done is perhaps not the best way to continue, and gradually changing the behaviour of the whole organisation, at every level, is a process which takes time and dedication.

If you want to rethink the culture in your organisation, and you want to embrace a more diverse workforce and the experiences and ideas a wider reaching network can bring, contact us today and let’s discuss how we can help you on that journey.

Call 01234 757575 or email hello@askeurope.com

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