Identifying and Including Diverse Perspectives Must Become Habitual in the 21st Century
By: Şirin Köprücü Strategicstraits
Tags: Diversity, Leadership, Wellness, Resillience, Inclusion

Identifying and Including Diverse Perspectives Must Become Habitual in the 21st Century

How can we get comfortable with a continually disruptive environment; how can we show up with positive intent?” were two questions I was asked most at conference sessions this year.

How would you answer these questions?

It was surprising even to me how my experience with adventure shaped my answer. My many years of intercultural encounters provided me with an appreciation of adventure.

When I was working at a global business, I landed at Damascus airport close to midnight. Not knowing that my local colleague had arranged for a pick-up service, I started thinking about how I would make it from the airport to my hotel. In addition to using my knowledge of the local culture, I engaged several people in the plane in my thought process. That night, I found my way to the hotel myself and received a phone call from my colleague in the morning, worried if I had made it to Syria. My colleague insisted that his local organization pay for all my expenses during my stay. Upon my return, I suggested to our country manager that we follow up with a “thank you” letter to appreciate our good relationship. Smaller and larger experiences date back to my early childhood, my later international career, and, eventually, my life in the United States.

Intercultural encounters and cross-border experiences help us learn new ways and adapt, contributing to interpersonal and organizational effectiveness. Intercultural encounters also prepare us for similar discomfort situations, discomfort due to change, and perhaps, even the immense discomfort and sadness of a pandemic.

People with rich intercultural experience develop a curiosity with a sense of humility that opens up their minds and ignites a quest for adventure. The quest for adventure is like an involuntary muscle that gets stimulated with anything new. This muscle makes the person automatically wonder about diverse perspectives. This muscle turns diversity and inclusion into a habit rooted deeply in experience. Did you notice some organizations fully engaged with their international constituents, quickly embraced the digital world while others withdrew from international operations in 2020?

In leadership and organizational capacity development, we talk about this involuntary muscle, especially in the context of the psychological domain of the Global Mindset® in international business. For global minds, diversity and inclusion is not something they are asked to do.

Diversity and Inclusion fuel the performance of global minds when they face complexity, ambiguity, and uncertainty. They also know that their experience with diversity and inclusion continues to sharpen their global mindset muscle. They know this helps them succeed in the moment and the future. They become champions of intercultural encounters through the diversity and inclusion processes they facilitate.

Adventure and The Case for Diversity and Inclusion

There is much reason for a quest for adventure with diversity and inclusion, ranging from the exceptional performance of diverse boards and teams of all sorts to the success stories of global brands like Starbucks, Ikea, and Airbnb. What do people, teams, and organizations that are great at diversity and inclusion have in common?

In this article, I want to focus on two key attributes and habits: one, curiosity, and two, humility. Both attributes help adapt to new ways. They also build an appetite for adventure that stays for good.

Curiosity starts with Self-Awareness.

There are three questions I recommend asking yourself:

When did you personally experience the benefits of being included in a conversation?

What did you think, and how did you feel when you were excluded from a conversation?

Based on this experience, whom and when would you like to ensure to include others?

Write your answers down. Read your answers every morning. Notice the impact this activity has on you over a period of time.

Curiosity gets energized by valuing yourself.

It is hard to be curious about others when your basic needs are not met. Just think of the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and answer the following questions:

Are you physically fit?

Do you know what matters to you most?

Do you feel curious?

Notice that these are “yes” or “no” questions. Analyze “why” and “why not?”

What will it take to get you from a “no” to a “yes”?

Notice that a “yes” answer indicates that you are physically fit, you have a purpose, and you are ready to learn and perhaps even go on an adventure!

Identify Diversity

When people cannot contribute to thought processes, mistrust can evolve. People and organizations can miss out on critical value. In his article “Diverse Talent,” Barry Barresi writes about how diverse perspectives can come from anywhere and contribute to organizational performance.

Good questions to ask are:

Is there anyone who may be feeling behind in your organization/culture?

Were you able to hear everyone’s or diverse perspective(s) before decision making?

When you engage in unknown markets or a new field of research without having consulted people familiar with the unknown, you can miss out on great opportunities.

Who can you listen to in your analysis and before your decision making about the unknown?

Curiosity is a great habit to build and nurture for identifying diversity.

Include Diversity

The cultural competence meta-skills listed in the book “Quantum Negotiation: The Art of Getting What You Need” by Dr. K. S. Walch, S. M. Mardyks, and J. Schmitz provide great paths to success with inclusion. They are:

Cultural due diligence

Frame shifting

Style shifting

Cultural dialogue

Cultural mentoring

The key question is

What do you need to know to become an effective communicator while facilitating creative thinking and innovation in this process?

Humility is a great habit to build and nurture for engaging diversity. Humility means letting go of communication barriers like stereotypes and ethnocentricity.

Build Your Global Mindset Muscle

In their article “Making it Overseas,” Dr. M. Javidan, Dr. M. Teagarden, and Dr. D. Bowen wrote that the Global Mindset® is best developed early in life. At the same time, they inform how adults can develop their Global Mindset®, including their psychological capital in classroom learning.

A multifaceted key question is

When was the last time you felt uncomfortable, and what can help you feel less fear, more curiosity, abundance, relevance, energy, and meaning next time?

Make Diversity and Inclusion A Habit

As mentioned, the diversity and inclusion process is a habit for global-minded people because they have experienced or observed its value in relating and creating often.

Adult learners can build their Global Mindset® muscle through activities and little adventures they can build into their daily lives. A diverse learning experience such as eating at a culturally diverse restaurant, attending a diverse event or an experiential workshop, time with a trusted friend or a completely new person, all offer great opportunities to open up our minds and gain (practicing) comfort with the uncomfortable. “You can start a circle of reflection and engage diverse perspectives,” recommended behavioral strategist Sofian Lamali at the 2020 UNICON Team Development Conference hosted by Thunderbird School of Global Management. During a recent presentation with the SBDC, I recommended forming a circle of study with diverse individuals to study and understand a topic of interest and gain support in mastering any related skill.

The new year is around the corner. While we see the light at the end of the tunnel through new vaccines and treatments, our lives will still be challenging in many different ways.

It is perhaps hard to imagine how you could add adventure to your life. Looking back at your past journeys, however, you can see the adventures you’ve embarked on in the past, the lessons you’ve learned, the ideas you have collected.

This is what’s coming now, too. Key questions are

What can you call an adventure in the next month, and what other adventures would you like to perhaps add along the way?