Diversity interventions - the Crossroads.
South African companies/ organisations/ teams are either under pressure to transform and include people from all backgrounds in a fair and equitable manner, or once transformed are often challenged by poor inter-diversity relationships and understanding of the need for transformation.
The need for transformation is also often brought to the fore when inter-personal, inter-diversity group communication and interactions are at a low. This negates the outputs of the team and makes work an unpleasant experience for team, clients and families.
Companies and organisations who believe they need a "diversity training" intervention are at a crossroads of danger and opportunity. The danger lies in the potentially divisive nature of such interventions and yet there are huge hidden opportunities to build individual, teams, organisation and to an extent the future of our country.
Transformation and diversity management programmes that isolate, intimidate and ignore people are self-defeating. If any person/ sector/ department or group feels threatened the process will be wasted and more so it could negatively impact your organisation.
The opportunity to build is found in the wisdoms, uniquenesses, talents, skills and histories of the group. The methodologies ensure that transformation is non-threatening, unifying and inclusive as possible. Learning is fun, motivational and exciting.
Inclusivity has two main dimensions, firstly, everyone feels valued and valuable and secondly all levels of the organisation/ team participate fully in the programme.
"In our early days in this field we operated through the shock therapy style of presentation. Some people survived and some didn’t! The main challenge was that we worked from a paradigm that judged people by their backgrounds. We now, through studying international learning methodologies and through personal experience and introspection, have found fun and non-threatening methods of bringing understanding, building relationships and accountability." Brian Moore - M.I. www.africa-dreams.com
Celebrating Humanity - The programme. www.africa-dreams.com
Transforming ourselves, our teams and our lives
In order to develop ourselves and our team at work we need to develop an understanding of our dependency, independency and inter-dependency. Once we understand that we need each other to survive and succeed we will observe that our actions, positive or negative, impact ourselves, our teams and our dependents.
It is true that the quality of life that we lead, the clothes that we wear, the humanity that we exude, the food on our table, the education of our family depends on the quality of our relationships within and outside of the workplace.
When seen in this context we begin to understand that there is a vital need for teamwork for us all to succeed. And the more diverse the backgrounds, skills and talents of the team, the more we win. The challenge is that diverse teams will only win through respect, tolerance and understanding and that is our starting point.
Knowing who we are...
An ongoing process of humanisation and communication builds the group at a human level. Communicating and developing understanding of the commonalities and uniquenesses that we all bring.
The next steps would be to develop an understanding of our intra-personal uniqueness and the ability to assess the uniqueness in other people in terms of their personality types and learning/ communication styles.
These simple skills will develop and enhance interpersonal understanding and communication.
Accountability for who we are...
When we take responsibility for our attitudes, our communication and our behaviour we can create a safe environment for ourselves, our families and other people.
To further develop a nurturing environment we develop problem-solving and solution-finding skills and learn to handle reactions to external stimuli.
Often we act out of historical programming when a short time for thought will break the cycle of anger. When we use the feeling of anger as a signal for thought, "Why am I feeling this anger?" or "Is this person saying this to hurt me?", we have an opportunity to respond rather than react. This can saves lives, families, sales and relationships!
Who adds to me and what do we contribute from our backgrounds, cultures, experience and traditions?
Through enjoyable, safe and non-threatening methodologies and processes we are able to learn - from each other - more about our lives, history, cultures and religions. In teams, selected by delegates on the basis of "who adds to me", we are able to compete in fun and respectful ways on issues of diversity. In this way a safe environment of communication and life-long learning is created.
As these processes unfold team members will begin to identify and break down old prejudicial paradigms and the foundations are laid for an ongoing respect based inter-personal team agreement.
At this point the 2 day Foundation© session ends.
Accountability for how we behave (1 day - Values Circle Process - by team and/ or department)
"At the level of respect all people are equal."
Most companies and organisation send down a list of management-decided values. Very few people know, remember and subscribe to the values, especially management. These values are only paraded at disciplinary hearings.
In order for individual change to be perpetuated within the team it is critical that the environment is kept safe and empowering by a team-decided and managed set of interpersonal values. These values are set to manage how team members interact and do not impact or negate corporate values.
This people-centred guidance system, if properly designed and implemented, will develop an ethic of praising and honouring the praiseworthy.
Those who have personal challenges will often need professional support and those who continuously break the rules must be disciplined.
Regular meeting time must be committed to allow the development of understanding and to offer guidance to those who break their self-chosen values.
The greater team manages the ongoing process offering support, guidance and discipline in a properly constituted system.
In this way we will have developed accountability and responsibility for our actions, within our team and an ongoing values structures to maintain respect and teamwork at the level of human interaction. This will definitely and positively impact family and social interactions.
A good leadership team will be part of the development and ongoing implementation of the programme and will be subject to the decisions of the structure.
A follow-up team-build, assessment and adjustment programme known as the Gathering© is facilitated approximately 12 months after the
Through the Transformational Team-building© programme Celebrating Humanity©, people will understand their amazing relevance as individuals, team members & members of their organisations.
Mthimkhulu International
for: Diversity Training, Transformational Team-building,Workforce Diversity, Workplace Diversity, Managing Diversity, Diversity Management
Leading the Culturally Diverse Workplace
In our fast transforming world, company and organizational leadership often lags the reality of their client-base. (And Cultural diversity in the workplace is as critical as religious, gender and language diversity.)
The gap between their clients and is often superficially bridged at the image level by advertising, sales teams and marketing. Advertising agencies manage at times to put on a face of a culturally-aware organization; sales teams are reasonably representative of their client base and marketing is occasionally targeted on the right market groups. But back at the office many decisions are made in the old traditional ways.
An individually-focused organization (IFO) will motivate its teams on their individual performances. Everything will be "Key Performance Indicator" (KPI) driven and individual success, at the expense of the less visible, will be encouraged.
A community-focused organization (CFO) will be focused on community and its all about us together as a community. They will often limit praise for individual successes and highlight group/ community successes.
In both IFOs and CFOs there will be inter-level, inter-team and inter-personal challenges, resulting in workplace conflict. When the issues of uniqueness, culture, religion, race, beliefs, gender, age, ability, generations, qualifications and historical experience are added to the picture then workplace conflict is a given.
These problems will be born of prejudice, jealousy, ignorance and the suppression of individual and workplace community aspirations and ideas.
Much of the challenge will emanate from the lack of representation at the highest level. This can be alleviated through transformation of the senior leadership. In such change comes all of the challenges of diversity in the boardroom.
How do you lead change, in diverse boardrooms and the workplace?
Some of the challenges are:
- "Rightness" in conflict. Judgements are made from our upbringing, our history, circumstances and our religion, race, beliefs and cultural alignment.
- The stresses in traditional "Workplace Diversity Management."
- Diversity of values - we all value different things in different ways.
- The varying interpretations of the key words, used to define values and principles.
- The normal conflicts, gossiping and backbiting that occur soon after people come together in groups and or teams.
Some of the solutions are:
- Develop an understanding, and acceptance, of diversity - in so doing let the team experience harmony and teamwork in a transformational team-building environment.
- Develop a common understanding of who we are, why we are together and how relevant our "work" is to society, the organisation, to family, to community and of course to the individual.
- Develop a common name and a team-based mission.
- Meet to clear past individual challenges, face-to-face.
- Develop a short list of positive and mutually understood and agreed values/ behaviours, that must be adhered to by all members of the team.
- Develop a list of negative and destructive behavours/ values that must be eliminated from the team's interactions.
- Get agreement and sign a commitment.
- Commit to equality at the level of respect, include management and leadership.
- Put in place a peer-driven and managed monthly meeting structure to manage all aspects of the agreement and the behaviours of team members.
- Regularly rotate the chair and the scribe to prevent a power-base from forming.
- Ensure that the process is caring, motivational and empowering whilst developing understanding and maintaining discipline.
The outcome through diversity training, team-building and clearing conflict is a powerful peer-driven workplace management system, led by the diverse team that it seeks to guide.
The results:
- Workplace diversity conflict is reduced through peer-agreement and management
- Reduced management stress and wasted time, spent in work-place conflict resolution
- Far less expenditure on labour dispute mechanisms and labour lawyers.
- Workplace teams that are involved, professional, committed and communicating.
- Better relationships with clients, family and community.
Leaders who choose to lead their culturally diverse work-teams, to great success, will involve each and every team member in the day to day processes of workplace diversity management. Ultimately, through the new diversity team unity and participation, they will be able to grow their services into burgeoning and exciting new markets.
It is time to lead and build diverse teams that are focussed and excited to be a part of their organisation.
More information on ">transformational teambuilding.
Cultural Diversity in the Workplace
Cultural Diversity in the Workplace
This is the most exciting aspect of business in the modern world. The incredible amount of fresh ideas and new ways of doing business derive particularly from cultural diversity in the workplace.
Yet, within these opportunities lie many challenges.
Challenges of:
- Misunderstanding
- Mis-communication
- Lack of commonly understood respect
- Prejudice
- Racism
- Xenophobia
- Superiority and Inferiority clashes
- Tribalism
- Language confusion
- Varying value systems
All caused by the ever-increasing cultural diversity in the workplace.
What can we do?
How do we:
- Build Respect?
- Get Common Understanding?
- Build Professionalism?
- Reduce and Control Prejudice?
- Improve Communication?
- Clear past Interpersonal Conflicts?
- Develop Accountability, Ownership and Responsibility?
- Build Teamwork & Unity?
- Get the Commitment of the entire Team?
- Ensure cultural diversity in the workplace works for our clients, our teams and our company or organisation, well into the future?
Opportunities
Yes! Within the these challenges, of cultural diversity in the workplace, lie many opportunities.
Opportunities to powerfully and excitingly build your business and your organisation, with your diverse team!
Let us help you to:
Build unified, respectful and accountable teams that work together in an emotionally safe workplace, free of past inter-personal challenges and focussed on supplying professional services and products to your internal and external customer base.
We will give you the tools to make this a long-term programme of transformation and unifying of your cultural diversity in the workplace.
Yes! Ensure that cultural diversity in the workplace works for our clients, our teams and our company or organisation, well into the future. Read our eBook today!
Remember!
Cultural Diversity in the Workplace, when seen as an opportunity, is your organisation's next big leap into the 21st Century success!
http://www.cultural-diversity-in-the-workplace.blogspot.com/
It is fascinating how Diversity in the Workplace has become such a miscontrued, misunderstood concept.
A concept which has now become synonomous with describing people in categories such as Black, White, Hispanic, Coloured, Asian, Oriental,etc, etc....and how we can all best understand them, and how they behave.
Let's look at some of the dictionary meanings:
Diversity
diverse >adjective widely varied.
-DERIVATIVES diversely >adverb.
-ORIGIN Latin diversus 'diverse', from divertere (see divert).
diversity >noun (pl. diversities) 1 the state of being diverse. 2 a diverse range; a variety.
divisive >adjective causing disagreement or hostility.
-DERIVATIVES divisively >adverb divisiveness >noun.
divide >verb 1 separate into parts. 2 distribute or share out. 3 disagree or cause to disagree. 4 form a boundary between. 5 Mathematics find how many times (a number) contains another. 6 Mathematics (of a number) be susceptible of division without a remainder. 7 (of a legislative assembly) separate or be separated into two groups for voting. >noun a wide divergence between two groups: the North-South divide.
-PHRASES divide and rule (or conquer) maintain control over opponents by encouraging a disunity that makes their opposition ineffective.
-DERIVATIVES divided >adjective.
-ORIGIN Latin dividere 'force apart, remove'.
Have we been put on this earth to judge, change, hurt, divide or separate people. I don't think so! Yet sometimes, we unintentionally or unknowingly do it.
If one had to closely examine the programmes being delivered in the name of Diversity awareness, diversity management, diversity training and diversity understanding, then you will notice, that some companies have gone with the devisive approach, whilst others, pioneers in their field, have gone with the diverse approach.
Either way, if the approach seeks to divide people into cultural entities, 9 times out of 10, the programme is destined for disaster.
Due to the fact, that people seek to understand each other and themselves, and how to improve relationships through better communication, leading them down the path of themus, can be destructive. versus
Diversity in my opinion, addresses a whole lot more of fundamental issues, such as age, disabilities, gender, skills, abilities, human talent, experience etc, etc....
However, when one speaks about Diversity in the workplace, images of Black and White people are immediately conjured up.
Hatred and anger from past injustices are brought up, and pain, hurt, retribution and revenge are discussed. Which is good to talk about in a specific, mediated environment.
However, in the context of the work environment, we should be concentrating on how we each, with our different upbring and experiences, ADD to Each Other! rather than, based on the colour of our skin, we have been taught to fight each other.
Somewhere along the line, we have forgotten the fundamental rule, of Respect for ourselves and each other.
If we all respected the fact that as human beings, we are different, by virtue of being born to different parents, families, areas, communities, faiths, religions, cultures, languages etc.
Only then will we realise that, just those attributes alone, make us different from each other which is perfect.
We are all perfect as we are, just different!
Imagine a world where everyone spoke the same language, dressed alike, looked the same, walked the same way...How boring would life be?
My understanding of Diversity in the workplace, is one of fun exploration, amazing facts, intriguing customs, fascinating knowlege...Learning about how people think and how I can adjust my way of thinking to better understand everyone else.
There are many instances in the workplace, where conflict may arise, and I have found that the most common or easily used excuse, is that racism is the reason.
In some cases yes!In most cases, it is merely a lack of awareness or understanding, someone's inferiority complex kicking in, or even a powerplay by a team member, based on personality types.
In our experience as Diversity Training Specialists, using fun, non-threatening processes, allows delegates to fully explore other cultures, personalities and learning styles, within the basic rule of respect.
Delegates learn to understand to respect that each person has different skills and abilities, and especially, different understanding of what respect means to them in their own culture. Issues of respect for gender, age, language, body language, religion, home environment, values, morals, discipline, time etc...are all different.
By understanding how it is different, only then, can we adjust to each others' needs within the work environment.
For example, a community based person, generally, will regard humbleness as a positive attribute for someone to aspire to or be. A strongly individual based person will feel that being humble is a negative personality to have.
In all instances, every culture, age, language, gender, religion and ways of showing respect, is good, just different. No one is right or wrong.
When a child is disobedient, one does not fire them, call them racist or disown them. One seeks to make them understand, and understand them!
Remember the saying, "You can choose your friends, not family! In many cases, huge tolerance is adopted along with sympathetic understanding for the situation when conflict arises. However, like a family, teams at work need to be more understanding, tolerant and solution finders.
After all, the majority of the beautiful sunny day is spent in the confines of the office. You might as well seek to grow with knowlege, rather than surrender to ignorance and fear of the unknown.
"Building relationships is easy. If you are willing to work at it!"
A few tips:
- Learn about the persons ancestory and the importance of where that person has come from. Then speak to them and find out how they feel about it.
- Learn how to greet the person in their traditional way.
- Adjust your body language to be non aggressive and more welcoming.
- Learn how to pronounce the persons name properly without shortening it to make it more convenient. In most cases, you will be given an English name, because historically, it has become assumed that people generally, are not clever enough to pronounce it properly. Insist on practising their real name. It also provides for excellent office fun, making mistakes and laughing together, rather than at each other.
- Remove Racist,gender based, blonde and sexual jokes and sarcasm from everyday communication. Remember, if you cannot tell the joke in front of your children, or when a person of that culture is in the room, then the joke is definitely unsuitable and you should, out of respect, refrain from telling it.
- Respect also means, acknowleging someone's need for space, individual goals and need to achieve.
- Also understanding that the corporate culture is totally different, and one needs to respect that too.
- Punctuality means being on time at all times. Integrity, professionalism and a code of conduct is put into place to ensure the smooth running of every corporate company. Following those simple rules always benefits the individual and company.
If you need any further info or need ideas on how you can change your work environment into a harmonious team playing field, then visit www.africa-dreams.com or www.celebrating-humanity-projects.com
As we have said, many times over, companies embarking upon a “diversity training initiative,” stand at the crossroads of danger and opportunity. Our Guide to Selecting Teambuilding Providers clearly states, that the opportunity lies in uniting the teams and the greatest danger, in the separation of team members by their “differences.”
Our main guiding principle, is:-
“At the level of respect, all people are equal.”
Normally a “diversity training” initiative, is based in the need to reduce at least one of the following:-
• Negativity and Arguing.
• Incessant Gossiping & Backbiting.
• Cross-cultural Clashes.
• Personality Conflicts.
• Silly Time-wasting Workplace Disputes.
• Frustrating time spent in Dispute Mediation, and at the CCMA.
• Unnecessary Labour Lawyers' fees.
• Misunderstandings and Mis-communications.
• Inability to communicate with diverse clients.
• A lack of Professionalism and Accountability.
• Excessive Absenteeism.
• Racism and Prejudice.
• Rankism and Departmentalism.
and/ or to lay the groundwork for improving the (Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) rating of the company/ organisation.
Everyone needs to feel safe.
Whatever the reason for the program, it is essential that it is based in fun and respect, and is totally non-threatening, inclusive and motivational. Everybody wants their place in the sun.
One of the biggest challenges with traditional team-building exercises, is that the focus is often on the needs, talents and abilities, of a core group, within a team. The less young, educated, physically talented, or fit the team member - the more they have to rely upon the “cool group.” And the less they enjoy the experience.
These results are short term and limited.
Involving Diverse Teams
When working with a very diverse group of people, it is critical that the facilitators involve EVERYONE, in a way that is individually important to them, and their existence on the earth. This ensures that each person can, and does contribute.
In the Celebrating Humanity© - Transformational Team-building programs, processes are fun, exciting, non-threatening and most importantly, everyone participates.
Each person adds value to their teams in some way. The process and methodology must show the value of everybody, in the group. Processes need to show at least some of the knowledge, skills and abilities of each person.
We all add to each other
In a public session, a partially literate Zulu-speaking housekeeper, maKhumalo - sat in a team comprising highly-qualified HR professionals. Kevin Turner, who was raised on a rural
He and maKhumalo happily shared and communicated their knowledge on culture and tradition to the team. maKhumalo was the expert on Zulu culture, proverbs, ancestry. She brought great value, as did her team members. And similarly Kevin added to the team with his knowledge of Zulu and his warm humanness.
At the point where the team was asked to put together a Kwaito dance, maKhumalo suddenly stood out head-and-shoulders, above her more skilled and reserved team mates. It was delightful to watch her lead them. And they put on a wonderful 2 minute show, for the other teams.
Here was a wonderful lady, from the depths of rural KwaZulu Natal, and she was the stand-out leader for a group of University-educated Human Resources specialists! The exercise demonstrated, that we are all leaders, that we all bring value, and that we all need to respect and value each other.
Teams that understand, that we add to each other, will be far more secure. Through Transformational Team-building, they will know and experience, that the more diverse the team members, the more chances we have to win - through greater knowledge, skills, wisdom and understanding.
Some ways to involve people.
Some of the ways that we involve our delegates, are through:-
• Workplace Knowledge.
• Background.
• Artistic ability.
• Joke-telling skills.
• Dancing skills.
• Language and greetings.
• Proverbs.
• Body language.
• Cultural knowledge.
• Beliefs.
• Religion.
• Music.
• Traditions.
• Other relevant Skills and Talents.
Diversity does not only mean culture and religion.
At
Now Zambians have, since the inauguration of Kenneth Kaunda, believed that they are all “Zambians.” “One
The Zambians all stood as one. Not black, or white, Losi, Ngoni, Bemba,
The World,
Thus, in
And one of the most brilliant dancers, in that small section of the program, was wheelchair-based. He really made the wheelchair dance!
You never know how your team members add to you, until you experience them as humans.
Skills Development
Any team-building/ diversity training program that does not develop skills, is not worth the investment.
Transformational Team-building programs are intended to improve the lives of delegates, by building their personal skills, communication and relationship skills - socially, at the office and at home.
Some of the skills would include:-
• How to learn more easily for your unique Learning Style.
• How your unique Learning Style shapes your Communications Style.
• How to assess the Learning Type of the person/s you are communicating with and get stunningly better results, in your communications.
• The impact of your Communications Style on your relations in all areas of your life.
• Simple and easy, non-judgemental and team-based Personality assessment skills and how to get better results by adjusting your own behaviour.
• Understanding body language from different cultural groups. Making adjustments for far better results, with clients and team members.
In a recent chat, with one of our Celebrating Humanity© facilitator’s wife - she said, “Fazal was amazing in the
We know Fazal well and are certain that he would have used his other, easy-to-use communication skills, to further build the relationships, as he went along on his fishing tour.
Sustainability
It is critical to make sure that the team-build is not a once off injection in the spirit of the team! The program has to include in-house follow up, initially guided by the teambuilding organisation. The Harvest programme ensures sustanability.
Ownership
Another great opportunity to add to this “diversity training,” (now "grown-up" to be Transformational Team-building,) is to ensure that your team owns the change.
In this way, managers and their teams, can drastically reduce the interpersonal war stresses, that once seemed inevitable within teams.
One of the big challenges to “managing” teams, as opposed to “leading” teams, is that most traditional managers still manage people, as if they are their children.
The moment that there is conflict the traditional parent pulls the kids apart. “Stop that Mary! Go to your room Sipho. If you do that again Bavika, I will punish you!
The only difference is that you cannot fire your kids!
Managers/ leaders that spend all of their time “managing diversity,” are in a boiling pot. They will never be able to focus on their time on doing what they are paid to do and will suffer the consequences of unnecessary stress, both physically, emotionally and in their relationships.
The only way to reduce this stress on businesses, clients, teams and their families is to get all team members managing their own behaviour.
All people are leaders.
This is a fact ignored in most teams. I was in a local hardware store, a number of years ago, and chatting to a “Shelf packer.” As we were speaking happily in Zulu, his supervisor marched up and arrogantly demanded that his "underling" go and do his other work. With suppressed anger, my friend bid me farewell and went off, to do his "superiors" bidding.
Little did the young supervisor know, that this same elderly gentleman was the chairman of a number of multi-million Rand development contracts, in his rural village. He could have learnt a lot from him, with a little more respect.
Perhaps this is an extreme example, so let’s take our Kwaito dancer - maKhumalo. She manages the cleaning, laundry, cooking and kids in a suburban home. She runs a home in Mahlabathini, where she is building a new home and she educates her 3 children. She is not only a “Dance leader,” she is an every day leader.
So why not place the leadership of workplace relationships, in the hands of your team members. They may even guide you, as is the example with our young supervisor. He certainly could have used some gentle guidance!
Increase the Ownership and Accountability
A true Transformational Team-build, with the correct amount of time allocated to the process, will dramatically reduce stress through increasing the ownership, accountability and responsibility of each and every team member!
Once your team decides how they will behave around each other, and what is not acceptable behaviour - they own it and can manage it.
With the right clearing processes, constitution and a 1 hour monthly meeting, this peer-driven process ensures that relationship management - is no longer the responsibility of the managers/ supervisors or the board members.
Transformational Team-building - with the commitment, and full participation, of all management and leadership - has the power to transform teams. And we have the evidence to prove it!
Challenges
Some possible challenges to your team-build for diverse teams:-
• Leadership/ management sending only “them,” because “we” don’t need it.
Trying to cut costs by:
• Going for the shortest possible intervention.
• Paying for a once-off intervention.
• Saving on the venue. “Let’s do it in the board room.”
• The program will be interrupted, by “emergency situations. If a team members are not available, the emergency is always resolved quite easily, in their absence.
• Another challenge is that people do not feel respected if the company is not prepared to pay for an upmarket venue.
• Attendance will be poor and no team-build can be successful, without the team.
• Cutting down on the quality and diversity of food and refreshments. Many diabetics, vegans, vegetarians, followers of Shembe, Judaism, Islam and numerous others - are often not properly catered for, during outings or training sessions.
• Utilising service providers who do not dedicate extensive time to understanding your people, your company and your country. (This is often a decision based on cost alone.)
We hope that the following guidelines will help you to select your next teambuilding organisation, with great care. And we will be delighted to hear from you, or just learn how the teambuild worked for your team.
