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If workforce diversity helps boost company profits, why don't more of them do it?
One possibility is the fear that diversity will bring difference which generates conflict, disagreement, and loss of productivity. To get to synergy is almost out of the question.
"Almost" because it requires us to 1) view the difference as creative tension, 2) provide space & time for reconciliation, and 3) shun the easy way out with compromise. Instead, we search for a transcending 3rd alternative. That takes efforts.
With people similar to us, shared values and customs are easier. Cooperation rather than tension is assumed. Whereas one must try harder to reach common grounds with people of diversity backgrounds. Hence, a necessity for creative tension.
Being open minded is a pre-condition. But contextually, the difference needs space and time to gel. Common practices of teambuilding, collaboration, and mutual support do not happen in a pressure cooker situation.
Often, people reach for compromise as an expedient solution. While there is nothing wrong with such approach when the respective integrities are not threatened, a synergistic solution is superior in that a true win-win that benefits all involved.
Thus, if we confront our fears and capitalize on the difference that diversity brings, getting to synergy is achievable. Only a selected few understand the value chain. and that is why they are profitable.
Do you believe that synergy empowers?
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