Dimensions of Diversity
Job Role
Style
Communication Style
Language
Cognitive Difference
Religion
Socio-economic status
Education
Marital Status
Race/Ethnicity
Chronic Illness & Physical Ability
Family History
Sexual Orientation
Finding common ground can be a great way to connect with others. Sometimes we have to go deeper to get to it, but a lot of times we can find safe, surface level commonalities to get us started.
Get curious. Take time to delve beneath the surface to demonstrate that you care about what shapes the individuals who work with you. Are you all about small talk? Or do you take time to forge real connections?
Getting to those deeper dimensions can take some work because people have to feel safe enough to share their authentic selves, and that can be a vulnerable thing! Sometimes, we have to be willing to brave a little discomfort as we get out of our comfort zones to see our teammates differently and to empower them to make visible those invisible parts of themselves.
Dimensions of Diversity
You know that saying, “it’s just the tip of the iceberg?” Well, people are a lot like that, too. What we see depends a great deal on our perspective or our vantage point.
Start
Some things are more visible than others, like our role in the company, our sense of style, and our dominant language. These are often readily available to the people around us through simple observation and interaction.
But as we move deeper, below that waterline of visibility, we start to discover other layers of diversity that shape who we are, determine how we engage with others and how we view the world.
And even deeper still are the things that are woven into the fiber of who we are and can affect our day to day lives in ways that are sometimes significant and profound.
Sometimes these parts of ourselves are hidden, invisible, or sensitive aspects that we don’t share easily with everyone, but they can impact how we view and move through the world around us.
These items aren’t static. Where they are for each person is different.
Shuffle
What we display easily at the tips of those icebergs of identity might not be the same for others.
They might shift as our relationships shift. For instance, when there is community of trust and a sense that our diversity traits are valued, we might feel secure enough to surface some of those deeper dimensions of ourselves.
Understanding that these dimensions of ourselves exist and that they exist differently for all people depending on their experiences can help us respect their perspectives even when what’s on our iceberg might look very different. We might even consider welcoming their perspective even more, precisely because it offers us a different vantage point than the one we possess.
Explore
When we feel like we can bring our best and fullest selves to work as authentic contributors to a community of our peers, then we can begin to leverage those viewpoints in our teams and with our clients and customers to accomplish our goals together.
Select the icons to see how you can find new vantage points, grow new perceptual muscles and move toward greater openness and inclusivity.
When you are done exploring, close the window to go back to the course.
Select Play to begin.