• Diversity is not just a fancy a word of our times!  Diversity has many descriptions and nuances - it can be described as a collection of conscious practices that involve the understanding and appreciating interdependene of humanity, cultures, values, abilities and traditions

• "Diversity" means more than just acknowledging and/or tolerating difference

• Intercultural aspects are part of diversity

• Recognizing that personal, cultural and institutionalized discrimination creates and sustains privileges for some while creating and sustaining disadvantages for others

• Building alliances across differences so that we can work together to eradicate all forms of discrimination.

• Diversity management aims to deal with the diversity of employees, customers and other stakeholders in an organization in an appreciative, resource-oriented and constructive manner

• Characteristics or categories of diversity can not only be visible - such as gender, age, origin - but also less visible - such as values ​​or beliefs, professional experience or sexual orientation

• Diversity management is a recognized concept or even a strategy to counteract negative effects caused by stigmatization and exclusion processes and pressure to adapt to non-dominant groups

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Diversity is a FACT - Diversity is our REALITY

 

 

The following 5 diversity topics deal with special groups of people, their specific value systems and their interaction with homogeneous groups of people, not only within organizations but also across societies.

 

• CROSS-GENERATIONAL Topics: Cooperation between generations

• GENDER TOPICS: Women in leadership positions

• (INTER) CULTURAL topics

• LGTBQIA + Topics: People with queer gender identity and sexual orientation

• People with disabilities and their inclusion in social systems

 

Cross-Generational Topics - A colorful mix of four different generations of people who are nowadays working together in the organizations:

 

• Generations of the baby boomers (1956 - 1964)

• Generations X (1965 - 1980)

• Generation Y - Millennials (1981 - 1996)

• Generation Z (1994 - 2010)

 

These generations share very different values, are shaped quite differently by social events, their life motto and motivation as well as their attitude to work cannot be more different. This clash of very diverse people in teams and organizations not only can lead to more creativity, higher performance in the development of diverse ideas, more dynamism, a variety of perspectives and skills, promote tolerance and empathy - but also can be a breeding ground for human conflicts based on differences of opinions and values, lack of tolerance, bias. Unsolved conflicts can lead in time to heavy emotional situations and burden people and stoping them to lead a healthy life. Mobbing, stigma, hate, exclusion can lead to burn-outs, depressions and other emotional illnesses. Do you recognize yourself in these structures?

 

GENDER topics: Women and their opportunities for advancement on the career ladder, more and more often in management and top positions. The growing right of women to have a say on the national and international stage in organizations and also in societies has greatly changed the world, has demonstrably enriched it and transformed the role of women in society. No triviality. More and more young women are choosing (often a not easy way) to ladder higher career positions and trying to prove their leadership qualities in often male-dominated organizations, to make the world a better place through their values, skills, femininity, strong intuition. What skills do they need to achieve such goals? what are they values, beliefs and skills they need to strenghten in order to succed?

 

(LGTBQIA+) People with diverse sexual orientation: they are particularly shaped by their life stories, motivations and values. Unfortunately, they are not allowed to feel at home all over the world, stigma, discrimination, persecution and humiliation are often shadows of our world that bounce off them. 

 

Professionally and privately, I have been dealing with these topics for years and I admire all people who have managed to find their essence, return to them and live out their personality with outside help or on their own. To remain authentic and truthful even in difficult times!

 

Mixed and diverse teams are no longer unsual in companies these days. So much undiscovered potential in such teams can be identified through individual coachings and trainings in groups. Conflicts can be eliminated or reduced by eliminating biases, learn about unexpected chances  - all this by changing old perspectives into new ones, widening the room for more than just "right" or "wrong" and creating confort through more possibilities and more colors in teams and in each individual's life.