Celebrating Diversity

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"Celebrate Diversity Month? Are you kidding? Aren't there already, like, three dozen heritage months? And that title's so…bland. What am I supposed to do with that?"

Good question. While there aren't quite three dozen heritage months, there are plenty, and they cover a lot of ground. So, why this? Aren't you already "celebrating diversity" when you pay attention to the groups represented by their designated months? Indeed you are, but Celebrate Diversity Month has a focus with an important difference: It's about everyone talking with everybody about everything.

It's sometimes easy to forget that diversity isn't confined to the obvious differences; that, in fact, diversity is intertwined with everyone's life, through likes and dislikes, families, hobbies, histories—the basic stories that make up the core of our personal identities. When you start talking to someone else about these differences, avenues of approach open up and potential connections appear that you might never have thought possible. Enlightening conversations can happen with anyone. It's valuable to see the fact that the groups we tend to generalize about, "people of color," "white," "old," "young," "X department," "management," etc., are actually made up of individuals, not a single one of whom will exactly match your expectations of the group.

So you see, the name of the month isn't bland, it's actually precise. It's about recognizing the diversity all around us, all the time, both in the workplace and in our larger daily lives. It's about all those things we don't know about each other, and about new perspectives on those things we only thought we knew. And don't worry—I'm not going to tell you "go and have conversations" without a little bit of help. Here are a few ideas for how you can celebrate everyone's innate diversity and just maybe have a good conversation, too:

• BRING YOUR HOBBIES TO WORK DAY
Tell employees that on a specific day they are invited to bring displays/pictures of their hobbies or particular interests. Set them up in the cafeteria or some other central place during a designated time period and enlighten others on how employees spend their spare time.

• BOOK GROUPS
Select a list of novels (perhaps with some input)
that represent various cultures in your workplace. Each person will select and read a novel about a culture to which they don't belong. After reading the novel, have discussions about what was learned, and talk about any questions or ambiguities raised while reading.

• DIVERSITY PHOTO CONTEST
Challenge employees to take photos of the real diversity all around them. It could be just in your workplace, or could branch out into everyone's communities. Collect the photos in a central area and encourage discussion about the final montage.