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Comments and Queries from our Readers
Mr. Wheeler, in these quotes from his letter commenting on the book, singles out the apparent tension between working, on the one hand, to build an organization of vitality that has diversity as one of its key components, and, on the other hand focusing in on optimizing diversity as a strategic necessity to get an organization to vitality. We see them as mutually interdependent. We welcome other readers to write with their comments agreeing, disagreeing, or presenting other perspectives.
October, 2003
From Anthony Wheeler,
VP, Network Engineering and Operations
TXU Communications
RE: Diversity Beyond The Numbers
Gary,
I
hope this letter finds you healthy and spiritually well. As a starting point,
we begin in agreement when you state in many places of the primacy of people to
a successful business. For example, on page 22:
The
more emancipated, the more creative, collaborative, and therefore productive.
And:
They [employees and contractors] do this by
creatively applying their knowledge, by freely flexing their power of identity
and by safely exercising their voice on behalf of the project mission.
And on
page 65:
For a
business to succeed today and create limitless business opportunities, it must
attract, develop and retain the best talent.
I would agree: the level of enterprise success
correlates directly to the level of associate commitment and engagement with
the business, the extent to which they realize their productive and creative
potential. Executive leadership impacts this through (in no particular order)
communication, respect, organization, involvement, effectiveness, vision,
values, structure, strategy, process, decision making and commitment to the associates.
As
a corporate executive, I get compensated based on my ability to effectively
lead the business, and as long as I accept the paycheck, it’s a matter of
personal integrity to fulfill this responsibility in good faith. I do so by
adhering to and advocating the following criteria:
Do what is best for the business – and the
people in it.
The
challenge to strike the appropriate balance between the business (making money)
and the impact on the associates is constant. That being the case, the basic questions
for me as I read Diversity Beyond the Numbers are:
1)
what new insight do I gain in
support of an associate-based approach
2)
to what extent does diversity
specifically support that approach
3)
how would embracing your approach
towards achieving “vitality” ultimately improve the performance of the business
4)
what specific actions are
required to achieve vitality in the enterprise, and am I convinced that these
actions will deliver fundamental value to the business
After
completing the book, one of my fundamental reactions was that diversity, in and
of it self, was not primary to gaining organizational vitality, very much in
line with what you wrote on page 11:
Vitality
Consulting, then, seeks to build vital, healthy organizations based on, among
other things, diversity, ethics, and pluralism.
I
read the book from the standpoint of an executive wishing to enhance the
corporate culture, and hence operational performance, by considering a broader
view consistent with what you capture in your definition of vitality
consulting. This is what I believe to be key, and if there ends up being a
principle theme to my comments it will center around the fact that diversity
gets center stage in your book, while as you state above, it is one of the
several things, and not necessarily (I will argue) primary, to organizational
vitality.
I
agree that “People are more than a category. They learn, change and
evolve;” and that the fundamental truth that we are all unique individuals
must be recognized in any associate-focused approach to business. Doing so
does not necessarily require special emphasis or recognition of diversity,
however, and to your point, the categorization may in fact hamper treating
associates as individuals and not members of a particular restrictive class
(like for example when you point out the instance when being gay for some
reason restricts your being considered white and/or male).
1)
diversity consultants need
a new methodology that focuses on the business culture to facilitate successful
business vitality.
2)
Agreed – the focus should
shift from diversity to vitality, with diversity playing a supporting role……
diversity practice can no longer be separated from other business vitality
initiatives, such as innovation and flexibility.
Again,
agreed, and again, diversity related as part of a larger whole. It needs to be
integrated in an entire associate-based approach to managing an organization.
Page 13, the killing of
“people initiatives”. When an organization does not treat it’s associates
respectfully, when it leaves them uncertain about the future, neglects their
basic needs relative to fulfillment, trust, and belonging, then it suffers
losses, including some of the things you point out: lawsuits, costly turnover
with the associated replacement costs and learning curves, destructive
behavior, willful negligence, and low levels of productivity.
As we get deeper into the
discussion of Diversity Beyond the Numbers, I will be increasingly
interested in what real changes do we make in our professional behavior and our
leadership approach as a result of being exposed to your argument.
As
you state so meaningfully on page 25:
…businesses
are no longer in the business of producing products or things, but they are in
the business of serving. Service is people dependent. Businesses must
innovate or die. Innovation is dependent on the creativity of people.
Business must be resilient and adapt to disruptive technologies, security
crises, and economic gyrations. Adaptability is people dependent. Yet, people
are relationship dependent – good, healthy and vital relationship that matter
to their will to produce. People are diverse [every one of them I’d say!] – between each other,
and within themselves.
Agreed – and I would center the focus on achieving organizational
vitality.
Vital organizations must have a strong sense of
purpose and direction, a set of values that all associates can base ethical
decisions and behaviors upon, and one where leadership is based on guidance and
influence, not control. Organizational vitality encourages expression of
opinion where new ideas and potential solutions flourish. Information about
the business is widespread such that employees can make systems-wide decisions
based on the interests of all stakeholders.
Perfectly
stated.
Open,
honest and comprehensive communication is key. It has been my attempt to
communicate everything I know to everyone else within the organization. While
this is not practical, the effort is made, with the explicit purpose of arming
everyone with full business context so that they make the best decisions based
on what our business imperatives are, in line with our explicitly stated values
and criteria. There are no secrets in this organization, other than those that
pertain to a specific individual’s private circumstances. We put everything
else on the table for consideration, and routinely attempt to balance how much
time and effort we make communicating the complexities of the business in all
directions. In my current executive role I have concentrated on taking
comprehensive and complex information and attempted to organize it in
meaningful ways, both for myself and for the folks I work with.
In
the same paragraph:
The diversity of agents is a source of strength and
competitive advantage when bounded within a healthy environment based on
values.
So diversity, in it’s traditional definition, is a
“source,” and not primary, and with this I would agree. If we were to expand
the definition to be more inclusive, and not restricted to defined categories,
I would then elevate the concept closer to the level of “necessary” for vital
organizations, and not simply a “source,” as a vital organization absolutely
needs diverse individuals working effectively together if they expect to attain
high levels of operational performance.
Lastly (same page) in vital organizations, the
quality of relationships is given as much attention as the quality of products.
This is a key
insight as most industrial organizations do not spend the requisite time and
energy addressing associate relationships, and how effectively those
relationships support the business.
This
is the bottom line of the business case for diversity. Optimizing diversity
means growth, jobs, creativity and innovation for the company. (page 244)
Not necessarily. Optimizing organizational vitality, yes,
means “growth, jobs, creativity and innovation…” and it is possible in
particular cases that improving diversity would contribute to optimizing
organizational vitality, but in specific cases it may not. Other things are
more important, including levels of respect, integrity, trust, communication,
support, values, enchantment, vision, and focus.
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