It’s important in a workplace you can be comfortable being who you are and not hiding aspects of yourself an employer that recognise and value different skills, ability and experiences and where people are treated fairly is the best way to attract and retain talented people.
I’ve worked in places where I wasn’t comfortable being myself and had to hide aspects of who I was, which got in the way of my ability to achieve more, I was limiting myself as I spent 40% of my energy focused on hiding my authenticity.
Diversity is very important in day to day life, it’s going to give you heaps of benefits as you open up many opportunities to learn more and it puts a different lens to different problems. For example our government should be consistent with our population and should truely be captured by our diversity within the community to bring different opinions from our community to life.
the first step, diversity, is about representation. the second step, inclusion is about participation. this is the most important framework.
Inclusion must be proactive. It requires leadership to reach out to those who have traditionally been excluded from positions of power and ask them about the work environment and ask if they feel their perspective is welcomed.
True inclusiveness is where the power of diversity lies. In an inclusive workplace, people feel valued because of their differences, not in spite of them. A sense of belonging empowers them to share the point of view that comes from their unique experiences. A diverse range of backgrounds and life experiences is an asset for today’s organization—yet that asset is only of value when employees feel comfortable bringing their authentic selves to the workplace.
