It Takes All Kinds: Do-er Diversity, Part One
Diversity and Inclusion. Seems like everyone's talking about it these days. That’s a good thing since we know that diverse teams, departments, and companies are more creative and better at solving problems, and as a result, they reach desired goals and outcomes.
Beyond that it’s an important and interesting conversation that can transform racism, sexism, and ageism in our small and large cultures alike.
“Yes, it truly takes all kinds.
And that’s a good thing.”
In the spirit of putting “it takes all kinds” into action, well-meaning organizations often create ‘diverse’ teams by bringing together an apparently diverse group of individuals: a male and a female, an experienced employee and one who started yesterday, a millennial and a baby boomer, a tall person with a short person, etc. You get the picture.
These pairings make diverse groups, right?
Nope! This is a diverse looking group, but doesn’t do much for building productive teams, for engaging employees, or for creating a booming business.
To do that, we must learn to employ “do-er diversity”.
Look Beyond Appearances
We must go beyond outer appearance to find the inner instinctive patterns that drive human action. And there’s a name for that. According to Kathy Kolbe, a widely-esteemed specialist in human instincts and behavior, it’s called conation, which is the aspect of human consciousness that determines how human do-ers, diversely tackle any task.
According to Kolbe, well-oiled teams and departments combine four types of people who instinctively do things diversely:
a Quick Start who jumps right on new projects with enthusiasm using trial and error as the guide.
a Fact Finder who is the detailed researcher, instructions reader, and questions- asker.
a Follow Thru who is methodical and organized.
an Implementer who takes ideas and makes them concrete.
By diversifying teams with all four types of “do-ers”, you pool their natural and preferred way of getting things done. This means that projects and missions will be initiated quickly (Quick Start) thoroughly researched for relevant data and all possible options (Fact Finder), figured out and built well (Implementer), and carried out and completed in an organized, efficient, and replicable manner (Follow Thru).
Discover Your Do-er Type
Discovering what type of do-er you are is easy! The Kolbe A Index is a 36-question online assessment tool that offers instant results with a detailed explanation of each conative style.
What happens when “do-er diversity” is ignored? Will poor Richard sink his ship as the new VP of Community and Cultural Programs? Read more…