Communicate the concept
The comfort zone is an easy trap to fall into simply because people tend to gravitate toward what is familiar. If an employee at Kelly Services finds Camden falling into his comfort zone, he requests something of them: “Watch me, and yell at me if I’m doing it, because it’s probably not going to be apparent to me that I’m doing it.”
Raising consciousness about diversity of thought, and maintaining that consciousness, is a matter of constant communication and dialogue from all levels of the organization. Along with diversity of backgrounds and experiences comes a need for diversity in communication methods.
“The keyword is ‘tailoring,’” Camden says. “What I need in diversity can be different as you roll down the organization. Our managers have their own management meetings, their own group meetings, their own internal blogs and their own speaking opportunities.”
To keep the message front and center, Camden says employees need to hear it from their direct supervisor. A wide-ranging message from the CEO can help start the message cascading, but in order for it to take root, the managers who interact with your employees each day have to take an active role.
“It’s always constant communication, and a message from your own direct boss is often more powerful than a message from the distant CEO. That way, it keeps rolling down the organization.”
When you lay out your reasons for placing an emphasis on diversity, do so as simply and as clearly as possible. If you can relate the reasons in a convincing fashion, you stand a greater chance of getting everyone to not just buy in to the concept but also emphasize it when it comes time to hire or build a project team.
“It’s almost like ‘Field of Dreams.’ If you build it, they’ll come,” Camden says. “If you look for it, if you make it a priority, you’re going to get it. But you have to make it a priority, and you have to communicate it frequently. You have to demonstrate that it’s a priority by the people you are directly hiring around you.
“If you are thinking about the challenges you are facing and how differences in backgrounds would help you meet those challenges and form your responses to those challenges, I think that, over time, what you are looking for in people would change. You need to take that time to step back and ask what set of experiences and backgrounds would be useful to where you are and where you are going.”
HOW TO REACH: Kelly Services Inc., www.kellyservices.com
