The important elements in a diverse workforce entail elements such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, ability, and religion. TWI outlines that a competent leader should demonstrate and embody seven elements, including openness to difference, equitable opportunity, accommodation, dignity and respect, commitment to diversity, knowledge of diversity, and change management.
As a project manager in a landscaping company, there are several strengths I recognize regarding diversity. Markedly, managing and working with more than 50 employees in the landscaping industry it is relative that many of the employees are from different backgrounds. For this reason, I have managed to be open to the difference in people’s cultures via being proactive and willing to learn. Through this, I can learn every culture and be in a position of engaging with employees in a mutually exclusive manner (Ancona et al., 2007). Moreover, I have been successful in granting credit where it is due. In other words, I ensure that there is an equitable opportunity in the working environment for every employee. This is imperative for the employee as it helps in motivating them while at work. Recognizing the effort of an employee is directly related to improving their drive and shine; consequently, this translates to more perspectives, problem-solving, and innovation.
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Another key area that I embody is respect and dignity in the workplace. This is particularly important for the organization prospects and the working environment at large. A good leader understands that it is important to treat employees with respect and dignity (Toor & Ofori, 2008). Respecting employees is important because it helps improve their health and general well-being. Moreover, through this strength I have also managed to impact the employees very well as they feel an overall satisfaction in their job; this is amidst the fact that the work is handy; as such they will feel better working with me by their side and as a leader. I have managed to meet this aspect because I am self-aware, as a human being, how respect is important and how it impacts other people regardless their role and position in the world.
Conversely, accommodating diversity in the workplace is the key area I have not managed to recognize with fully. This stems from the fact that the earlier tenets seem to circumvent the significant elements of diversity. For this reason, the accommodation has been challenging because the people I encounter in the field are from a pool of different backgrounds. That being said, recognizing with culture will specifically be difficult. Moving forward, I intend to take a proactive approach to accommodation through following the following the following steps. First, through sharing the decision-making process. This is one of the easiest steps and entails considering the perspectives of every employee in the working station (Blanchard, 2008). This is important as it will be an effective force to the company and in the end, will help reduce the widespread issue concerning discrimination. Secondly is to educate the employees regarding the importance of diversity in the workplace (Toor & Ofori, 2008). In essence, every other person wants to be recognized; this can be problematic when the other party feels marginalized. However, educating them on inclusivity can help promote inclusivity. Notably, I should also be in a position of promoting flexibility. This can be through recognizing the different motivating factors that can affect the employees and draw stringent measure to suit their respective cultures.
That being said, diversity continues to be an ongoing discourse in the workforce. Through recognizing my weaknesses and working on them, I believe that diversity will be at par with the objectives of the organization.
References
Ancona, D., Malone, T. W., Orlikowski, W. J., & Senge, P. M. (2007). In praise of the incomplete leader. ead ership, 108.
Blanchard, K. (2008). Situational Leadership Adapt your style to their development level. HR.com, Inc.
Toor, S. U. R., & Ofori, G. (2008). Leadership versus management: How they are different, and why. Leadership and Management in Engineering, 8(2), 61-71.
