News Round-Up: Why Diverse Perspectives Matter at Work
In February we tackled all the different ways in which people can learn to ask better questions, whether it’s with coworkers or in a relationship. And it turns out, asking smart questions is actually an important skill. Building on that idea, this month will be all about perspective. From learning how to change your own perspective to being more considerate of how other people see things, we will compile relevant articles, blogs, and more to help you expand your perspective.
Having compassion for diversity in thoughts and ideas is a crucial skill that keeps us all learning and growing together. That and it can help with family and friend tension, especially as we all navigate the tense political waters. Below are some ways that you can work on having (or growing) compassion for different perspectives.
Empathy Can Increase Success in Business
Learning compassion for other perspectives doesn’t have to just be about friends and family; it also relates to work. Entrepreneur lays out several ways in which you can focus on expanding your empathy and compassion for others and how that can help you as an entrepreneur or even just at work, as you navigate the social work sphere.
Empathy also helps in the workplace. This article gives four quick things to consider to make sure you’re engaging your empathy and really listening to other perspectives. It also tackles the difficulties of doing this with remote employees versus employees who see each other every day. As the article points out nicely, “when you use empathy in the workplace, you can understand your coworkers better. This means that you can function more as a team. And that’s great for any business.”
Still need more convincing? Even Forbes lays out why empathy matters in the workplace. And quite surprisingly, how there is a large disconnect between employees and the CEO: “92% of CEOs reported their organization is empathetic but only 50% of employees say their CEO is empathetic.”
Diversity in Perspective Matters at Work
This interview in Medium tackles the ways in which diversity helped a company’s bottom line. Specifically, “Diverse perspectives — When you have a group of people with different levels of experience, each person can bring different questions, thoughts and recommendations to get to best result to move the bottom line.”
If you are looking for a good resource on how to talk to people, especially management, about appreciating and seeing diversity and then celebrating it in the workforce, this article has some basic information and links to a large amount of supplemental resources, too. From information on corporate diversity programs to ways to use diverse activities to bring your team together, there’s something for everyone.