The Impact of Having ' A Seat at the Table': My truth about Diversity & Inclusion

My seat at the table…

More than often we get the shorter end of the stick…

WE… Who is WE?

Am I about to give voice to a long lived realistic and/or stereotypical narrative about discrimination? Discriminations of

• Women and men

• People of color, of different culture

• Religions

• Ages

• Or the obvious… Black and white?

Am I just about to speak my truth, share my whole dollar opinion? How Diversity and inclusion could actually be a solution to win over prejudice and discrimination? Yes my WHOLE dollar opinion!

“It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.”

~ Charles Darwin

A little over a month ago I had to attend a Diversity and Inclusion training. As a manager it was part of my “must” training courses I had to take. I would be lying if I said I was looking forward to attending. Not only it was scheduled on Saturday morning, but furthermore I was going into it with a chip on my shoulder. What were they going to teach me or highlight that I didn’t know already?

WE were all about to seat in a room for 3 hours and hear how WE should humble ourselves and understand that WE are different and need to adapt…

I knew that all those that are “different” than WE were going to think “there you go again, they are going to tell us that we are racist...” So what were we bothering?

Don’t WE all know how to play our part so WE can coexist?

Coexisting is important because no matter who you are, you want and need to be a meaningful part of society. We all need to feel included and know that we matter.

Diversity is the beauty of this world and Inclusion is for everyone. Is this reality? Does diversity and inclusion really makes a difference?  Does increasing it means great changes for women? Louder voice for people of color? Seat at the table for the young or the old? More from those who have been traditionally marginalized as minority?

The Fletcher Street Crew…

 The training started with a video of The Fletcher Street Crew https://binged.it/2L4t5u7 with directive to watch and at the end share the thoughts that were going through us as we were watching

This video opened my eyes on how judgmental I am. Not judgmental because of my reaction of the video (which was unfortunate) but judgmental of how I usually denounce other for having the same reaction I just had as I was watching…

I have been accused of being opinionated, not ever sitting on the fence about things. And this is mostly true but in my defense while I have strong opinions, I can still hear different sides of a situation or at least be opened to hearing something I'd never seriously considered.

Being open to diversity and inclusion challenges us to question our own beliefs and practices. This training challenged me in a way I didn’t expect.

In modern history we tend to only affiliate the word “commonwealth” with politics and in doing so we dismiss its traditional meaning which is: a community founded for common good.

The noun ‘commonwealth’ literally means : for the public good or general well being.

This is where having a seat at the table comes in to play. Diversity and inclusion sound like it’s a part of the commonwealth for our community- it’s for everyone’s well being.
Having an understanding about the people around you, and being concerned about who they are and being competent about their culture is the basis of diversity & inclusion.

My seat at the table ensures that empathy is present in decision making. My seat at the table represents a different perspective that ADDS to the collective experience.

Accepting the idea of how important diversity and inclusion is a must in today society however it doesn’t negate the concealed but recognizable prejudices and discriminations of this world.  Diversity and inclusion is clearly different than discrimination and prejudice. I don't think we'll ever eliminate the prejudice that accompanies diversity. This training allow me to see this more clearly than ever. It allowed me to see my own stereotypical view of things and to view ideas from a different perspective. It allowed me to grow.

  Valuing diversity, will require for us to value and embrace our own differences. Change is a good thing, differences make life interesting. Everybody's different and everybody has something different and unique to offer in this world.

So I will finish with this, valuing diversity, will require for us to value and embrace our own differences. Before expecting to be recognized and appreciated we have to believe and trust in what we have to offer. Whether it is being young or old, of color or not, woman or man and from any religion, we have to first value ourselves and the contribution we have to offer. We all have the opportunity not only to survive, but thrive, firing growth for ourselves and this because we wouldn’t care of worrying about if our voices are ready to be heard but to the contrary, we will speak loud and clear as we understand that it will be “their” loss for not appreciating the different undertone, depth each culture has to offer… WE have to offer!

Always remember that I love you, Smooches!