Celebrate Diversity Month

With an entire month dedicated to celebrating diversity, April is a great opportunity to maximize the ways your team educates and celebrates each other and the beautiful array of cultures represented within our communities! Maybe you’re on a team that does this well regularly! Or perhaps your team could use a refresh on the importance of celebrating diversity. It’s more than a month-long endeavor, and it’s imperative to the unity and growth of communities at large! Let’s find ways to do this well, and along the way, we will see how celebrating diversity not only honors each individual, but also makes us collectively stronger.

What is diversity?

It’s easy to throw the word diversity around and assume we’re all on the same page. One of the most important things we can do to begin is to clarify what we are referring to when we celebrate diversity.

Cross-Cultural Dynamics defines diversity as including “all the ways in which people differ, and it encompasses all the different characteristics that make one individual or group different from another. It is all-inclusive and recognizes everyone and every group as part of the diversity that should be valued. A broad definition includes not only race, ethnicity, and gender — the groups that most often come to mind when the term "diversity" is used — but also age, national origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, education, marital status, language, and physical appearance. It also involves different ideas, perspectives, and values (UC Berkeley Center for Equity, Inclusion and Diversity). 

So as we begin to expand our understanding of what diversity entails, we see it’s more than physical appearance. It’s more than our ethnicity. But it encompasses our ideas and perspectives. It includes the nuances of each individual’s values and beliefs. Suddenly, it’s not so easy to lump people groups into broad categories. And this is a good thing! We find so many intricate differences within each individual, bringing beauty and variance in who we are personally as well as culturally. This is worth celebrating!

Why do we celebrate diversity?

Imagine if you were limited to an awareness of only yourself and your own experiences. No Google, no ability to research, no social media, no way to access any other perspectives. How far would you get in life? (We can help you out. You’d not get far…and you’d probably be bored quickly.)

This is why we celebrate diversity. We have the ability to access and understand different cultures, languages, beliefs, lifestyles, etc. Many of us live in communities with diversity. We work with people who differ from our own backgrounds and knowledge. This is good! Why? Because the culmination and harmony of these differences are what makes us better together. It’s often what fuels ingenuity in our workplaces. It’s what sharpens our thinking skills, our processes, and our behaviors. We get to build on the strengths of others where we may individually fall short.

Celebrating diversity is not just an understanding of our differences but an understanding that when we effectively incorporate these differences into our communities and workplaces, we have such potential to excel in many ways.    

How do we celebrate diversity?

Now that we understand the “why” behind this month’s focus of diversity, let’s get to some practical ways your team can celebrate that can also go beyond this month. We found a helpful list of ideas for this month’s celebration of diversity. In an article called, “88 Ways to Celebrate Appreciate Diversity Month,” founded by Pro Group, you can find various categories to help guide your preparation. They divvy up the categories by the following: art, business, connections, education, food, history, outreach, traditions, and more! Here are some of our favorites:

• Multicultural perspectives in entertainment
  You can facilitate a meaningful discussion after watching a film or reading a book. Through this, be intentional to set up a respectful atmosphere where new perspectives are welcomed as you broaden your understanding of how various cultures may receive certain aspects of the film. Remember, there are broad forms of diversity, such as cultures and people groups; And there are also individual aspects of diversity in thought and perspective. Listen to each person as an individual.

• Cultural values conversations
  It’s ok to recognize that you don’t automatically know how someone from a different culture or ethnicity feels within your workplace. Talk to them! Ask questions about how your workplace culture affects them, what perspectives they bring, etc. You’re not expected to be all-knowing. But you can open the door for conversation and be a safe place. 

• Global potluck
  There’s something about sitting around a table with food that breaks down cultural barriers quicker than most other things do. Try inviting your team to prepare or bring dishes of food that are meaningful to them. This is a fun and lighthearted way to build community within the diversity on your team.

Key ingredients

No matter how you celebrate, here are some key ingredients to make sure you pay attention to:

• Intentionality
  Your team will notice how important celebrating diversity is to you based on your intentionality as a leader. 

• Encouraged conversation
  The whole point of these exercises is to gain understanding, respect, and inclusivity. It’s tricky to do when you don’t communicate with each other. 

• Follow-up
  The worst plan is the one that begins and ends in April. Follow up with your team beyond this month. Make this an ongoing quest to pursue an appreciation and celebration of diversity.