Ten Group Activities for Sparking Diversity Dialogue

1) Mine for new problem-solving approaches. If problem solving at your organization is routinely dominated by one approach or faction, try this. Ask every group member to write down a solution to the same hypothetical problem on a sheet of paper. Collect the answers, read them aloud, and discuss ideas that stray from the usual approach. Note the value of offbeat solutions.

2) Invite an outsider. Routinely seek out a colleague who isn’t part of your usual “team”—and perhaps seems wildly unrelated in his or her expertise—to contribute to a project or pose an answer to a problem.

3) Question equality. Most people confuse equality with fairness. Ask employees to brainstorm examples—such as having the same number of stalls in a bathroom for women as for men, or giving left-handed children the same scissors as their right-handed peers—that prove the opposite. Now ask them to brainstorm conditions at your company that may also be equal—but not fair.

4) Recognize another person’s lens. Discuss a recent workplace policy change or a newspaper article, asking people for their perspectives and reactions. Discuss how each person’s “lens”— background, upbringing, and experience—shaped his/her opinions.

5) Open up to hidden talents. Think about your own untapped talents that people at your organization don’t know about. In a group, ask each person to brag about an area of expertise, a skill, or passion that he or she is not bringing to the workplace, and that others are unlikely to know about. Brainstorm how your organization could go about using these discovered gems.

6) Assess your organization’s diversity. Using a flipchart to record your observations, ask the group to analyze the makeup of your organization, work group, or office. Do people of all colors span all levels of your organization? What about gender and age? Identify three or four concrete actions your group can take to fill the gaps at each level.

7) Hire in new places. Discuss where your organization habitually and historically looks for talent. How you are recruiting talent that will complement your workforce rather than simply fit in to the current structure? What types of measures could be put into place to ensure a broader, more comprehensive search? How will you attract and retain the best and brightest of the 21st century?

8) Imagine a perfect world. Have each group member write down the qualities, characteristics, and actions that would fall under the category of “doing diversity and inclusion well” in your organization. Read them aloud. Where does your organization fall short? Discuss concrete, specific ways these shortfalls can become opportunities for growth and improvement.

9) Examine the structure. Outline some of your organization’s people problems. Discuss how these might be symptoms of a systemic problem rather than isolated people problems. How might your organization address these structural weaknesses?

10) Weigh the benefits. On a flipchart, make two columns labeled Impact A and Impact B. Use column A to outline the benefits your company will reap as a result of engaging its increasingly diverse demographics. Use column B to outline the impact of staying homogeneous. Think long-term.

10+) Watch the accompanying "Did You Know 2.0" video. What does the video suggest about the importance of cognitive flexibility and behaviorally adaptability in the 21st century.