It’s MLK Jr. Day, and so a good day to celebrate diversity. I think it was during the 90s that diversity on a wide scale went from being a simple noun to a social, political, and organizational imperative. As that occurred diversity came to mean that a wide spectrum of non-white males should occupy a substantial percentage of the positions in any given area. That was an important objective that many organizations and groups are still seeking to attain.

Some organizations in the last decade moved beyond the diversity goal of filling positions with diverse people. For these organizations diversity took on a new meaning of tolerance. These organizations do diversity training to help people understand and be more comfortable with not only other gender, races, religions, and sexual orientations, but also plain old opinions. Diversity as tolerance brought the responsibility for a diverse work environment from the hiring manager to every employee.

For the new decade, and for those most advanced organizations, it is time to now overlay another concept on diversity – inclusion. Just as the hiring manager over the last 20 years was expected to seek out diverse applicants, the next imperative is for everyone to seek out diverse participation in whatever they do. This diversity could be along the traditional lines – gender, race, etc – but that isn’t necessarily the point. Inclusion for you could be inviting someone in a different organization silo into your project. It could be recognizing the clique you belong to in your workplace – yes, you do belong to a clique – and including new people in your group.

Inclusion should become the diversity behavior pattern of the next decade. It fosters better communication, creativity, idea generation, and problem solving. It is simple to do and costs nothing. It is an active step that we can all take.

Let me know what you think about this or any other topic I should write about. I’d love to include your ideas.