Coaching Challenges in a Diverse Workplace Environment

Introduction: Diversity as Organizational Strength

"Managing diversity effectively is a strategic business choice because we simply cannot meet the challenges before us if we overlook or underutilize any population group. Supervisors and managers in particular have a critical role to play as we develop and implement the strategies to promote and leverage diversity in our day-to-day business decisions" (Leading a Diverse Workforce, 2009, DOT). This sentiment powerfully expresses the idea that diversity can be a source of strength for an organization. In today's global economy, having a workforce that reflects the world — and can bring a multitude of perspectives and attitudes to every department and team — makes an organization more dynamic and relevant. But if not appropriately handled and deployed, diversity can also become a liability. It is the challenge for leadership coaches at every level of the organization to make diversity a source of dynamism and creativity, rather than divisiveness.

Communication Barriers Across Cultures

One key problem with diversity is that the verbal shorthand people use to connect with one another — such as shared tastes in music or television, or common life experiences — may not exist between people of different cultural backgrounds, genders, or sexual orientations. There may also be differences in habits and modes of expression that are difficult to overcome. Individuals from high-context cultures, such as those of Japan and the Middle East — where how you speak is far more important than what you say — can come into conflict with the direct, "say what you mean" communication style typical of low-context cultures such as the United States (Beer, 2002). Even seemingly minor habits that arise from such cultural orientations — including attitudes toward arguing with a superior or colleague, or the appropriate volume of one's voice — can result in significant misunderstandings.