Why is appreciating diversity important

Increasing familiarity with these differences and commonalities can shape and shift our perspectives see 3 , cultivate an acceptance that facilitates belonging, and diminish the misconceptions and prejudices that fuel discrimination.

Becoming a Global Citizen If you experience diversity in your everyday life, you will have regular exposure to people, cultures, traditions, and practices that are unlike your own. Hopefully you will learn the skills to communicate and interact with communities, concepts, and belief systems that you are unfamiliar with and therefore gain a more worldly, balanced, and informed perspective.

Not only will you enhance your own social development, but you will also increase your true understanding of the world. This will prepare you to be a part of a global society, whether you are traveling to a new country, working with people from diverse backgrounds, or just reading about events in the news that heavily impacts a population different than your own.

Perhaps talking to someone new will change your mind or challenge your values which on a subconscious level can seem scary for our brains, or the pay off for flexible thinking is a life where we get to see through many different lenses and experience the kaleidoscope that diversity of perspective has to offer.

Richer Life Experience Diversity is a natural state of being for the human race. What if everyone who surrounded you was exactly like you, in every way? In an institutional culture where the full circle of human qualities is regarded with respect and where the particular gifts of every university community member are dignified by conscious recognition, human beings can thrive.

The phrase, "Think globally; act locally," has inspired our national culture to better understand that the world is a multicultural society of which we are a part.

The systems of the world - its governments, economies, religions and cultures - are increasingly dependent on interdependence. Differences become strengths in a collaborative effort. Collaboration is a path to peace. Over the years, Celebration participants have shared their thoughts about the celebration and diversity in a number of ways. Here are some of them:. The Diversity Celebration features a wide array of local and international music, eclectic dancing, delectable food, and imaginative crafts.

Appalachian students, faculty, staff, K schools, and members of the local community are all invited to join us in this celebration of cultures through art and entertainment. This video was produced to promote the Diversity Celebration, but provides a great retrospective of the Festival up to that time.

Many of the faces have changed, but the spirit of the Festival remains the same. Diversity, when applied in a human context, comprises the inclusion of a wide variety of cultures, ethnicities and groups, races, religious beliefs, socio-economic backgrounds, sexual orientation and gender identity.

The diversity of life is made up not only of the wide realm of human cultures and languages, but also of the diverse world of plants and animal species, habitats and ecosystems. Therefore, a more sustainable world is one in which biological, cultural and linguistic diversity thrive through the strength of the system. It is upon the foundation of this diverse array of ecological and human cultures that a sustaining, resilient world is built.

While the Diversity Celebration conveys a message of sustainability through diversity, on-going greening initiatives of the celebration include:.

The Diversity Celebration provides a venue where diverse perspectives, cultures and values are accepted, appreciated and celebrated. Sustained Dialogue at Appalachian is part of the international Sustained Dialogue Institute program that prepares community members to deeply engage in difficult conversations ranging from race, gender identity and religion to politics and various global challenges.

Copyright Appalachian State University. All rights reserved. Most people probably feel that they are very appreciative of diversity and always help others to feel included. Here are a variety of assessments that you might take about yourself and your organization to get a more accurate perspective. This is critically important for successful leadership in any type of culture. You make a major difference in your organization, whether you know it or not, just by exposing it to your own nature and style of working.

Thus, you need to understand your nature. For example, the secretarial staff might interact with each other in a manner quite different from that of the marketing staff. In larger organizations, there are often several differences, for example, between senior management and support staff. You should start in your first interaction with them. State that you recognize that different people might work differently depending on their own personalities and the culture of the overall organization.

Ask them how you can understand the nature of their organization. Attempt to get someone from the organization to help you understand their culture and how to work in a manner compatible with the culture of the organization.

This request is not a sign of weakness or lack of expertise; rather it is an authentic request that better serves you and your employees.

Consider asking others to help you understand how each of the following aspects might be unique in the culture of the organization. Key cultural aspects that might affect your leadership include:.

It is not uncommon for people of any culture to experience confusion or engage in protracted arguments about activities only to realize later on that they have been in agreement all along — they had been using different definitions for the same terms.

The following guidelines are most important when ensuring people continue to understand each other when talking about management activities. It is common for people from different cultures to become confused because different people are talking about results and others about the activities to produce the results. Here is another example.

Therefore, it is important for you to recognize if your employees have their own form of a certain activity and how that form is carried out in the organization. If your conversations with others about management seem to get stuck or mired in confusion, it often helps to separate terms from the intent of those terms.

For example:. The topic of leadership has become so prominent and passionate with so many people that it sometimes causes great confusion. When people talk about leadership, they might be talking about traits of leaders, such as being charismatic, influential and ethical. However, when others talk about leadership, they might be talking about roles of leadership, such as the Board Chair or the Chief Executive Officer.

Both discussions are about leadership, but both are about quite different aspects. For example, when talking about leading yourself, you might be talking about leadership skills, such as being assertive or having good time and stress management skills. When talking about leading other individuals, you might be talking about skills, such as coaching, delegating or mentoring.

When talking about leading groups, you might be talking about skills, such as facilitation or meeting management.