The series of Training Pills on Diversity Management takes organisations on a discovery of the wealth of their internal resources, generated by interculturality, using a training method supported by different languages and channels. In just a few years, the human capital of organisations has changed considerably to become more and more heterogeneous or better still Kaleidoscopic. Against this new scenario, how true the old saying is “It takes all sorts to make a world”! Globalisation, migratory flows and the digital revolution have changed the make up of society, bringing together a melting pot of different cultures into the same place. What are these differences? We are talking about race, language, gender, age, sexual orientation, physical and mental abilities, culture, intelligence (e.g. spatial, linguistic, mathematical etc.), digital skills and more. Just one or two generations ago if somebody started out in a certain type of job, in all probability they would have continued that job for their entire life, in the exact same way and with the same work colleagues. Today on the other hand change is always around the corner, and the same job requires skills, knowledge and different relationships that mould people, making them stronger and enriching them day by day. So how could training and development programmes fail to take into account this transformation of the times? An organisation may however find difficulty in managing and celebrating diversity, seeing inclusion plans as a cold legal obligation or as inviting fashion appointments that must not be missed. The inclusion of differences is instead a great opportunity, a unique chance to make the most of the value that emerges from the integration of multiple knowledge bases and skills. This is the chance to really develop knowledge, giving a voice to all of an organisation’s “human varieties” in order to increase internal well being, improve working as a team, create a sense of belonging, improve performance and direct them towards ever more challenging and achievable results by means of new and varied routes. Elisa Cipriani
insights