About the real challenge of diverse organizations: when the values exist, but there is no language that holds them
In many organizations diversity already exists: people from different backgrounds, different generations, different communication styles and diverse worldviews.
On paper, this sounds like enormous organizational potential—a richer, broader organization connected to more perspectives. But in practice, in many places, diversity is not experienced as wealth but as tension, avoidance and silent friction.
People sitting in the same room, but not really speaking the same language.
Is diversity the problem?
In my opinion, no.
Diversity is not the problem. The lack of language is the problem.
When an organization does not have a clear language to talk about diversity, people become wary.
They are careful to say what they really think.
Be careful to ask a question that will not sound “wrong”.
Be careful to bring in their background, story, or unique perspective.
Be careful not to be perceived as “difficult”, too sensitive, too different or inappropriate.
At first this caution can seem like politeness. But over time it turns into organizational silence which does not necessarily indicate harmony.
Sometimes this silence is a sign that people have stopped believing that there is a real space to talk.
Almost every organization today knows how to say the right words: diversity, inclusion, belonging, connectedness, trust.
But true culture is not measured only by what the organization declares. It is measured by what people actually feel.
Is it allowed to bring another voice?
Is it allowed to talk about a cultural, identity or personal experience without it being perceived as “oversensitivity”?
Is it permissible to say that there is a gap between the declared values and the everyday reality?
Is it allowed to raise a difficulty without paying a social or professional price for it?
When the language remains a password and does not become a working tool, mistrust is created.
Not because the organization did not mean well, but because it did not have a language that would translate the values into reality.
Corporate language is no longer a presentation.
It is not an intra-organizational campaign.
And it is not a one-time diversity day.
Organizational language is the ability of management, managers and employees to speak in a mature, accurate and responsible manner about what is really happening between them.
It allows you to ask questions that are not always easy to ask:
Where do people feel they have to hide parts of themselves?
Which voices are heard more, and which voices are weakened?
Where does difference become a value, and where does it become a source of distance?
What do we not know how to say – and therefore continue to manage indirectly?
Good language does not obscure complexity.
It allows you to hold it without running away from it.
This is one of the most painful places in a diverse organization.
When there is no language that allows us to find out, we start second guessing each other. And these guesses become stories.
Some interpret silence as a lack of care.
Some interpret directly as aggression.
Some interpret caution as a lack of initiative.
There are those who interpret a different communication style as a lack of professionalism.
There are those who interpret pain or sensitivity as a personal problem, instead of understanding that there is a wider experience here.
This is how a hidden chain is created:
Guesses become stories.
The stories become fixed assumptions.
Assumptions become distance.
And the distance becomes over time an entire organizational culture.
Not because someone planned it that way.
But because there was no language to stop, find out, listen and re-translate.
Leadership is not just about knowing where the organization is going.
It is also knowing how to name what is happening on the road.
When leadership sees diversity, but does not give it a language, it leaves the organization to manage it alone – through insinuations, corridor conversations, avoidance, unspoken frustrations and sometimes burnout.
Connected leadership does something different.
She is not afraid of complexity.
She is in no hurry to cover it with a password.
She is ready to ask: what is really going on here between people?
This is leadership that understands that diversity is not just a matter of HR policy.
It is a matter of trust.
of belonging
of performance.
of being able to work together without each person feeling like they have to hide where they come from.
One of the common mistakes in organizations is to think that a professional person is a person who leaves his identity outside the room.
But man does not come to work in parts.
He brings with him the way he grew up.
the language in which he learned to understand authority.
his attitude towards family, community, failure and success.
The story that brought him here.
his fears, intuitions, sensitivities and powers.
What a person carries with him is not necessarily a hindrance to professionalism. Sometimes, this is precisely the source of its value.
The question is not how to erase an identity to work better.
The question is how to build a language that allows identity to become presence, responsibility and contribution.
Variation becomes value only when the organization has the ability to hold it.
It is not enough to recruit people from different backgrounds.
It is not enough to present diverse images on the site.
It is not enough to say that everyone is welcome.
The question is what happens after they enter.
Do they feel they have a real place?
Does their voice matter?
Can they bring a different point of view without paying a price for it?
Do the managers know how to translate cultural, generational or identity gaps into constructive discourse?
Does the organization know how to learn from diversity – or just to indicate that it exists?
When there is language, difference can become a source of learning, creativity, trust and human innovation.
When there is no language, that difference itself can become a source of distance, suspicion and friction.
This article was born from the world of content of the strategic lecture “No masks”.
In my work with managements and organizations, I see again and again that the question is not whether there is diversity. The question is whether the organization has a language capable of holding it.
A language that allows managers to lead without remaining in passwords.
A language that allows employees to bring more than their voice and value.
A language that allows the organization to turn diversity from a source of caution – to a source of trust.
This is also the conversation that is at the heart of my work with organizations: how to create a space where people are not required to invest energy in hiding, but can bring more presence, initiative and real value to the table.
Diversity doesn’t go away by not talking about it.
It just goes under the surface.
It appears in misunderstandings.
cautiously.
at a distance
in erosion
In the gap between what the organization says and what people feel.
But when leadership builds a language, something begins to change.
People stop guessing.
Teams begin to understand each other better.
Managers get tools to handle complexity.
And the organization begins to turn what was once experienced as friction – into a source of learning, trust and belonging.
Diversity is not the problem.
The lack of language is the problem.
And the language is where the correction begins.
This article is part of the content world of Fentay around leadership, trust, diversity and belonging in organizations.
Lecturer, writer and strategic consultant for identity-based leadership. Accompanying organizations, managers and communities in a process that transforms identity, roots and life experience from a source of concealment or friction - to a source of presence, belonging, leadership and impact.
צמיחה אמיתית לא נולדת מחיקוי, אלא מהאומץ לפגוש את עצמך - ולהביא לעולם את האני שלך באמת
אני מזמינה אותך ליצור איתי קשר
Fentay Maharat-Alamu's debut novel returns to the world of the women of the House of Israel in Ethiopia - to roots, memory, scars and female strength. Leave details to receive first updates on the release of the book, pre-purchase, premium edition and launch events.
