Unleashing the Power of Diversity

Unleashing the Power of Diversity provides a clear tool to create a common language across teams and organisations that reinforces positive identity, builds trust towards people and processes, supports innovation and helps make diversity sustainable. The complex problems that many organisations and teams now face are global in scope, including cultural, social and environmental issues. Challenges such as climate change, mass migration and human rights do not respect national borders or sociodemographic groups. In order to solve these complex problems, we need the skills to be able to communicate effectively across the differences that may otherwise divide us. In this ground-breaking book, award-winning consultant and author, Bjørn Z. Ekelund, presents a clear step-by-step approach to communicate with people who have different mindsets, perspectives and cultural backgrounds. It is relevant and applicable across various contexts - within the workplace, inter-professional, across different industries and cultures, and between corporate, governmental and NGO groups. The programme developed in the book, called the Diversity Icebreaker, has been successfully applied across 70 countries and with 250,000 participants. It shows how to break down these barriers and provides a new way to conceptualise diversity across various boundaries, allowing for trust and unity to form and creating a pathway for improving communication.

Bjørn Z. Ekelund is Senior Consultant and Chairman of the Board at Human Factors AS, Norway, and Research Fellow at the Centre for Global Workforce Strategy, Simon Fraser University, Canada.

1. Introduction 2. How to Manage Diversity 3. Communication 4. Three types of diversity 5. BLUE: How to Create Better Results 6. GREEN: How to Innovate and Create New Knowledge 7. RED: How to Create Collective Identification and Trust 8. How to Promote Dignity and Personal Development 9. Addressing Global Challenges through Managing Diversity. 10. About work organisations and their potential contribution to promote dignity, personal development and "Bildung".