Diversity in the World of Construction

Most leaders today focus on creating strategies, processes, and methods to improve the productivity and motivation of their staff. We constantly search for answers to questions cultivated from the attitudes and reactions of our employees, colleagues, or partners without considering the thoughts and feelings influenced by a person's culture or ethnicity. Often in our work environment, we read an off-color email and think, “How could this person write something so rude?” when, in fact, the individual was simply being honest and objective, largely influenced by their professional and personal culture.

Many times, I receive calls from employees, colleagues, or supervisors complaining about another person’s speech or behavior. I respond by asking if they’ve shared their point of view or at least tried to understand the other person's position. Most often, I am met with a negative response. It seems it is taboo to question or express an opinion of another person’s perceived improper action. It appears it is easier to communicate a toxic opinion, often cascading to the rest of the team, than to face a painful situation and communicate efficiently to resolve differences or misunderstandings. In other situations, explaining the importance of not taking comments or discussions negatively, applying emotional intelligence, and finding a positive aspect of each experience could be a very effective approach.

Losing sight of the fact that we live and work in a diverse environment makes it difficult to recognize different situational conditions, subsequently creating various perspectives. Ultimately, the vast array of perspectives and perceptions makes it difficult to create highly collaborative teams. This is where a leader can make a lasting difference by recognizing the distinguishing attributes of their team members, offering effective guidance and coaching, and extracting the best potential from each team member to meet the goals and objectives set. Considering the culture in a work environment so that a team has the most accurate vision and perception ensures solid relationships between all stakeholders.

When leading a diverse organization, it is difficult to achieve a perfectly “culturally balanced” and "high-performance" work team, no matter how many case studies are read or how much knowledge and training is received. 

One thing I have learned, and it wasn’t in a book or white paper, is that empathy plays a very important role in human relationships. Being able to place myself in another team member’s shoes and understanding the impact of their personal or professional situation allows me to experience their challenges and rewards from a ground-level position, not from a pedestal looking down. In a sense, a team is like a family that needs understanding and help to meet expectations and find work satisfaction.

My grandfather said it does not matter if you want to be a doctor, lawyer, worker, athlete, or carpenter; what matters is that you love what you do so that you can be the best and enjoy what you do every day. We often find employees who are unhappy with their current position. Work performance often decreases when faced with this dilemma, and quality deficiencies increase. In this case, the cause could simply be the right person but the wrong seat. Helping this team member find their passion and placing them in a satisfying and challenging seat could easily salvage a potentially lost and valuable team member and restore maximum productivity. Helping a team member recognize their true potential can often eliminate the so-called “I’m just here for the job” mentality and create an inspired, motivated, open-minded, passionate, grateful staff who align with the organization's values. This way, we will have a proactive, orderly, positive, strategic, advocate and irreverent team.

In conclusion, diversity in construction is an excellent approach to achieving maximum efficiency and productivity, provided it can be managed with emotional intelligence, appropriate communication, and sincere care for an individual to obtain an expected result. Diverse cultures in an organization driven by strong and meaningful values spark creativity and breed new ideas and approaches to problem-solving. Diversity acceptance allows for different perceptions and perspectives to flourish, which is necessary for a system to work. Finally, balanced work and personal conditions and diverse and world-class team members achieve a motivated, inspired, passionate, proactive, happy, and healthy work environment!