Diversity Is About the Variety of Perspectives
The Lab’s diversity strategy refers to the ways in which the organizational culture and individuals support, celebrate, and encourage a variety of experiences, values, worldviews, and problem-solving approaches.
➔ Request: As you prepare to lead future discussions on diversity with your team, ask yourself these questions:
- Are your project teams or your leadership team composed of people with similar backgrounds such as demographics, educational institution, or approaches to problem-solving?
- When posting for a job, what efforts are you taking to cast a wide net and engage with diverse communities?
- When writing a job posting for a position, are you considering ways in which the posting language can be “gender-coded” and could affect who might apply to this job?
How Can Diversity Make Your Team Stronger?
Diversity of people, backgrounds, cultures, and ways of thinking lead to more innovation solutions which is important in finding solutions to the world’s top science challenges. Berkeley Lab’s Chief Diversity Officer Lady Idos has reflective questions for team leaders on diversity.
Diversity at Berkeley Lab
Diverse perspectives are critical to innovation, particularly in science, since everyone views a problem through their own lens. It is only when you combine these diverse perspectives that you get a full picture according to Inder Monga, Division Director, Scientific Networking/ESNet at Berkeley Lab. Inder talks about why diversity is important to science and he gives tips for team leaders on how to build a more diverse team.
Supervisor Resources
LinkedIn Learning Courses: Diversity Leadership training
- Diversity and inclusion
- Managing a Diverse Team
- Communicating about Culturally Sensitive Issues
- Managing Multiple Generations
- Intersectionality
- Make Your Company Veteran Friendly
- Creating Change: Diversity and Inclusion in the Tech Industry
Good Reads:
- Diversity & Inclusion in STEM Reports – National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
- Diversity in STEM: What it is and Why it Matters – Scientific American, 2014
- Boosting Science With Diversity – PBS
- How Diversity Can Drive Innovation – Harvard Business Review, 2014
- How Diversity Makes Us Smarter – Scientific American, 2014
