KEY POINTS:
We attended the Equal Opportunities Trust diversity symposium at the end of August at the invitation of its chief executive, Philippa Read. And what a day that was.
Some wonderful, thought-provoking speakers challenged us to really think through the importance of accepting and celebrating diversity in modern workplaces.
By the end of the day, even the hard-nosed, non-PC participants couldn't argue with the business case for taking diversity seriously.
As we sat there, listening to amazing speakers and enjoying the opportunity to take part in this event, we were struck by the idea that networking can serve as a powerful vehicle to bring greater diversity into our individual lives.
At Professionelle.co.nz we've been going on (and on and on) about the great importance of networking.
We are new to networking, you see. In our professional service roles, we were never encouraged to take part in networking events - in fact, we think it was almost frowned on.
We have given some thought to why professionals such as lawyers, consultants and accountants are somewhat reluctant to network.
We believe it is to do with the charging-by-the-hour model we are socialised into. Basically, it ain't work unless you can charge for it.
Now that we are building a new business which is all about networking - albeit the online variety - we have been doing a considerable amount of it. And it works - it really does.
The more we put ourselves and Professionelle.co.nz out there the more we build relationships and new and exciting opportunities turn up.
What we're also seeing is that those people who take the time to network are the ones who find out about opportunities, simply because they have become a known quantity and built their personal brand in the process.
We have to admit we hadn't given diversity as such a great deal of thought before the symposium. But as we listened to the speakers, the business case for diversity became abundantly clear. What really struck us was how bringing diversity into our individual lives is extremely relevant and can increase our resilience and our prospects as individuals.
The first speaker was Frans Johansson, author of The Medici Effect. In a nutshell, Johansson's book and what he told us illustrates powerfully how diversity breeds innovation. His messages were clear and engagingly simple:
* All new ideas are really combinations of existing ones - but to become a new idea the combination has to be unique.
* The single strongest correlation to innovation success is the number of new ideas generated and pursued.
* Cultural diversity is the lowest hanging fruit when it comes to driving innovation.
One of Johansson's examples was L'Oreal's acquisition of SoftSheen, a small United States haircare manufacturer focused on the African-American market. L'Oreal is a French company that makes a point of employing a wide range of ethnicities and is deliberate about encouraging cultural diversity. As a case in point, at the time of the Softsheen acquisition, the L'Oreal company was run by a British man.
The L'Oreal team's key insight that led to leadership in ethnic haircare was that a billion people outside the US shared the African-American type of hair.
To get ideas flowing, people need to talk to each other. Alan Bertenshaw, from design company Matisse, said the workplace of the future would be all about encouraging people to talk to each other and collaborate as part of their working lives. Gone will be the days when you have to book a meeting room days in advance so you can have a conversation with your boss.
Bertenshaw's thesis was that the modern workplace is designed to "encourage accidental bumping and fortuitous encounters". It is these encounters that will increase productivity, cross-functional communication and diversity of thoughts, ideas and experiences.
By this stage, we were convinced. We realised that for us as individuals, it was through networking that we have brought diversity into our lives. In less than a year, we have quadrupled our personal networks.
We did this through being open to people's ideas and suggestions, seeking out new people and welcoming new approaches.
In the process, we have discovered how energising and supportive some people are, which has made us re-evaluate who we spend time with and why.
Yes, there are times when we feel we should be doing chargeable work rather than meeting people or corresponding by email. But, when we look back, it is through persistently valuing networking that we've had the biggest and most personally gratifying breaks.
Finally, the case for networking as a vehicle for bringing diversification to our personal life was sealed for us during the presentation on resilience given by Dr Sven Hansen from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
A key point from his presentation on engaging resilience to build vitality was that resilience is 100 per cent learned.
Resilient people bounce back from setbacks, have a bias for action, and can access wide and diverse networks.
His acid test was how many people on our cellphones - excluding immediate colleagues - we could call at night if we needed support.
As we listened to the presentations, we became increasingly excited about the idea that as individuals we don't need to wait for our workplaces to encourage diversity for us. We can do it ourselves in a very deliberate way, by networking.
We recommend that people should be open to the prospect of meeting and engaging with people whom they might not normally seek out.
Networking opportunities are not all created equal but you can't predict which approach will lead to the big pay-off - they all have the potential to bring something, sometime. It is through these new encounters that we may discover the next big idea or career move, and even meet a new best friend.
* Galia Barhava-Monteith and Sarah Wilshaw-Sparkes are directors of Professionelle.co.nz, an online community for professional working women
