With the demands of a continuously changing world of work that seeks to keep even a superpower in check, it would do well for the modern American workplace to reflect the real modern America: diverse, vibrant, and embracing of all people. Ensuring diversity in the workplace is imperative today; it is not just an optional policy. According to Jason Greer, diversity and inclusion at the workplace is a means of overcoming barriers to success and experiencing the best that an organization or community has to offer.
The President and Founder of Greer Consulting, Inc. (GCI), a labor management and employee relations consulting firm, Jason Greer, highlights, champions, and celebrates the power of diversity and inclusion at work. As someone who has personally gone through the challenges of being a minority in America, he should know. At a young age, he was targeted by the Klu Klux Klan, who burned crosses in protest of his family. This was a turning point in his life and gave him a better understanding of people. Actually, it changed everything for him.
“Moreover, the experience gave me a sense of how important it is to represent the voices of all people, largely because I knew what it was like to be invisible,” says Jason Greer. This was what drove him toward success. Often dubbed the “Employee Whisperer” because of his innate ability to get at the heart of the challenges that employees and managers may be going through, his insights on diversity at the workplace are built on the new perspective offered to him through his experience of racial harassment by the Klu Klux Klan and its resultant lessons.
His outlook on diversity is rooted in how our brains view the world. According to him, our brains constantly tell us stories about the world outside that are often incorrect. To get out of this tendency, we should take the time out for critical evaluation and recognize the value of other people around us. Jason Greer urges that acknowledging that everyone is valuable requires us to push through the biases that run rampant in our brains. This will enable us to truly see people for who they are.
Central to his work as a labor consultant who investigates such things as complaints of harassment, discrimination, and management issues, his approach is to connect with people at the heart level through conversations. “The experiences of my life have allowed me to understand other people, especially those in pain,” Jason Greer says. The ultimate aim of his consultation is to foster a positive workplace dynamic in the workplace environment.
The key to creating such an environment is to trust and respect the employees. “The worst mistake you can make is to disregard your employees when they come to you with their issues and concerns,” says Jason Greer. “If they trust you with their issues and concerns, then you owe it to them to do something about it.”
