Today I was at the fairversity in Vienna, as board member of idm (the international society for diversity management for those speaking German 🙂 and it was very interesting. Most people I spoke to think diversity is quite a new subject to most Austrians, especially when looking at the advantages diversity can bring to organisations and the economy. That concept found a fertile ground in Austria a few years ago and these visitors were happy about that development. Many of them were looking for more indepth information about diversity & inclusion. It was no surprise for them that competence is needed to profit from diversity. They were eager to know more about that competence. Maybe this sounds logical to you, my dear reader, but it is certainly not a generally accepted idea – in Germany and the Netherlands the approach of diversity can be more moralistic which means that having a good heart and an open mind is seen as the key asset, rather than competence.
There was another interesting experience. I had to do a 30-minutes presentation at the fairversity. Presentations were ongoing so I decided to make it interactive to prevent being boring, as number 9 in a row of presentations. That was a new approach. All presenters just said what they had to say and that was it. No questions asked, no comments given, no information provided by the public. If we think that the benefits of diversity come with a learning organisation – and I saw an Austrian publisher on fairversity who had books about it – we need more interaction and dialogue. The first fifteen minutes my public was staring at me in surprise but after that they started to enjoy it and came up with real good ideas. Austrians have a good sense of humour, also in diversity. They have a special word for that: Schmäh. I love it!

Read also: Refugees at work: best practices