We’ve probably all heard the old saying: “Two heads are better than one”.  But two heads, from diverse backgrounds, are even better still!

When we come together with people who are very similar to us, we tend to think in similar ways, have similar life experiences to draw from, and behave in similar ways.  So our capacity for innovation can sometimes be a bit limited.

Whereas when we surround ourselves with people from widely different backgrounds, we all benefit from new ideas and each others’ different perspectives on life.  And when we work together for the benefit of our community, we can often come up with a much richer range of ideas and options to pursue when we are part of a diverse group.

Diversity is not just about nationality or race or cultural heritage.  Diversity is also about gender and sexuality, age, socio-economic factors, education and vocation, physical or other ability, politics, religion – the list goes on.

Embracing diversity is really about recognising and celebrating all our differences, and harnessing their strengths for the good of all of us.

So when you are thinking about how to get the best outcomes for your community group, think about getting a wide mix of diverse people around the table on your committee.  People from different backgrounds and with different life experiences will help make your organisation a vibrant, creative, innovative organisation that has a much more exciting and interesting range of options to offer the broader community.

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