At our success rally (available to see here) Ashleigh gave a presentation on ‘’Embracing Diversity for Success’ this is a written overview of the talk. The presentation itself can be viewed below.

~‘What is diversity? It’s about everything around us, the things that make us different’.

With over 15 years’ experience in management, HR and, Leaning and development, Ashleigh is highly regarded within the field of education and organisation development. Not only that, Ashleigh also holds a Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) post graduate diploma in leaning and development. In short, she knows what she’s talking about. Ashleigh’s career has been highly varied, with each stage giving the opportunity for success and growth. More importantly, her career has allowed her to help and incredibly diverse set of innumerable individuals to realise their own career ambitions. Which is why Ashleigh is perfectly suited to her role as DLC Training’s CIPD programme lead and tutor.

In her presentation Ashleigh spoke on the importance of diversity to a business. It wasn’t a question of explaining the usual definition of diversity, that we all remain politically correct and nice. Rather, this presentation detailed the importance of diversity to productivity, how each person is different and should be appreciated as such. Different people are able to bring different skills and require different methods of assessment in order to fully understand and appreciate their skills.

‘Diversity is about appreciating the whole, the things we cannot see’.

Ashleigh outlined the three key areas of diversity, that which is physically noticeable, that which is observable in a personality and that which is hidden beneath the surface. Understanding all three areas of a person is key to utilising their talents in the most appropriate way. It’s about challenging the stereotypes conjured by certain traits, physical or otherwise, which prevent us from embracing people, and by extension, stop us from being truly diverse in the workplace.

‘If it’s only an interview, are you really getting to know somebody?’

As mentioned, Ashleigh’s talent lies in developing people, which in turn develops businesses. She offered practical advice which can be easily implemented, explaining that the structure of your assessment often predetermines the outcome. If a person isn’t naturally suited to your particular method of assessment then their true potential will be hidden. A well rounded approach is required to achieve true understanding,.

‘Talk to people, get to know somebody, know their problems and life outside of work, we need to be to be ourselves. Without talking to each other, we’re never going to know the ability of that person, regardless of their situation’

The emphasis was on communication, which sounds simple, but the act of talking to somebody and getting to them often gets lost in the noise of the workplace. It is only through communication that we can appreciate the whole person, realise how they can add to your workplace diversity, and in turn, contribute to the ‘creation of a productive and innovative business’.

The talk was truly unique. It took an industry buzzword and expanded the meaning to its logical conclusion. The practical advice was invaluable, and many went away with the intention of revaluating their approach to recruitment and communication.

See it for yourself – watch the presentation.