Leadership principle: Value diversity and lived experience
“Feel the fear and do it anyway.”
Lisa Mabin – WWDA Member
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What do you think of when diversity and lived experiencecome up in conversation?
Do you have a clear idea of what they mean to you, and what they represent? Both can bring great strengths, especially in leadership. Let’s explore them in this principle!
Values
As a starting point let’s consider what it means to value something. Valuing something means noticing how it adds to our lives. This might mean that it brings us joy, happiness, or pleasure. It could also add to our lives in other ways, for example, we don’t always enjoy learning new things, but it leaves us better off in the end. When we value something, we see its importance and how it enriches our world.
What are some things you value? What about diversity and lived experience? What exactly do we mean when we use these terms, and say they are something to be valued?
Diversity
Diversity can refer to the many differences found among and between people. These differences could be marked by:
Race
Ethnicity
Gender
Sexual orientation
Age
Abilities
Beliefs
Experiences
Diversity is part of human society. All people and communities are different and unique. The diversity of our communities makes us stronger and helps us to understand things from different perspectives. It is important to remember that we all have the same rights, no matter where we come from or what we look like. Respecting human rights means that everyone’s differences are valued and that everyone has the right to equality and non-discrimination. Effective leaders create spaces of trust and respect for all people, and they encourage and respect the diverse experiences people bring to their communities.
Lived experience
Lived experience is also a type of diversity. When we say lived experience, we refer to the sum of all your experiences, including your:
Upbringing
Cultural background
Education
Work
Relationships
Opportunities in life
Lived experience is the unique knowledge, insights, and perspectives you build through your interactions simply by being you. No two people will have the same lived experience, regardless of their similarities. Lived experience is one of the biggest things that make you unique.
So why should we value diversity and lived experience?
No one person can imagine every possibility or come up with every potential idea. When we bring together people with different perspectives, we create a space that is vibrant with ideas and knowledge. This allows people to work together to imagine the many possibilities and ideas. Encouraging diversity allows us to benefit from that variety and shared effort. It promotes fairness, inclusivity and equity by valuing our differences. It also helps us to be more understanding of other people, which is essential for the community.
Valuing diversity and lived experience means that we don’t make decisions without including the people whose lives they affect. We will explore this more in the next principle, ‘nothing about us without us.’
Valuing diversity enriches us, fosters understanding and helps to challenge stereotypes and prejudices.
Valuing lived experience recognises the importance of our unique knowledge and how that shapes our attitudes, values, behaviours and impressions of the world.
Lived experience in action
For example, if you’ve lived much of your life in a small community, you might think it is important to have access to healthcare and community services. Someone growing up in the city, however, might think it is important to have access to public transport instead. This shows how our own lived experience informs many things, including our priorities and our ideas.
WWDA member:
Being a person with a disability is sometimes hard and sometimes I wish I didn’t have these issues. Then I think about my life and all that I’ve been through, and I know that by going through these things I’m now able to help others. If this hadn’t happened to me, I might never have done all that I have done. I might never have been able to help all the people that I’ve helped since I started my journey.
WWDA member:
I am so different in so many ways and it has taken me a long time to accept myself for who I am. I have recently started identifying as disabled and it has been so liberating to be accepted for who I am and have my lived experience respected. I have now had the confidence to join co-design committees where my lived experience has influenced the resources that have been made for other people with psychosocial disabilities.
WWDA Member:
I create tailored professional development courses for companies to use for their staff so that they can broaden their understanding of lived experience and diversity in the workplace. When I am creating these workshops, I always invite staff to come along and share their lived experience and diversity so that it helps to inform the workshop I am making for them.
WWDA Member:
I have a language processing disability which means that reading and writing can be difficult for me. I have a talent for presenting items in a way that makes them nice to look at and easy to choose from. When I was helping at an event for women, I showed leadership when setting out the donations area. I quickly worked out how the donations table should look. There were lots of different groups of items and it was important for people to see what was there. I gave the other helpers tasks to do that made the most of their strengths and were clearly explained. Everyone commented that the display looked like a fancy store, and really enjoyed looking through the items. I felt like I had done a great job and that the other women in the group had also done tasks that suited them best. This is a great example of the importance of valuing diversity.
Lived experience in leadership
In leadership, valuing diversity and lived experience is crucial. It encourages inclusivity, and develops our abilities to work together, respect each other’s strengths and understand different perspectives. It pushes us to embrace different ways of problem-solving and communicating. Leaders who value diversity and lived experience create environments where everyone feels valued, empowered, safe to be themselves and motivated to contribute.