Asset based leadership

At the conclusion of my Building a Team post, I wrote that when team builders are, "coming from a place of asset based beliefs, and recognizing that diversifying your team, just like an investment portfolio, is the best way to maximize growth and minimize risk." For too long in this world we have minimized what people can bring to the table for any number of small minded reasons. The way a person looks, talks, dresses, where they come from, who their parents were, or which schools they attended are all used as indicators as whether a person might succeed with us or not. And we are quick to turn away from those that might not fit our ideal.

As a public educator, we don't have a choice of who is in our classes. Parents are not choosing to only send us their best or worst child, they are sending us who they have and depending on us to make an impact. Even then in schools there are conversations about "good kids" and "bad kids," students who are "advanced placement" kids or kids who are "low level." Students who cause trouble in school are often relegated to low level classes, where rather than finding ways for their creativity to flourish they are put into the least engaging courses. Programs set up for students who are acquiring the English language often put the students in remedial curriculum with the intention of learning English, but at a cost to their advancement in different fields of study.

For centuries, women, immigrants, and minorities have intentionally been kept from schools, jobs, and homeownership, perpetuating the aforementioned perceived indicators of success. Each group was seen as lacking something that would keep them from being able to succeed. A shift in mindset from what people are lacking, to what skills can they bring to the table opens up a whole new world of possibilities. 

Someone who is fluent in a language besides English, while learning English, can be a huge asset in helping connect with others acquiring the language. They can also show different modes of learning the material and thinking through problems. Someone who grew up in poverty may not be fluent in the ways of hedge funds, but they most likely have strengths in creative uses of resources. A person who is differently abled can be a massive asset to product development, to think through the universal design aspect and making a product more accessible. 

Finding the assets people bring, rather than dismissing them for their differences, changes the entire functioning of an organization. Seeking to find ways to bring people in, rather than excluding them, is what a good leader should first be doing with their people. Of course there are basic competencies that people must have for any occupation or school course they are in, but once met we need to enhance the assets that each person can bring.