Phil Cox is director of facilities management at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and APPA’s President. He can be reached at plc4@cornell.edu.

     In the last issue of this publication, I offered a few thoughts about some aspects of diversity that might not immediately come to mind when you think of the topic.  Namely, I wrote about nationality and how it relates to APPA’s vision of becoming a Global Partner in Learning. I believe we, as an association, must give much greater attention to how we engage and provide services to our members outside North America, if we truly are going to be global partners. I also wrote about employment status as a facet of the diversity discussion. In that context, I was making an argument for greater inclusion of facilities professionals who are not directly employed by a college or university, but are contractors. I believe there is much to be gained by including contracted facilities professionals in APPA; one benefit is that more member institutions could be represented in our association by whomever they choose. At the same time, those of us employed directly by higher education might learn from those with a for-profit perspective.

     In this article I would like to comment on a different facet of employment status. I suppose for lack of a better description, I will resort to the use of the word ‘rank.’ It is easy to fall into the trap of overlooking the hardworking people at the grass roots of our organizations and forgetting to include them in our planning and decision making. If we are going to strive to become diverse organizations, we need to be able to tap into the great ideas and the opinions of everyone in our units, not just those with high rank. If we are to be truly respectful of all the human beings in our organizations, our respect for them should be demonstrated, it seems to me, by valuing their input and opinions.

     I am reminded of a New Years greeting that I just received from an Atlanta, Georgia, architectural firm. A terrific and uplifting card, it contained pictures of happy little kids and several quotes about how to make someone happy. One quote that especially resonated with me was by Beatrice A. Schneider, age 88: “When in close contact to a person, speak even if you have never seen them before. Smile and ask how they are. If they have a child or a teenager with them, be friendly to them. Never look past a person as though they are not worthy of your friendship. Your smile and friendliness may be the nicest thing of their day.” I do not know Beatrice, but I recognize her wisdom in describing how we should treat other human beings. Her counsel to “never look past a person as though they are not worthy… “is advice we could all apply toward our frontline staff. Irrespective of one’s rank in the organization, everyone is worthy of our respect for their ideas, their feelings, and their contributions toward our missions. Some of the best break-through ideas come from the front line employees—if their input is welcomed.

     A final facet of diversity I would like to mention is that of thinking style. Being inclusive also means welcoming the input of those who have differing opinions or ways of thinking. The old expression, “two heads are better than one” simply recognizes the power of bringing multiple points of view and experience bases together. The wisdom of teams is derived from this collective. Sometimes it is hard to welcome opinions that might be exact opposites of our own, but the results of doing so will almost invariably be better than simply looking to those
who think just like we do.

     It is no coincidence that APPA’s Institute for Facilities Management and Leadership Academy both devote a fair amount of time in acquainting participants with the theory of Myers Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI). MBTI
measures our thought processes and preferences for data in several different dimensions. Being aware of our thinking styles and preferences, i.e., our MBTI, work groups can be much more effective. By being deliberate about including input from those of differing MBTI’s, these groups can be far better balanced and be more confident that all the angles of a situation have been examined while considering options and alternatives. The same could be said of any group. The more thinking styles and opinions that can be included, the more likely the best result can be expected.

    I am reminded of a story my dad tells about a motorist in my hometown who found himself stranded at the edge of town on the grounds of a mental institution.  He had been driving through the place and became stranded when, while changing a flat tire, he lost the lug nuts (don’t ask me how; it is one of the details in the story long forgotten over the years). As the stranded man was trying to figure out how he was going to find a ride to town to get help, one of the mental patients who had been observing him while on a stroll around the grounds, offered his two cents, “Why don’t you take one lug nut off each of the other three wheels and put them on in place of the missing ones. That should be good enough to get you to town to get new lug nuts.” And that is exactly what the stranded motorist did. Great ideas can come from the least expected sources.