Founded over 200 years ago, the United States of America is a country of diversity. And in the ensuing years, a belief system evolved in which individuals and their respective traditions were asked to assimilate into the existing culture. This "melting pot" approach presumed that the strengths of each contributor meld together made the country stronger.

Now, with even greater diversity, does this approach acknowledge and, more importantly, work with the natural strengths of individuals? Possibly, a more innovative strategy needs to be considered which blends all the contributors together without losing their strengths resulting in a more dramatic and flavorful recipe.

For a few moments, envision a tossed salad. The salad bowl is brimming with a variety of different greens including romaine, endive and spinach. Within this sea of greens, are mixed bright red tomatoes, thinly sliced orange carrots, strips of yellow peppers, bits of Swiss cheese and black or green olives. Even before the salad is covered with a favorite dressing, each individual ingredient in this bowl enhances the overall flavor of the dish.

Using this analogy, think of individuals within your business or school as the greens, the vegetables, the fruits, the cheese and the olives. Each of these individuals brings their natural strengths to the every day actions that make any organization a success. Now, further imagine the dressing to be the strategic plan that covers everyone and binds all actions together. Wow, what an incredible mix! And, just think about all of the potential opportunities and possibilities?

If you believe that winning teams win because of the individual strengths of each team member, then doesn't it make sense to leverage those strengths for your business or your school to create the high performance culture that you desire? Possibly, by thinking of diversity from a blended recipe perspective instead of a bland conformity one, may help you take your organization to that next level of success.

Word Count: 320

Copyright 2005(c) Leanne Hoagland-Smith, www.processspecialist.com

This article may be freely published. Permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted).

Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Good Day. Thanks for visiting. I hope that you have enjoyed my articles. In 1999, I founded ADVANCED SYSTEMS because I saw that performance could and should be doubled in warp time. Individuals, small and large businesses could not afford expensive solutions that may or may not deliver improved results in 12 months.

From my corporate, small business and education experiences, I recognized the individuals must have opportunities for connecting their passion to their purpose to secure the desired performance results, but many lacked the necessary skills, strategies and tools.

With over 20 years in sales management and 10 years in education, I understand how to unite productivity with profitability by developing a proactive working culture. My previous experiences resulted in cost savings through one of the first implementations of a computer software in a wholesaler distributor to the creation of a vendor performance assessment.

Since facilitating over 500 sessions, developing and editing over 25 training programs and writing numerous articles focusing on performance improvement, I bring a results focused approach to my clients. Also, I am proud to be one of the first five nationally certified facilitators of America?s Rising Stars (a Student Leadership developmental curriculum).

My passion is to help others connect their passion to their purpose to double performance. As The small business coach in Chicago, my clients have easily doubled their performance. Since our greatest resource is our young people, I am now working with large urban schools to generate the same results.

Education Background

• Graduated with honors from Purdue University with a B.A. in Education
• Earned M.S. from Purdue University in Instructional Design and Curriculum
• Published in the national trade journal, The Supply House Times, and numerous national newsletters
• Developed seminars and training on diversity, communication, leadership, sales, effective trade show behavior, networking, knowledge management, goal setting and improved educational outcomes
• Co-authored M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Potential: 7 Capicities for Living an Amazing Life Beyond Purpose to Achievement, to be available in 2006
• Working a another book focusing on performance in public education
• Speaker in a national bureau - Resource Associates Corporation