In our era of globalization, the world is getting smaller. It means that people of different identities are in closer contact than ever before, and that is a leadership challenge.

Identity comprises the parts of a person's self that come from belonging to particular groups—some visible, others less apparent. They include age, ethnicity, race, religion, nationality, and socioeconomic status.

Likewise, the identities of those around you affect how they view you as a leader and how they view and work with others. This chapter will help you develop your awareness of identity, the role it plays in your workplace, and how it can be leveraged to create positive outcomes.

So how can we begin to think of our and others' identities? Identity, which is diverse and often nuanced, can be usefully defined using the following three categories:

GIVEN IDENTITY

The attributes or conditions that you have no choice about are your given identity. They may be characteristics you were born with, or they may have been given to you in childhood or later in life. Elements of your given identity include birthplace, age, ethnicity, birth order, physical characteristics and abilities, certain family roles, and possibly religion.

CHOSEN IDENTITY

These are the characteristics that you choose. They may describe your status as well as attributes and skills. Your occupation, hobbies, political affiliation, place of residence, family roles, and religion may all be chosen.

CORE IDENTITY

These are the attributes that you think make you unique as an individual. Some will change over the course of your lifetime; others may remain constant. Elements of your core identity may include traits, behaviors, beliefs, values, and skills.

Some attributes may overlap or appear in two categories. Different people might put the same aspect of their identity in different categories depending on how much of a choice it felt like to them. For instance, your religious affiliation could be seen as either a given or a chosen aspect of your identity.

Many attributes are also subjective. One person's interpretation of educated may not match another's definition. Some may assume that you have chosen certain characteristics when, from your vantage point, you had little or no choice. Perhaps you were expected to go into the family business and never really made a choice about your profession.

Finally, context is important. Parts of your identity that matter to you may not matter to others or may matter only in certain situations. Aspects of your identity that seem insignificant to you could become huge benefits or obstacles when you are working in certain situations or with particular groups. In your own country you may leverage local culture to build rapport with others, but when traveling to other countries, you may downplay your culture and leverage your education and career credentials.

With awareness of identity we have clearer, richer interactions with others. It helps us to:

Consider the ten behaviors listed below that typify a leader with a solid grasp of identity; identify the three that you feel you are currently strongest in and the corresponding three that you feel are most in need of development.

STRENGTH	NEED
	Maintains a clear sense of his or her identity.
	Considers how others perceive his or her identity.
	Understands how his or her identity contributes to leader effectiveness.
	Examines his or her perceptions of others' identity.
	Understands the role identity can play in interactions.
	Values those with identities that differ from his or hers.
	Spots potential identity conflicts quickly.
	Directly addresses conflicts that arise from different identities.
	Promotes interaction among people with different identities.
	Creates an inclusive environment where different identities are accepted.

Take a moment to reflect on how your perceived strengths and corresponding development needs in this area have played out in the past and currently. As you progress through this chapter, keep in mind how you might augment or leverage these approaches.

The social identity theory developed by Henri Tajfel and John Turner says we use identity to:

How we categorize people is a complex, subjective process. For instance, you may believe that religion is one of the most important aspects of a person's identity, so you group people by, and possibly make assumptions about, their religious affiliation. Someone else might not care about or even think about another person's religious affiliation and would therefore give more weight to another social identity—for example, nationality.

The groups you identify with are the ones that you tend to feel most at home with. The behaviors and attributes typical of these groups are what feel normal (read preferable) to you. The coupling between self and identity groups is often powerful, resulting in a bright line being drawn between those who belong with you and those who do not.

We are more likely to assess people in our own groups by their intentions, which suggests positive attributes. On the other hand, we tend to assess people in other groups by how their behavior impacts us, suggesting negative attributes. This comparison process, often not deliberate or even conscious, is a two-way street. That means people belonging to other social identity groups are also making comparisons that may be very different from our own.

To address these potential challenges you must first develop awareness of your own identity.

Creating a map of your identity is a way to capture and articulate how you see yourself. You can look clearly at your obvious, surface-level identity and then begin to dig deeper. This can be very useful in exploring how others perceive you as a leader—who will feel more at home with you, who will give your words more weight, and so on. Your identity map should include the three components discussed earlier:

AFTER YOU COMPLETE YOUR MAP:

	Underline the items that are important to you personally. These are likely to be the terms you would use to describe yourself.
	Put a plus sign beside the items that you believe contribute to your ability to lead effectively in your organization.
	Put a minus sign beside the items that you believe detract from your ability to lead effectively in your organization.
	Put a question mark beside the items that may vary in how they affect your leadership ability, depending on context.

INTERPRETING YOUR MAP

Refer to your map while answering the following questions to examine your identity in more depth.

SEEK ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE

Share your identity map with someone you trust and whose opinion you value. Your partner may or may not see your map the same way you do, but that's the whole point. There is no right or wrong interpretation.

CREATE ROUTINE CONTACT

The simplest and perhaps best known strategy for leveraging identities involves constructing situations so that individual members of different groups come into contact with and get to know one another. Arrange opportunities for personal interaction among supervisors and subordinates and among team members, such as social events, retreats, or team-building activities. This creates more opportunity for one-to-one interactions that are based on individual people rather than the categories they fall into.

MIX IT UP

Either randomly or systematically rotate work group roles in a way that involves people from different identity groups. Again, this softens boundaries between groups, and individuals have more opportunities for interpersonal interaction.

IDENTIFY WITH THE ORGANIZATION

Foster a collective identity by emphasizing that everyone belongs to the same organization and is working toward a common goal. The organization becomes an all-inclusive identity group, and differences between groups are minimized.

SHARE THE STATUS

If groups are tightly formed around identity, create situations in which different groups are given equal status. Structure a project or a team so that members of each group have distinct but complementary roles in reaching common goals. This strategy is potentially risky, because differences between groups are made apparent. But if the situation is handled well, individuals learn that they can maintain their group identity and also value another group's unique contributions.

CREATE AN INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENT

Organizational elements such as policies, practices, and the organizational climate support inclusiveness. Inclusiveness policies and practices that encourage an open dialogue about problems stemming from identity conflict may be helpful. Policies of zero tolerance for fighting, harassment, and discrimination do work. Also, mechanisms for allowing identity issues to emerge in safe and orchestrated ways may be effective. Of course, it is critical to consider the country's culture and laws when determining a suitable remedy for addressing identity conflicts.

TAKE ACTION

Problems started by identity conflicts can become worse when they are ignored. Early actions help to minimize disruptive outcomes. What specific action to take depends very much on the country and cultural situation, but allowing a situation to continue without intervention invites greater trouble.