Bringing Out Diverse Expertise

How do you select diverse people? It is not too different from planning a party. First you need to understand what type of diversity you want. Is it cultural or cognitive? Unless you are doing marketing or you are a multinational company most likely a cognitively diverse team is what you want. Cognitive diversity is just a scholastic way of saying get people who think differently. This can be due to their expertise or simply different ways of viewing information. The idea here is for it to be moderately to significantly different ways of thinking.

Next in fostering diversity it is important that there is no hierarchy on the team or an autocratic leader. Otherwise people will just defer, and then the potential of the diversity will not be realized. When I was in my teens I knew a guy who was tough. He was in and out of prison several times before the age of 20. He was also an ego manic. As a result everyone did what he wanted. Now I am not implying that there are ego maniacs out there in the corporate world. What I am saying is if people perceive a power structure they will not go against the perceived source of power.

On the flip side you want to avoid homogeneous groups where everyone is nice to each other and they agree not to disagree. Besides the group not producing much itself any new comer who disagrees with the prevailing opinion will likely be disregarded. In the public school settings we call this a “click.” A click may or may not have a hierarchy, but they are definitely homogeneous they talk and act alike the idea is to fit in rather than be different. Groups that act like clicks generally do not produce as well as teams where diversity is honored.

Like with all groups the person should be interested in joining rather than assigned or coerced in someway. When a person who has a keen interest in a project is appointed it allows that person to bring his best game to the table. Conversely, when a person is appointed to a team as a punishment or simply because she drew the short straw then most likely the person will turn in less than an optimal performance. I remember being told I was going to do x, y, and z. I did do x, y, and z but not happily and not with real commitment. The result was my performance was marginal. Not enough to get me in trouble, but not highly satisfactory either. You would not have wanted me on your team if you were hoping I would do a good or great job. Appoint people to a team they don’t want to be on and you will for sure get a marginal (fair: that is one step above poor) job.

Once a team has been formed it ought to be up to the team to determine what role each person will play. An example if this would be one person is facilitating, or facilitating is rotated depending on the talent necessary at different phases of the project, another may be the secretary, who will communicate the results, and so on. Allowing the group to choose does three things. It allows the members to create organization without developing a hierarchy. Secondly, it gives them a task where they can began learning to work together. Lastly, it creates the first step towards ownership of the task.