It Takes Art to Create Diversity that Works

Diversity in the workplace not only helps companies stay in tune with customers, but stirs ideas and positively influences workers’ attitudes according to Washington Post columnist, Shankar Vedantam. On the other hand, it takes real art to create a truly diverse environment where people respect and value each other. What makes the difference?

Interestingly, Margaret Neale of Standford’s Graduate School of Business, disentangled 50 years of research on diversity to see:

diversity across dimensions, such as functional expertise, education, or personality, can increase performance by enhancing creativity or group problem-solving. In contrast, more visible diversity, such as race, gender, or age, can have negative effects on a group -- at least initially.

Surprisingly, teams more alike, who get along well, are less likely to find innovations that work because they share similar perspectives and get stuck in ruts. In fact, they perform lower on group problem solving tasks.

So where to begin...

Focus on commonalities first. Recent research on the brain reveals that “one way to reduce prejudice is to emphasize how alike different groups are.”

Try assigning roles and then switching them. Roles might be devil’s advocate, cheerleader, inventor, organizer and social chair. Team members can suggest roles and change them.

Create opportunities to tap peoples’ brainpower. To counter peoples’ views that “Diversity Training Stinks,” Ellen Weber asks, “Where could a community go when we tap into more people’s brilliant minds for answers?”

The art of putting all this together makes the difference...One problem groups encounter, is that a groups’ goals and values can lead to contentions and conflicts. Paradoxically, this can lead to better performance if managed effectively. "Managers simply must get team members to be in agreement,” Margaret Neale maintains, “about what the task is and the values that drive its pursuit." The tone managers set initially in meetings to establish a group's mission and values helps bridge diversity along both visible and invisible lines.

What's the difference? Recent findings show diversity pays since, “Customers and employees want to shop and work in environments which reflect their local communities,” Lesley Strathie, Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus concludes. And, by enlarging the scope of their recruitment base, employers can plug skills gaps, improve retention and increase productivity.

The art of creating diversity well reaps rich dividends. Diverse workforces lead to better business! Ready to change your approaches?