Whether young or old, man or woman, different cultures or simply different personalities and mindsets, diversity is one of the most relevant topics for organizations that want to remain viable in a multi-diverse society. Because diverse teams can become a driver for sustainable
corporate success if the foundation for value-added cooperation is created.
On the way to a successful, colorful company and team culture, you first of all need a lot of openness. So let‘s address it directly and openly:
Diversity can be exhausting. It requires, among other things, a high degree of flexibility in perception, thinking, and action. But: Bringing this flexibility is worth it – for the entire company and for each and every individual. Recognizing what is worthwhile is already the first milestone on this change journey.
THE SUPERPOWERS OF DIVERSE TEAMS
Personal development
Everyone has individual experiences, skills, approaches, and ideas. Those who approach others openly and with interest are better able to accept other people‘s points of view, open up new perspectives for themselves and never stop learning.
Precise communication
Those who work in a diverse team learn to concretize their own thoughts and ideas and to formulate them more clearly.
Greater innovation power
The more diverse a team is, the more room there is for creative solutions. This is because challenges are viewed from different angles with different professional and personal backgrounds.
More sustainable decisions
Diverse teams can draw on a richer wealth of knowledge and experience, enabling them to make more thoughtful, robust decisions.
Customer proximity
Heterogeneous teams can better empathize with the needs and living environments of equally heterogeneous target groups and develop customer-centric solutions. In addition, a variety of personalities offers the opportunity to create different approaches to relationships with customers: “Especially in our consulting, a good relationship is the be-all and end-all. The more diverse a team is, the higher the probability that a customer will find exactly the counterpart with whom he or she can develop,” explains Franziska Herzberger.
Employee retention and recruitment
Living diversity in the company contributes to an inclusive and positive corporate culture in which everyone feels valued. A satisfaction factor that also has differentiation potential in employer branding.
Heterogeneous teams have many other advantages, but only if they are able to develop their full potential. In addition to the “why”, the “how” is also important.
HOW TO UNLEASH THE SUPERPOWERS
Trust as a central building block
“Diverse teams are not automatically better. If team members distrust each other, nothing more than a small common denominator emerges. Mixed teams only create significant added value if everyone contributes their individual knowledge. But for this to happen, there must be trust within the team,” explains Marco Pett.
Openness creates trust
A major hurdle when it comes to trust is the way we deal with others or strangers. Our brains, which are geared towards efficiency, tend to generalize as much as possible. What is vitally important in many areas can lead to difficulties within a heterogeneous team. Ultimately, many so-called unconscious biases arise over the course of life: unconscious thought reflexes that are based on one‘s own experiences and – to put it bluntly – pigeonhole people. It is these pigeonholes that then stand in the way of openness and trust.
“Reprogramming” thought reflexes
In order to be able to trust in a team “made up of others”, it is important to recognize and question thought reflexes and develop new behavior based on them. It is equally important not to stigmatize an unconscious bias. Because “you are not a bad person because you have certain thought reflexes,” says Marco Pett. “It is important that you become aware of them and adapt them to reality.” Open and benevolent communication and reflection in the team are important for this. This creates a space in which everyone can see the other person as an individual personality with unique strengths.
Lead by example instead of pretending
Turning diversity into a success factor in the company is a joint task that requires a clear kick-off and a consistent approach at the decision-making level. As with all change processes, role models are essential here, too, showing where the journey should go and how it can be successful. “It is important that diversity does not feel like a chapter that you work through in management training,” explains Franziska Herzberger. “The change towards value-added diversity is a continuous change process. The best thing to do is to start with yourself and share your experiences with your team.”
TRACKING THE UNCONSCIOUS BIAS
Franziska Herzberger is one of our experts when it comes to diversity. She was a manager in the production environment at an automotive supplier for five years. Today, she supports companies in the area of leadership excellence and leads training courses on the topic of leadership and diversity. We want to know from her what experiences she has had, why working on unconscious thought reflexes is such a central building block and how such reflexes can best be “reprogrammed”.
Why are unconscious thought reflexes a hurdle for
heterogeneous teams?
Communication always has a level in which the attitude towards a type of person or group is unconsciously present. This attitude often has less to do with the actual other person than with oneself. If you don‘t reflect on this, you will make the other person feel insecure. The relationship – and thus a trusting collaboration – will be disrupted.
Do you have an example of a classic unconscious bias?
Many older people have had the experience in their youth that in a hospital, the men are the doctors and the women are the nursing staff. It sometimes happens that a female doctor is addressed as a nurse. This has less to do with the doctor and often does not arise from conscious discrimination, but is due to old experience that no longer applies today
Which unconscious biases do you often encounter?
A common bias is the assumption that everyone else must understand exactly what you have expressed as your expectations – and yet they act differently. If you ask questions, it often becomes clear that the communication was not clear enough. We often assume that everyone else has the same ideas about terms, processes, etc. But that is not the case. We are all different. So we have to doublecheck and find out whether all parties understand what is being said in the same way
How do you get people to question their
unconscious bias?
As a person affected, you should engage in dialogue with the other person. It is important to work through the situation together in a benevolent manner: What did a certain statement really mean? Did the sender unconsciously convey something inappropriate or did the recipient misinterpret the message due to their own bias?
As a manager, you can also work with methods such as “My Personal Map”. It helps to work out personal mindsets, viewpoints, prejudices, etc. with individual team members. In specific situations, if there is still very little trust in the team, it is advisable to work 1:1. For teams that already have a good foundation of trust, team meetings can also be tried.
What advice would you like to give to decision-makers who want to successfully embed diversity in their company?
Open your eyes: Look around you and see how colorful the world is, that each of us is different and that this can be a great strength for companies. Look at your own attitude towards diversity. Be enthusiastic about diversity because it enriches you. Accept that it can be stressful at times. Be open to asking questions. Be willing to get to know other people‘s perspectives.
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