A creative and resilient team

Build a creative and resilient team via diversity and inclusion.

Imagine two teams. One is diverse. It consists of men and women, black people and brown people, younger people and older people. The other team is homogeneous – a group of men, most of them white, all about 40. Some people might find this surprising, but the diverse team consistently outperforms the homogenous team, despite its members having far fewer commonalities. Why?

Before exploring why diversity improves performance, let’s talk about what diversity is.

If you work in a big corporate firm, you’re probably familiar with the term diversity and inclusion. This phrase describes what strategies and practices a business has in place to support an inclusive workplace. For example, the company may have initiatives to increase the proportion of women in senior management roles, or it may give workshops on how to reduce stereotyping at work.

When it comes to the recruitment process, hiring for diversity means recruiting people of different races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, and even educational backgrounds – which should be high on any business’s agenda to ensure equality.

Most people would agree that equality is a good thing. But why is it good for business? Well, there are two reasons. First, diverse teams tend to be more resilient. Just as a person who’s had many experiences is better prepared to handle the unexpected, a diverse team is more likely to have the tools to cope with instability and change. Second, diverse teams tend to be more innovative. This is because individuals from different cultures and with different experiences expand the range of a company’s ideas and improve its ability to solve problems.

So having a diverse team is undoubtedly a good thing, but, unfortunately, it can’t happen overnight.

Leaders will need to work hard to embed inclusion into their hiring practices. They’ll also need to foster a team culture that is fundamentally conducive to embracing new ideas. One way to do this is to encourage open communication in the workplace and allow everybody in the room to speak up and offer their input.

More importantly, diversity and inclusion shouldn’t just be seen as a “special project” or an HR initiative that’s nice to have. Instead, leaders should view inclusion as an essential part of their business strategy.