Sam Adeyemi is Principal Consultant, Sam Adeyemi GLC Inc., a global leadership consultancy with specialist insight on developing economies.
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Diversity is the strength of any winning team. To overcome obstacles, an organization is best served by team members with various backgrounds, genders, and types of expertise who can inject different ways of thinking into the problem-solving process.
Business leaders typically know this is true, yet women in particular often lament that their ideas are more likely to be dismissed. Nearly 30% of women report facing microaggressions at work, such as having their judgment questioned or being interrupted while speaking. This devaluing of women’s ideas is a tremendous loss to organizations, robbing them of the true power of their female workforce.
Why hire employees and then limit their ability to contribute to your organization? Doing so is a waste of resources, talent and time. And yet this phenomenon happens at businesses all over the globe, depriving organizations of untapped potential that could transform their success.
Innovation Is More Likely With Multiple Perspectives
Innovation is more likely to happen when people of different temperaments, backgrounds, genders and areas of expertise share their perspectives on the same issue. New perspectives give team members opportunities to see old scenarios with new eyes, which sparks the kind of innovation that can change your company and ripple throughout your industry.
Productivity Will Increase
Teamwork dramatically increases the potential for productivity. For teamwork to happen, everyone’s ideas must be valued. When your organization gives weight to the ideas and contributions of everyone on staff, you exponentially increase the value of your workforce and the potential for productivity.
You’ll Find Issues And Opportunities You Never Knew Existed
One day my wife chaired our team meeting. After the usual deliberations, she asked the team, "Does everyone here feel loved?" Two people answered that everyone felt loved. She persisted and asked each one to answer individually. The truth spilled out. There were hidden issues, and the team spent a couple of hours sorting through them. In the end, our team walked out of that meeting better than they walked in.
That kind of question would not have crossed my mind. I was focused primarily on tasks, but the quality of relationships between team members affects the team's performance. We all benefitted when my wife brought in her unique perspective.
Knowledge-Sharing Becomes Richer
There is significant data confirming that men’s brains and women’s brains are typically wired differently. Science writer Bruce Goldman collates a number of such research results in his article, “Two Minds: The Cognitive Differences Between Men and Women.” You can also find evidence of the unique qualities of men’s and women’s brains in articles like this one, which describes 25 unique differences in thinking patterns between the genders. These differences can be harnessed to share knowledge in different ways, about different subjects, from different perspectives—increasing the richness of the knowledge that is shared.
Acceptance Breeds Empowerment
People who can confidently share their ideas at work tend to be happier, feel empowered and actively participate in the activities of their team. This ultimately has a positive impact on the morale, engagement and performance of the team. Also, such teams tend to have lower turnover rates.
Changing Your Team’s Behavior Is Up To You As A Leader
Leaders set the tone for the climate of a team. If you notice that your team is exhibiting signs of bias, it’s up to you as the leader to change the tone of your team. Your attitude and decisions flow downhill to everyone else.
Make sure that you are exhibiting behaviors you want your team to imitate, such as:
• When any employee brings an idea to the table, listen and engage.
• Acknowledge everyone’s accomplishments and give credit where it’s due, especially to employees who are members of marginalized groups.
• If you see that male employees are talking over female employees in brainstorming sessions or meetings, step in with a friendly, “Let her finish.”
• Don’t permit bullying or condescending behavior in your organization. One employee with a habit of cutting others down can undo a year’s worth of equality progress with a single off-hand comment.
Changing the tone of your organization comes down to small changes made consistently over time. And once it’s done, you’ll be able to reap the rewards of a doubly powerful organization.
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