Beyond traditional diversity - how differing perspectives make teams more successful
Do you prefer working with people who think like you? If you truly believe that your model is the best one out there, then by definition you should be working with people who think like you, correct? The logic of working with like minded others is extremely compelling. It is also spectacularly wrong. It is known that teams with a wider variety of thinking styles perform better in complex situations. Think twice. An argument for more cognitive diversity in the workplace.
Unconscious bias
We are attracted unconsciously to people who think like us. Whether we realise it or not, unconscious biases affect most common decisions we make. Our brain automatically tells us we are safe with people who look, think and act similar to us. These automatic preferences and prejudices of our brain help us to make snap decisions and this can be very useful in some situations in everyday life. At the same time, unconscious bias is probably the #1 contributor to a homogeneous work environment and sameness thinking - and thus a disabler of diversity and an enemy of innovation.
Cognitive diversity engages employees and boost problem solving
Studies have shown that teams with higher cognitive diversity completed a performance challenge more quickly. Teams with a high deviation from the “standard perspective” are more likely to solve a problem than non-diverse team, according to an experiment run by Alison Reynolds and David Lewis from Harvard Business Review. It appears there is a significant correlation between high cognitive diversity and high performance.
But what is meant by cognitive diversity? Cognitive diversity goes well beyond demographic diversity which focuses on achieving a mix of statistical characteristics such as gender or age. It rather focuses on achieving a mix of people with different perspectives, backgrounds and working models. Cognitive diversity looks at how people of a team carry out intellectual activities, such as the way they process information (e.g. analytical vs. holistic/contextual) and draw conclusions. The way people think about the world can be quite different - and so are the ways individuals engage with new, uncertain and complex situations. For example, if two groups of 10 people are faced with a problem to be solved, it is much more probable that the diverse team will come up with much more ideas and solutions compared to a team in which everyone is thinking in the same way.
How to pave the way for more cognitive diversity in the workplace
But if the inclusion of employees with different background leads to better business outcomes, why do we still see so many non-diverse teams in the workplace? Often, employees do not feel comfortable to embrace different thinking styles at work as they like to fit in. People are cautious to speak up if they feel the pressure to conform. Sometimes, we may not be even aware that this is happening. The desire for conformity and harmony within a group can result in avoidance of discussions and thus in biased irrational decision-making outcomes.
Unlike, for example, ethnic and gender diversity, cognitive diversity is less visible. We cannot easily detect cognitive diversity from the outside. But if you look for it, cognitive diversity is all around. It requires us to work hard to surface it and it takes time and effort harness the benefits. Leaders need to encourage people to reveal and deploy their different modes of thinking. We need to make it safe to try things in different ways. This requires cultivating a trusted workplace where conflicting viewpoints are welcomed and listened to with respect. Probably against their inner nature, leaders should be actively looking for employees who disagree with them and valuing the contributions they make.
In an ever faster changing world where innovation and change management will be crucial, I am a believer that diverse and agile teams will be the key for future success. Leading diverse teams might be more challenging and building it up might be more time consuming, but it is worth the journey and will be rewarding. These days there is much talk about authentic leadership, i.e. being yourself. Perhaps it is even more important that leaders focus on enabling others to be themselves.