The blog will pick a word of the week, to share & explore the selected word. Here’s an expression for the word – teamwork. The bigger the dream, the more important the team!
We can build a diverse team based on visible attributes like gender or race. But, it’s still a challenge to unleash that team’s full potential to do great things. Recognising the differences, empathetically uncovering common ground & believing in a shared purpose can bring success. “To get real diversity of thought, we need to find the people who genuinely hold different views & invite them into the conversation” – Adam Grant.
Leaders have social justice goals, wish to win the war on talent to embrace the equity & value-creating possibilities of a diverse workforce. “We have no hope of solving the challenges without harnessing the diversity, the energy & the creativity of all our people” – Roger Wilkins.
Differences offer creative intersections, incredible innovations, substantial growth, enhanced efficiencies & quality problem solving. Leaders can create an environment that encourages differences to thrive for novel insights or unique ideas. Diversity is the art of thinking differently, together. Diversity is the engine of invention. While differences are important, so are similarities. Empathetic communication reveals both commonalities & differences in teams.
Ironically, even teams that honour their differences & similarities can have challenges. What’s important is not the existence of conflict but how the teams resolve it. Cultural sensitivity matters. Teams have tremendous potential. Empowered, motivated, fulfilled & diverse teams do the same things. They just do the same things, differently!
I’ll be sharing this with a few friends.