It's one thing to have a diverse team. It's quite another to let that team do great things for your company. Yet, there is little guidance about how to accomplish the former. The author offers three strategies backed by research in this article. Learn to recognize differences and not pretend they don't exist. The second step is to find common ground. Third, be open to difficult conversations and not avoid them.
Race is at the forefront for all business leaders, regardless of whether they have social justice goals, want to win the war against talent, or are looking to harness the value-creating potential from a diverse workforce.
However, there are very few resources and evidence-based strategies for racial diversity. A quick search on ProQuest, a popular article database, showed 339 articles that had team and diversity as the title. Only three articles focused on racial diversity. This is 1%.
Since more than twenty years, I have been researching how networks and relationships can enhance creative problem-solving. Since almost 10 years, I have taught courses about managing teams. This experience has helped me to identify where we should start. Given the societal need for strategies to create inclusive environments at an unprecedented high and the importance of team dynamics in ensuring success at all levels of companies, small and large, I offer these recommendations to business leaders who are interested in helping their teams succeed.
Recognize differences. Many of today's business leaders grew up with the practice of colorblindness, which was encouraged by their parents and schools. The idea is that you cannot be biased if you don't allow yourself to recognize your race. This well-meaning strategy is not effective and can actually increase racial inequalities.
Why? Pretending that differences don't exist or failing to acknowledge them only exacerbates the negatives and minimizes the positives. Two reasons are key.
First, lack of authenticity and inability to share information, experiences or ideas can hurt both the individual and the entire team. In their research, Katherine Phillips and Tracy Dumas highlight that people from racial minorities are less likely than others to share personal information in ways that emphasize their differences. We often assume that people who are similar to us will be able to understand us, while those who are different will not. We withhold information that is not related to racial identity. This includes weekend activities, parenting assumptions and extended family obligations. Withholding actively can lead to cognitive and emotional problems, as it distracts from the task at hand and hinders close relationships between teammates.
This hypothetical example shows how a Black computer engineer joins a large company that has a majority of white staff and moves to a new area. His new colleagues ask him which area he is interested in buying a house. Jeb doesn't have the money to buy a home because of his obligations to his extended family. Jeb is planning to rent, which will be a stark contrast to his colleagues. Jeb is now unable to engage in personal conversations about his family life. He also avoids having conversations with people who are not related to him. On the other side, his colleagues wonder why he isn't more engaged with the team.
Second, differences are not necessarily bad. They can also create division, but they also present opportunities. In fact, even though differences can cause a lack of engagement, they are essential to the creativity and high quality problem solving teams often create. My research has shown that people are more open to new insights from others than they are to their own. People we know will tend to think the same way as us, even if they are not like us. We tend to dismiss new information that they provide. We pay more attention to information that is offered by acquaintances, are more creative, and we play with it. These realizations and processes cannot happen if there aren't differences.
Jack Goncalo's research and Joshua Katz's analysis show that sharing creative ideas can be considered self-disclosure. If our teammates feel uncomfortable sharing their personal details, it makes sense that this can translate into sharing non-conforming ideas with the team that may not be related to race but could help them produce quality products.
Leaders must create a climate that allows for differences to be heard. Look for ways to share your identity with those who are racially less represented. In your past, or in your current position or interests, be open about how you might be different. Start small and be safe. Perhaps your guilty pleasure is to watch reality TV fashion shows. This could be a contrast to your image of a driven and serious career woman. Perhaps you love tending to your herb garden which is counter to your image as a tough, aggressive man. Each of us has a part of ourselves that others may not be able to understand. This helps establish a standard that authentic self-disclosure is acceptable.
Find common ground and work to find it. Although differences are important, similarities are equally important. Effective tools for many relationships, listening and sharing are key to team success. Each person has a unique set of attributes that may be shared with others. This includes obvious attributes like gender identity and race, as well as less-observable but still important attributes like functional expertise. It also includes unobservable attributes like personality and values. It is not common for teammates to have different attributes, so there is often a lack of alignment.
Close relationships are built on shared interests and similarity. Long-term research has supported the homophily principle. It states that birds of a feather tend to be in close relationships with others of the same race. We have to be more open to our colleagues' complexities and the unique ways that their interests and identities intersect. Maybe your Black colleague likes country music as much as you. Maybe you and your Asian colleague share the responsibility of being a parent and married.
Self-disclosure is key to building strong and meaningful relationships at work. It can help you see commonalities as well as differences. Without these relationships, the team is at risk of not being able to execute its plans. Individuals may also be limited in their opportunities for sponsorship and development through informal close contacts.
Accept difficult conversations. Conflict can happen even in teams that are open to accepting and respecting differences and commonalities. Dealing with conflict that is interpersonal or emotionally charged can be a team's greatest challenge. Let's say that a team member is well-intentioned and makes a comment about an Asian American member of the team. This attaches them to an invisible, stereotyped minority stereotype. Imagine a Hispanic colleague highlighting the racial implications a marketing campaign leaves out another person. The slighted member of the team may choose to keep silent, allowing emotions to fester.
Leslie DeChurch and Jessica Mesmer-Magnus, along with Dan Doty, conducted a quantitative analysis on thousands of teams. They found that it is important to understand how conflict is resolved. Their analysis showed that avoidance is not always an effective strategy.
It is important to make a habit of confronting differences based on race, regardless of the potential risks. This will allow the team to move forward with greater effectiveness. We avoid discussing race because we fear negative consequences. What happens if someone does the wrong thing, and conflicts are exacerbated. As you can see, the aggrieved colleague tells her rival that she is selfish or insensitive. You might get defensiveness or anger back. These are legitimate concerns. However, avoidance can lead to inauthentic relationships and poor team performance.
Instead, think carefully about how to have difficult conversations that bring understanding and solve problems rather than creating more tension and conflict. Difficult conversations: How to Discuss the Most Important Things by Bruce Patton, Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen are some of my favorite resources. These are some of my favorite tips:
Understanding the purpose of the conversation is key. Are you trying to learn, express yourself, or solve a problem?
To avoid defensive reactions, be direct and to the point.
You should be focusing on the facts. What did the other person say? How did you interpret it? And what effect does that have on you and your team.
The potential of teams is immense. Diverse teams can increase creativity, stimulate problem solving, and encourage people to think critically and reflect on ideas. It is time for business leaders not to pretend that there is no race. They need to foster trust and authenticity, and create supportive cultures that allow teams to achieve these lofty goals. It could be the key to your team's success.
