Experts have a clear understanding of the potential advantages that diversity brings to teams and organizations.
APM acknowledges that diverse teams generally outperform homogeneous ones. This correlation is increasingly evident in the performance and financial outcomes of organizations.
Does this align with your personal experience?
In a previous section, you explored exceptional and high-performing teams. Based on your own observations, do you see a connection between diversity and performance? Do teams with greater diversity produce superior work? Additionally, what challenges arise when working in highly diverse teams?
We are genuinely interested in hearing about your experiences and thoughts regarding these questions in the discussion section.
SUNDAY AILEOHI OHIOMAH – TEAM 10, CH24
From my experience, there exist a positive correlation (relationship) between diversity and performance in terms of financial report (revenue, profitability and market value), innovation and quality of decisions.
Diverse teams can outperform homogeneous teams in various aspects such as increased innovation, improved problem-solving, enhanced creativity, better decision-making, and stronger communication.
However their advantages, working in highly diverse teams also face unique challenges:
1. Communication barriers: Language differences, cultural nuances, and individual communication styles can create obstacles.
2. Socio-cultural differences: Varied cultural backgrounds, values, and social norms can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts.
3. Trust and cohesion: Building trust and a sense of unity can be more difficult in diverse teams.
4. Conflict and disagreements: Different perspectives and opinions can lead to conflicts, requiring effective conflict resolution skills.
5. Leadership and management: Managers may need to adapt their leadership style to accommodate diverse team members’ needs and preferences.
By acknowledging these challenges and implementing strategies to overcome them, my organization have been able to unlock the full potential of diversity and drive improved performance.
SUNDAY AILEOHI OHIOMAH – TEAM 10, CH24
From my experience, a positive correlation (relationship) between diversity and performance in terms of financial report (revenue, profitability and market value), innovation and quality of decisions.
Diverse teams can outperform homogeneous teams in various aspects such as increased innovation, improved problem-solving, enhanced creativity, better decision-making, and stronger communication.
However their advantages, working in highly diverse teams also face unique challenges:
1. Communication barriers: Language differences, cultural nuances, and individual communication styles can create obstacles.
2. Socio-cultural differences: Varied cultural backgrounds, values, and social norms can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts.
3. Trust and cohesion: Building trust and a sense of unity can be more difficult in diverse teams.
4. Conflict and disagreements: Different perspectives and opinions can lead to conflicts, requiring effective conflict resolution skills.
5. Leadership and management: Managers may need to adapt their leadership style to accommodate diverse team members’ needs and preferences.
DIVERSITY AND PERFORMANCE IN PROJECT TEAMS
Yes, my experience aligns with APM’s view that diverse teams tend to outperform homogenous ones. A diverse team brings together varied perspectives, experiences, and problem-solving approaches, leading to more innovative solutions and better project outcomes.
1. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIVERSITY AND PERFORMANCE
✓ Better Decision-Making – teams with diverse backgrounds consider multiple viewpoints, leading to more balanced and informed decisions.
✓ Greater Innovation – different perspectives spark creativity, leading to unique solutions, particularly in complex projects.
✓ Improved Risk Management – a variety of experiences allows teams to anticipate and mitigate risks more effectively.
✓ Stronger Stakeholder Engagement – diverse teams better understand and connect with a broad range of stakeholders, especially in PPP projects.
✓ Higher Employee Satisfaction & Retention – inclusive teams create a sense of belonging, boosting morale and productivity.
2. CHALLENGES OF WORKING IN HIGHLY DIVERSE TEAMS
Despite the benefits, diverse teams also face challenges. Some of which are:
✓ Communication Barriers – differences in language, culture, or communication styles can lead to misunderstandings.
✓ Decision-Making Delays – more viewpoints can mean longer discussions and slower consensus-building.
✓ Conflicting Work Styles – different approaches to problem-solving or time management can create friction.
✓ Unconscious Bias & Stereotypes – hidden biases can impact team dynamics and performance.
✓ Resistance To Change – some team members may struggle to adapt to new perspectives or working styles.
3. HOW TO OVERCOME THESE CHALLENGES
To maximize the benefits of diversity, organizations and project managers should:
✔ Encourage Open Communication – by fostering an inclusive environment where all team members feel heard.
✔ Provide Cross-Cultural Training – by helping team members understand and respect different cultural and professional backgrounds.
✔ Use Clear Processes for Decision-Making – defining structured ways to reach consensus efficiently.
✔ Leverage Strengths Of Each Team Member – by assigning tasks based on individual strengths and experiences.
✔ Promote An Inclusive Culture – by encouraging collaboration and actively addressing biases or conflicts.
Conclusively, in my experience, diverse teams do better work when managed effectively. The key is to embrace differences, create an inclusive environment, and implement strategies that help teams collaborate efficiently. The result? Higher performance, better innovation, and stronger project outcomes.
OGBEKHIULU, Cynthia Ikhiannosen
Cohort 24, Group 7
Yes, in my experience, there is a strong relationship between diversity and performance in teams. More diverse teams tend to perform better because they bring together different perspectives, skills, and experiences, which leads to more creative problem-solving, innovation, and better decision-making.
Do More Diverse Teams Do Better Work?
Yes, diverse teams often outperform homogenous teams, especially in complex problem-solving and strategic decision-making. Different cultural backgrounds, expertise, and viewpoints help generate unique insights, making the team more adaptable and effective. Studies have shown that organizations with diverse teams tend to achieve better financial results, improved employee engagement, and stronger innovation.
Challenges of Working in Highly Diverse Teams
While diversity has many advantages, it also comes with challenges, such as:
• Communication Barriers: Different languages, accents, or communication styles can lead to misunderstandings.
• Conflicting Work Styles: Varied cultural approaches to work, hierarchy, or decision-making may create friction.
• Unconscious Bias: Team members may struggle with implicit biases, which can affect collaboration.
• Team Cohesion: It may take more time for a diverse team to build trust and a shared vision.
• Decision-Making Delays: More perspectives can lead to longer discussions and slower decision-making.
Conclusion
While diverse teams require strong leadership, open-mindedness, and inclusive practices, they generally produce higher-quality work, foster innovation, and enhance problem-solving. The key to success is to embrace diversity while creating an environment that encourages collaboration and mutual understanding.
A good PM harnesses the potential of the team members, which brings about diversity in each project. Diversity introduces the different perspectives and ideas of team members which leads to better perfomance on projects and aids the team achieve its outlined objectives for each project.
Yes! High efficiency rate in diversity is true in certain cases. And this may be due to the fact that:
-Diversity in a team brings about a lot options and perspectives not just to be chosen from but rather combining them as a customized toolkit for specific and case oriented suggestions to solve problems.
-Diversity will humble team members when they see other ways of doing things from theirs which they before did not know about and such learning breeds enthusiasm.
-Lastly, beside others, diversity in a team brings iterative solutions and rare innovations sometimes from the least expected background of persons and this in turn will make the team effecient in achieving it’s objectives.
Yes, diversity and performance are connected. Diverse teams bring different perspectives, leading to better ideas and problem-solving. Research shows they often outperform homogenous teams, especially in creative and complex tasks.
However, challenges like communication barriers and cultural differences can arise. Success depends on good leadership, clear communication, including on the team’s values and an inclusive team culture to turn diversity into an advantage.
There’s a connection between diversity and performance. I totally agree. Too often than not, over familiarity breeds some level of contempt. Teams with high level of diversity tends to produce the best performance. However some challenges that comes with diversity is learning everyone’s unique mode of communication and trying to adapt to it. Cultural barrier is also not an exemption.
n my own opinion, I agree that most diverse teams perform better because they are open to different ethnicities and cultures, which provides a wide range of competencies for high performance. However, the challenge of working with highly diverse teams is rooted in the communication barrier and cultural differences, which makes it challenging to form such a team.
In my experience, I believe that there is a strong positive relationship between diversity and performance as most diverse teams I’ve encountered with individuals from different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences often outperform the homogenous teams. Diverse teams are usually more creative and innovative and bring a wider range of ideas and approaches to problem-solving, which leads to more creative solutions and innovative breakthroughs in challenges. It promotes diverse perspectives and challenges assumptions while encouraging critical thinking which results in more informed and balanced decisions. It promotes room to tackle complex problems from multiple angles, increasing the likelihood of finding effective solutions. It helps to navigate changing environments and adaptability to new challenges thereby enhancing resilience and flexibility.
Working in highly diverse teams may result in challenges such as, communication barriers due to differences in language, culture, and communication styles which can create misunderstandings and hinder effective collaboration. Diverse perspectives can also lead to disagreements, misunderstandings and conflicts, requiring effective conflict resolution skills and a commitment to respectful dialogue. Building trust, loyalty and rapport within diverse teams can take time and may prove to be difficult, as individuals need to learn to navigate cultural differences and understand each other’s perspectives before trust can be achieved. Diversity usually fosters creativity, it is essential to be aware of unconscious biases and potential for groupthink that may form, where dominant perspectives can stifle or deafen minority perspectives.