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.
As APM I’ll explore a diverse working medium because it will help in ensuring that the project is completed at when due because of the diverse-knowledge team.
However, when exploring this option I’d ensure no one is crossing boundaries
From my professional experience, there is a positive correlation between diversity and performance. In my previous role as an EdTech Consultant, i worked with team members from other nationalities within and outside Africa.
Diverse teams tend to bring a blend of new perspectives to the table which can lead to improved decision-making, problem-solving and foster innovation.
It can be challenging as cultural misunderstanding or communication issues can briefly arise but can be resolved with open discussion to foster alignment and collaboration for desired outcomes.
Just as we have the saying, there is unity in diversity, this is exceptionally true in the sense that each team member brings about different skills and knowledge to bring about a successful output.
As an exceptional Project Manager, I will harness the diverse skills and knowledge of the different team to bring about excellent performance.
Diversity is important because you get to have different inputs from and perspectives from people who have no bearing on what your previous beliefs are. It helps to improve decision making for different heads of organizations.
Diverse teams have the following characteristics:
1. A wide range of knowledge
2. From different geographical locations
3. Different cognitive abilities
4. A wider range of experiences
5. Different stages of career
6. Age differences
7. Gender differences
8. Different personalities
9. Different cultures
10. Different backgrounds
All these characteristics put together in a team will give rise to the following advantages :
1. A wider range of perspectives.
2.Different viewpoints and approaches to tackle problems.
3. Uncover alternative solutions to problems,
4. Diverse teams provide unique approaches, ideas, insights into a problem.
5. They provide a wider range of experiences and expertise
6. They are better equiped to navigate complex and uncertain environments.
5. They are made up of experts in different fields.
On the other hand,diverse teams may require additional effort to build trust among them.They may have different ways of communication.Their different cultures may give rise to misunderstandings and therefore diverse teams may experience conflicts from time to time.
All in all,diversity is more profitable to a team as team members compliment each other.
Like the saying in Nigeria, my country goes, “There is unity in our diversity”. Nigeria, a country filled with people with religious and cultural differences, can still execute a project perfectly by harnessing the potential of every citizen.
For example, recently a Chef from a minority region of the country, Chef Hilda Baci undertook a cook-a-thon to break a Guinness World Record in individual cooking. Nigerians saw the challenge as a Nigerian project and everyone shoved their differences and paid attention to achieving success, which was achieved in the long run.
This goes to show that diversity (cultural and religious alike) brought about great performance in the Cook-a-Thon project as each member of the team brought in different skills, and innovative ideas to achieve success.
However, there are some challenges working with a diverse team which includes language differences which created a communication gap, and cultural differences—in the case of the Cook-a-Thon, a member of the team abhors certain meat, which is according to their tradition and these brought about cold war between the tribes involved.
Nevertheless, this and many other challenges can be managed amongst the team if there’s a disciplined and focused project manager as the leader.
My experience on building team and working with diverse team. Good diverse team are way far better than homogeneous team. I can recall my experience as a Platoon 9 member during my NYSC days. We Won the overall best platoon in all competitions. Our diversity helped us a lot because some won’t match but are good in sport or dancing and other social activities available.
Diversity sure does impact positively to a project outcome however, the team charter comes in handie so as to reduce or eliminate conflicts and competition amongst various experts
Diversity when it is properly allocated, brings out the best in a team. This is because each individual is coming with its own expertise and contributing to make the project work.
Challenges that may be faced in a highly diverse team is the ability to outdo each other. Everyone will be trying to show that his/her expertise is the best and it can yield to competition amongst team members instead of cooperation.
Diversity in team works makes the works easier and very fast.
There is significant relationship between diversity and performanc(team performance).
Diversity influences team performance. If there is influence then it raises the question of similarity and similarity between members increases mutual attraction, integration, and communication, which in turn improves performance. Diversity is more than gender and race; it includes a lot more than just that . When you hire people who may be from a different geographic location, or at different stages of their career, or with different personalities, putting them in a group can be beneficial. A team which is diverse will show better performance. With a diverse team, group performance is improved as people try to come up with unique and creative solutions for the task at hand.
When there is a diverse team, each team member is able to gain perspective into the other person’s world. They, thus, can become more understanding of the other over time, and hence, it can lead to better communication for the team overall. With better communication, team performance also improves.
When there is a diverse group, then the work is easily divided among the team members depending upon their skills. When one person is highly skilled at something, and someone else has a talent for something else, both of their abilities can be equally used to fulfil a task.
However, there are challenges in working in a diverse team. Diversity is not always functional. When a team is diverse, it has the potential to give rise to conflict. Conflict is usually caused when people have a different perspective or opinion about a topic or a task at hand because of differences in their personal needs or demands. When a team is diverse, it is not a surprise that each person will have different priorities, as well as different views on how a task should be handled.
As people have different perspectives on the same issue, it can be challenging to come up with a solution to the problem as a team.
In fact, when one member’s solution is picked over the other, it can also foster a sense of low self-esteem and resentment towards the other member.
when there is a diverse team with people belonging to different cultures and backgrounds, each person may have different communication styles. Some people may have a more direct and assertive way of communication due to their background, which may be perceived as rude or brash by others in the team.
More diverse teams tend to work better because each person is an expert in his or her own area. Diversity in a team could be a source of strength and knowledge . Diversity when properly harnessed is profitable to an organization or a team