Developing Inclusive Teams
I had the opportunity to participate as a table speaker at a recent National Diversity Council (NDC) Roundtable event. Tyson Foods and Walmart have partnered with the Arkansas Diversity Council (ARDC) of the NDC. The ARDC is committed to transforming workplace communities into environments where people are valued for their uniqueness and differences, and are confident that their contributions matter. As a group, we learned a lot from each other, and we thought we’d share some highlights of our notes.
The discussion brought up something that is often not considered when we talk about diversity and team building. When we broadly talk about working in collaborative teams; there is the assumption that everyone always has the chance to create a ‘greenfield’ team for each project. In real life, teams are often preselected by third parties. As a result, you may not have the chance to build the ‘perfect’ team, but you still want to maximize the benefits of diversity. So, we talked a little about how to develop a team even if it isn’t a team that you had a chance to select. A few ideas: Invest time upfront in assessing strengths, experiences, and behaviors of team members. Some companies also use personality assessment tools to enhance the process. Even if the team isn’t the ideally assembled team; assessing and understanding each member’s emotional attributes and personal awareness can facilitate fast and productive team progress.
After that, coaching and timely feedback are important to the success of any team. If you do a personality assessment early, you are able to understand yourself better and know how you tend to react in certain situations. Similarly, if you share that information, each team member understands how to effectively interact. Research has shown that people who have a high level of emotional awareness increase their team’s efficiency, and are better decision makers and stronger leaders. They are able to comprehend and manage their interactions successfully.
From a Collaborative Discussion with a Group Including:
- Rashad Delph
- Sheron Harp
- Susan Collier
- and others
When teams are put together they seem to listen to the most senior person and hold back their real feelings
Senior Software Engineer - a lifetime of Remote Ruby, Python, Java, Node, Swift. AI, ML & Crypto as a hobby.
11yNice Job Dan, where do you get these ideas really? Super cool!
Associate Professor at Thunderbird
11yGreat points, Dan. Understanding one another's differences (be they cultural, personality, and where our skills are complementary) is very important in removing many of the barriers to inclusion. I'm glad to see this discussion about inclusion. Most organizations focus on diversity. They often confuse inclusion with including diverse team members. This is just diversity. Inclusion is about including the diverse talents and ideas that we get from diversity and putting them to action to achieve better decisions and results. As Dan B. implies, we can include diverse team members but without good facilitation they will simply be on a team and not be working as a team. Frankly, the biggest barrier to D&I I've seen in organizations is related to using inclusion as a noun rather than a verb. When processes are created and facilitated to ensure that we include the talent and ideas of diverse team members, then we truly achieve inclusion. My professional passion is developing ways to ensure that this type of inclusion occurs for geographically distributed team members. If interested in this topic, stay tuned.... I will have a web application, Teamput, developed in about six weeks. If it makes a small dent in the D&I world, I'll be delighted.
Learning Facilitator Acquiring, Sharing and Building Knowledge
11yIn some ways this article because of its brevity oversimplifies. However, the key point for me is looking at each individual's strengths, weaknesses, capacity and personality is something I frequently overlook. It is important not only for the leader but also for team members. We may even find friends and allies not only for the present project but also future ones.
Even when one has the opportunity to personally select team members, surprise dynamics occur. So, regardless of how teams form your post, Dan, is apropos. Thanks.