As a manager, do you feel uncomfortable dealing with an increasing number of people in your team who are different from you? Are you nervous about accidentally offending someone?

While some might say they’re doing just fine, do you worry about the time required to deal with diversity when you’re used to a predictable environment where you know how your team feel? A recent Washington Post article reports that corporate America is “retreating from D&I (Diversity and Inclusion) and moving to once again put profits before other more nebulous principles.”

Many still believe, however, that a lack of diversity has its own shortcomings. Danielle Wood of the Productivity Commission tells us that “teams of people who are too similar perform poorly because of their narrow range of perspectives, and tend to lapse into ‘group think’ whereby bad ideas go unchallenged.” So how can experienced managers deal more comfortably with diversity?

What IS Diversity? And why Is it so hard?

The Oxford Dictionary defines diversity as variety, that is, the state of being diverse. The Diversity Council of Australia refers to diversity as the mix of people in an organisation, including all the differences between people in how they identify in relation to their Social versus Professional Identity. They define inclusion as creating an environment in which people feel respected, connected, contributing, and progressing … regardless of their differences.

Diversity has many dimensions including demographics such as race or ethnicity, culture (can be quite different from race), age and generational cohort, geography, socioeconomics, education, religion or faith, dis/ability, sex and gender, and so on. It can also include personality traits such as intro/extroversion, big/small picture, logic/emotion, timeliness, power and/or control, risk appetite, ownership and responsibility, and more (Myers Briggs, Clare Graves, Hofstede, et al.).

Positive productivity gains will come mostly from knowledge and personality traits, some of which can be less obvious. Ignoring or diminishing demographics, however, can lead to what influential business psychologist Frederick Herzberg called Hygiene Factors, which reduce motivation, engagement, and effort – and productivity – not just for the individual concerned but potentially for the entire team.

Keeping in mind that there are some things you can change and others you cannot, aspects such as peoples’ physical characteristics and where they were born are largely unable to be changed now, but we can have some influence over knowledge, mindset, and behaviours. Since the latter have greatest effect on the work being done, we will focus on personality traits and preferences.

Typical differences in personality traits and their manifestation in work preferences include …

• Working on their own or in a team
• Taking ownership and accountability or working within a hierarchy
• Working to deadlines and defined outcomes or simply completing tasks
• Being rewarded by monetary or non-monetary means
• Taking risks for greater reward or keeping their heads down
• Gaining recognition from others or satisfaction from within
• Working with big-picture concepts or with deeper, localised details
• Learning new ways or working with existing processes
• Speaking out or keeping their thoughts to themselves
• Receiving direct, blunt feedback or receiving more general counselling
• and so on.

It’s no wonder managers feel exhausted, uncomfortable, and even annoyed at the time and effort required to become familiar with each of these dimensions and to learn how to “deal with” each of them whilst getting the job done. No surprise some managers do not deal well with diversity.

So how can managers confidently lead diverse teams?

It is not easy to really understand the minority if we grew up in the majority, especially if we were constantly told we are the best. We’re likely to underestimate the differences and downplay their existence or effect, as well as overestimate our own superiority. Either way, we unconsciously discriminate against those who are different from us.

Check your level of empathy for your staff. Try to put yourself in their (individual) shoes. Ask how each staff member feels, especially those who are somewhat different from you. Remember when you changed school, moved towns, or just joined a new team? While these are only trivial changes compared with many peoples’ challenges, remember what you felt like being ignored, discriminated against, or bullied.

Remember that we are all different to some extent, and no-one is exactly like you. Nor do they want to be. While you may well bring relevant knowledge and skill to your team, and perhaps even some useful personal traits, simply presuming that your way of thinking and behaving is automatically best is flawed, and doomed to fail over the medium term.

You need to role-model openness to change and celebrate ‘difference’ as a positive, and encourage and coach your team to each do the same. Emphasise teamwork and focus on common purpose and outcomes.

A good way to implement these guidelines is to manage both horizontally and vertically.

Manage across your team by treating everyone equally as human beings, employees of the organisation, and valuable team members, even if policy does not spell this out. Manage each individual differently according to the specific job they are doing and their current capabilities, as well as their personality type, preferred working style, and motivators.

Spend some time with each individual team member getting to know them better. Ensure you are aware of any critical ‘demographic’ factors, and identify what you need to do to ensure those do not inhibit the staff member feeling comfortable and able to perform their role. Identify their likes and dislikes, why they come to work, and their aspirations for the future. Look for patterns and similarities as well as exceptions and differences relative to the existing team, so you can demonstrate how each new member is adding something to the team.

Facilitate the team coming up with their own norms for working with each other, and with you. Use team meetings to continually reinforce the contribution new members make to the team.

Here are some basic Do’s and Don’ts that might also assist:

Don’t:

• Ignore any team member because they’re “just too different from the others”
• Presume your own opinion is automatically correct unless stating policy or law
• Insist that “It’s my way or the highway”
• Force anyone to fit into previous rituals, as they may be past their use-by date
• Apologise for where you came from, or your personal preferences, but don’t …
• Allow these to dominate your own thinking and behaviour.

But Do:

• Recognise that not everyone is like you, or wants to be
• Opt for additional diversity when opportunities present
• Turn your team into a ‘go to’ destination for diverse candidates
• Remember that ‘difference’ is not inherently bad, it’s just different
• Treat any difference as a potential ‘good’ for the team, and
• Role-model openness and enthusiasm for learning about ‘others’.

Specific Tips for International Communication

When leading a team which is at least partially based overseas, remember that sheer distance can be an issue with time zones, along with variable English language capability or confidence, as well as cultural norms we may not even be aware of.

Here are some tips to enhance communication “across the waves”:

• Don’t just say it … write it down, spell it out, and provide references and examples
• Allow time before, during, and after a discussion for others to fully absorb what you have told them or asked for
• Ask questions to calibrate the recipients’ current level of knowledge, and
• Ask more questions to check what they think you said or asked for, what they understand that to mean, and what they now intend to now do
• Ask someone with greater understanding of both their and your cultures to interpret – in both directions – and to advise you off-line regarding whether to press on or pull back
• Avoid surprises! Do NOT assume they will call for help if the need it!
• Allow more time for completion of tasks and insert more reviews along the way
• Be careful in singling out individuals even for praise, and certainly not for admonition
• Remember they may wish to “save face”, and maybe also to save yours!

Outcomes, Benefits (and Costs)?

Outcomes and benefits could include any or all of the following:

• A larger pool of potential staff
• Fewer staff feeling alienated or unappreciated, and
• A more cohesive and better leveraged team of problem solvers and idea generators.

Sure, there is a cost to all this. It will take a little more time and effort, but how much more information will you gain? How many embarrassing situations will you avoid? How much less stressful will work be for you, and for your distributed diverse team?

How much more effective will your team be if you can better lead and leverage diversity?

Teaching Diversity Leadership

Fortunately, the above knowledge and techniques can be taught, and coached, including the requisite communication skills to implement them.

Investment in human capital may be one of the best leveraged investments that organisations can make, and underpins all other investments. Sadly, soft skills are sometimes seen as “nice to have’s”, but are the glue that holds together all other tasks and activities. They are also part of the “How To” which is not often found in textbooks, nor within current AI.