Strategic diversity is an increasingly relevant concept in the leadership and management of teams in companies. As the world becomes more globalized and organizations face increasingly complex challenges, it is critical to have a variety of perspectives and approaches to effectively address them.
Strategic diversity refers to the inclusion of different skills, experiences, knowledge and perspectives in a team. This involves not only diversity in terms of gender, race or age, but also diversity in educational, cultural and professional backgrounds. By fostering strategic diversity, companies can maximize the potential of their employees and promote innovation and creativity.
One of the key benefits of strategic diversity is that it allows teams to approach problems from different angles. When all team members have similar backgrounds and experience, they are more likely to think in the same way and arrive at similar solutions. However, by including people with diverse backgrounds, more original ideas are generated and more creative solutions are found.
In addition, strategic diversity can also help avoid groupthink. Groupthink occurs when people in a group feel pressured to reach consensus and avoid expressing different opinions or ideas. This can lead to poor decisions and lack of innovation. By fostering strategic diversity, companies can encourage team members to express their opinions and challenge preconceived ideas, resulting in more effective decision making.
Strategic diversity can also improve a team's ability to adapt quickly to change. In an ever-changing business environment, it is critical to be able to respond quickly to changes in the marketplace and customer needs. By having people with different expertise and experience on a team, opportunities and threats can be identified more quickly, allowing for a more agile and effective response.
However, to make the most of strategic diversity, it is important to foster an inclusive and respectful environment. This involves promoting equal opportunity, encouraging collaboration and the exchange of ideas, and valuing different perspectives. In addition, it is also important to provide training and development to ensure that all team members have the necessary skills to contribute effectively.
In summary, strategic diversity is a key variable to consider in the direction and management of teams in companies, and as such variable needs an objective and scientifically rigorous metric, to know exactly how each person can contribute to the team, and therefore, to the strategy defined in the project, department or company. We, at Servitalent, use AEM Cube® to perform this measurement within our strategic evaluation, both in selection processes and in management evaluation projects (assessment).