We know diversity matters. You can’t have a ‘wise crowd’ without it.
We know diversity matters. You can’t have a ‘wise crowd’ without it. If a crowd consists of very similar people – all from one city or one profession – they run the risk of ‘group think’. But how far does it go? How much diversity do you need?
Most people think first of gender diversity or perhaps age diversity or socioeconomic diversity – having a mix of people from different backgrounds, at different stages in life.
And that’s definitely a good start.
Australian lawyer, entrepreneur and workplace consultant Juliet Bourke has thought a lot about this question. She’s interested in how diversity works in leadership teams. One of her insights is that there is great diversity in cognitive styles.
In her book Which Two Heads are Better than One, she gives the example of an executive team trying to solve a business problem. Some will focus on outcomes, some on process, others on risks, and so on. Bourke identifies 6 distinct approaches:
‘1. Outcomes: What are the objectives/ why are we doing this? 2. Options: What are the options/ possibilities/ what could we do? 3. Evidence: What are the facts/ what is the evidence we are relying on/ measuring against? 4. Process: What are the steps/ processes that will be used to implement the solution? 5. People: Who is the audience? How do people (staff/ customers) feel about the problem? How will we engage people? 6. Risks: What are the risks? What could go wrong? What scenarios should we plan for?’
These 6 approaches define six very different ways of tackling a problem. Capturing all six should ensure a ‘wise’ solution.
At Wizer, we’re building a taxonomy of diversity. Diversity in thinking is part of this. We’re also looking at personality and the ‘Big 5’ personality traits. More on this in a later blog.
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