Key takeaways

• What are the key aspects of diversity that improve team performance?
• Team members and Managers will learn concrete actions they can take to harvest the benefits of diversity of thought.
• Attendees will learn how to manage diversity tension--a natural element of diverse teams that is poorly understood and managed.
• What types of questions encourage team members to volunteer their best ideas?

Everyone wants to be more innovative and creative. Studies show that useful new ideas emerge when individuals with different perspectives and cognitive strengths can work productively together. Hiring for diversity is only the first step. Unless a team of diverse people can cope with the natural tension that emerges when people see things differently, organizations will not be able to harvest the benefits of diversity. Another factor that limits the benefits of diversity of thought is that leaders often do not understand how their behavior and the comments they make can stifle diversity of thought. If you demand courage from your different thinkers, you will not benefit from many of their best ideas. This session will be practical in nature and attendees will walk away with ideas they can implement immediately.