Building A Diverse Team For Better Results

Ever walked into a room and felt like you didn't belong? Now imagine feeling that way at work. Every. Single. Day. This is why diversity and inclusion in recruitment isn't just a buzzword – it's a business imperative. As someone who's spent years in executive research and recruitment, I've seen firsthand the power of diverse teams. But here's the truth: attracting diverse talent is just the beginning. I remember when a client came to me, frustrated. "We're trying to hire diversely," they said, "but it's not working." Their mistake? They were fishing in the same old ponds. So, how do we shake things up? Here's what I've learned: 1. Cast a wider net: Look beyond your usual talent pools. Partner with diverse professional organizations. 2. Check your job descriptions: Are they truly inclusive? Words matter more than you think. 3. Diverse interview panels: Candidates should see themselves reflected in your team. 4. Blind resume reviews: Remove bias-triggering information like names and schools. 5. Showcase your commitment: Make your diversity initiatives visible on your website and social media. And hiring diverse talent means nothing if you can't retain them. Inclusion is where the real work begins. I once worked with a company that hired a diverse workforce but couldn't figure out why turnover was so high. The problem? They expected new hires to "fit in" rather than creating a culture where everyone could belong. To foster true inclusion: -> Mentor programs: Pair diverse employees with senior leaders. -> Employee resource groups: Give people a place to connect and be heard. -> Inclusive leadership training: Help managers understand and mitigate unconscious bias. -> Regular feedback: Create safe spaces for honest conversations about inclusion. -> Celebrate differences: Don't just tolerate diversity – embrace it! You should focus on creating a workplace where everyone can thrive, contribute, and feel valued. As leaders, it's on us to make this happen. It's not always easy, but it's always worth it. What's your experience with diversity and inclusion initiatives? #DiversityAndInclusion #RecruitmentBestPractices #InclusiveLeadership #WorkplaceCulture

Great leadership means embracing multiple perspectives: Especially perspectives that aren't like you. But how? Learn better mental models for team management that are inclusive and diverse. More precisely, embrace cognitive diversity. The more you understand people that don't think, act, or process like you, the more you can appreciate and respect what they bring to the table. Otherwise, you create an echo chamber, you preach to the choir, you become the emperor without clothes, and you can't lead effectively because you are always operating without a full picture view and lack a balanced perspective to make better decisions. One team management model is the PAEI model by Dr. Ichak Adizes. It identifies four crucial roles that need to be fulfilled for a team to be successful: 1. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗿 (𝗣): The person focused on getting things done and achieving results. They're driven and task-oriented. 2. 𝗔𝗱𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 (𝗔): The person who ensures procedures are followed and that there's order and structure. They're detail-oriented and make sure things run smoothly. 3. 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿 (𝗘): The visionary, always looking for new ideas and opportunities. They're creative and think strategically about the future. 4. 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 (𝗜): The person who builds relationships, fosters collaboration, and resolves conflicts. They're diplomatic and focus on team harmony. The core idea is that no single manager can embody all these roles effectively. By having a team with individuals who naturally gravitate towards these different styles, you can achieve a more well-rounded approach to leadership. The PAEI model is a versatile tool for leadership and team development. Here are some key situations where it can be applied: 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺: • 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀: Use the team charter and goals to understand the specific strengths required for success. • 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗮 𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺: Look for individuals with strengths that complement each other across the PAEI styles. 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺: • 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Encourage team members to identify their natural PAEI tendencies to understand their own strengths and weaknesses. • 𝗥𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: Evaluate the current team dynamic and identify any missing PAEI styles that could be hurting performance. • 𝗔𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀: Reshape responsibilities or consider incorporating new members to fill crucial PAEI gaps. 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: • 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀: Help leaders understand their dominant PAEI style and how it impacts their decision-making and team interactions. • 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴: Utilize the PAEI framework to consider different perspectives during planning and problem-solving. Better teams, better results!

Tired of the "yes" parade in team meetings? Want to shake things up?   Look no further than cognitive diversity.   Research shows that people tend to prefer working with others who think like them and share similar values.   But here's the problem with that: it leads to groupthink, stifles creativity, and can limit the range of solutions that are considered.   Instead, we need to embrace cognitive diversity, which means forming teams of people who are likely to disagree.   Look for people with different beliefs or personalities. Seek out colleagues with different training backgrounds, from different parts of the country, or with different levels of risk tolerance.   The key is to form a team with diverse perspectives and skills that complement each other. Of course, we don't always have the luxury of reshaping a team to maximize disagreement.   But that doesn't mean we're out of options.   We can create cognitive diversity by encouraging open dialogue, inviting dissenting opinions, and actively seeking out alternative viewpoints. #HumanResources #Innovation #Management #PersonalDevelopment #Culture #Leadership #Diversity #BehavioralScience

Hire People BETTER and DIFFERENT Than You. Then do the thing that 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑙𝑒… Learn from them. Sounds simple, right? But here’s the twist—so many leaders can’t seem to do it. Why? Because underneath that simplicity is a lot of ego, fear, and insecurity. Here’s why many leaders get stuck: 1. Insecurity → It’s tough to feel like the least capable person in the room, even though that's the very thing that would unlock exponential growth. 2. Control → Hiring people with less skill lets some leaders hold onto control. It’s an ego-protecting mechanism. 3. Fear of Challenge → Different perspectives mean different ways of thinking. Leaders avoid it because they might get called out or challenged. 4. Comfort Zone → Familiarity feels safe. New people shake things up and push the boundaries. 5. Misguided Loyalty → Leaders hire based on relationships instead of results. 6. Short-Term Thinking → Hiring “cheap” talent might work for quick wins, but you lose the long-term gains from skilled and diverse teams. 7. Lack of Awareness → Some leaders genuinely don’t see the value of hiring beyond their mirror image. ↓ Leaders who avoid surrounding themselves with A-players miss out on so much: ✪ Amplified Intelligence: ↳ Your team's collective genius soars when you're surrounded by people who stretch your thinking. Their diverse skill sets and perspectives catch blind spots and unlock unseen potential. ✪ Fast-Track Growth: ↳ You grow faster because you’re learning from experts who’ve already been where you’re trying to go. When I launched Brain Apes, I knew I needed to learn from people who had specialties I didn’t. The result? We hit five figures in the first month. ✪ Constant Innovation: ↳ The best ideas don’t come from echo chambers. Humility fosters creativity. Hire outside your comfort zone and watch new, innovative solutions pour in. ✪ Better Decision Making: ↳ Different minds, different angles. A diverse team challenges assumptions and spots the things you miss. ✪ Collaboration: ↳ Strong teams are built on complementary skill sets. The whole is stronger than the sum of its parts. ✪ Trust and Culture: ↳ When you empower great people, they don’t just get the job done—they build a culture of loyalty and trust that feeds back into the business. ✪ Sustainability: ↳ It’s about building a team that can run without you. The goal of every great leader? Make yourself replaceable. I’ve done it with Brain Apes. We keep scaling because we have systems and people in place. In the end, leadership isn’t about being the smartest person in the room—it’s about being the most strategic. Hire better, learn faster, and get out of your own way. The rest will take care of itself. シ ♻️ Be kind. Smash that repost button. 💬 Which (1-7) holds the most leaders back?

"But where are you really from?" It's a question that makes many of us cringe, yet it points to exactly what makes multicultural teams invaluable. Those complex identities and layered perspectives that can't be reduced to a single origin story? They're organizational superpowers. Let's talk facts. McKinsey's research shows companies in the top quartile for ethnic diversity are 36% more likely to outperform on profitability. Boston Consulting Group found that companies with above-average diversity scores report 19% higher innovation revenues. These aren't marginal gains, they're competitive advantages that directly impact the bottom line. However, what the numbers don't fully capture is that multicultural teams solve problems differently. When you bring together people with varied cultural backgrounds, you get cognitive diversity, different approaches to risk, communication styles, problem-solving frameworks, and decision-making processes. A team that includes someone who grew up navigating collectivist cultures alongside those from individualist societies will naturally consider broader stakeholder impacts. That's not political correctness; that's strategic thinking. Innovation thrives at cultural intersections. PayPal's success came from Ukrainian, Polish, and Chinese immigrants collaborating with American-born founders. Google's search algorithm was co-created by a Russian immigrant. These breakthroughs happen because multicultural teams question assumptions that homogeneous groups take for granted. The global marketplace demands cultural fluency. Organizations with multicultural workforces don't need to hire expensive consultants to explain why their product messaging offended an entire continent or why their expansion strategy ignored crucial cultural norms. That intelligence lives in-house, preventing costly mistakes and identifying opportunities others miss. Yes, multicultural teams can experience more conflict initially. Research shows diverse teams debate more, challenge more, and take longer to build trust. But that friction creates better outcomes, more thorough analysis, fewer blind spots, and decisions that consider multiple perspectives. Comfort isn't the goal; excellence is. The organizations thriving today understand a simple truth: homogeneity is a luxury we can no longer afford. In an interconnected world, multicultural teams aren't just nice to have, they're a strategic imperative. They reflect our markets, understand our customers, and create solutions for the world that actually exists, not the one we imagine from a single viewpoint. The future belongs to organizations brave enough to embrace the full spectrum of human perspective. That's not idealism, that's smart business. 🌍 AA✨ —————————————————————————— 👋🏾 Hi, I’m Abi: Founder of The Culture Partnership. Follow + 🔔. I discuss organizational culture, inclusion, leadership, social equity & justice.