How to Combat Groupthink by Building a Diverse Leadership Team
Having a diverse team of people running a company just makes good business sense. The bottom line is it can boost performance and productivity throughout the business.
Here are just a few of the benefits of a diverse leadership team:
- Improved decision-making: A diverse leadership team is likely to bring a wider range of perspectives and experiences to the table, which can lead to better decision-making.
- Greater innovation: Diversity can boost creativity and innovation by bringing together people with different backgrounds and perspectives. This can help a company stay competitive and adapt to changing market conditions.
- Better communication: A diverse leadership team is more likely to understand the needs and experiences of a diverse workforce and customer base. This can help improve relationships and trust within the organization.
- Increased credibility: Having a diverse leadership team can increase the credibility and perceived fairness of the organization, particularly if it serves a diverse group of employees or customers.
- Improved financial performance: Research has shown that companies with diverse leadership teams tend to have better financial performance than those with less diverse leadership.
There are several steps that companies can take to build a diverse leadership team:
- Establish diversity goals: Set specific, measurable diversity goals for your leadership team. This will help ensure that your team is truly diverse and not just paying lip service to the idea.
- Recruit from a variety of sources: Look beyond your usual recruiting process to different sources, including professional organizations, community groups, and universities. This will help ensure that you are reaching a diverse pool of candidates.
- Screen for biased language in job postings: Use language in your job postings that shows sensitivity to candidates of different backgrounds. Avoid language that could be biased.
- Think about diversity in the interview process: Make sure that your interview panel is diverse and that you are considering diversity when making hiring decisions. It may also be helpful to use structured interviews, which involve asking all candidates the same questions, to ensure that you are evaluating candidates fairly.
- Provide leadership development opportunities: Provide leadership development opportunities for diverse candidates. This can help ensure that diverse candidates have the skills and experience necessary to advance into leadership.
Looking to recruit and build a diverse leadership team?
If your company is looking for qualified, reliable people, G.A. Rogers can provide them. We thoroughly screen all of our job candidates to ensure they have the skills and experience you need, and that they will be a good fit for your company. Give us a call today.
