Diversity in Thinking is the Essential Ingredient in any Team; Boardroom, Management, Office, Sport, Family... All Teams Need Diversity to Thrive
Diversity is the buzzword in our lives at the moment. The media is full of stories about the need for gender diversity in the boardroom and the broader workplace as a whole. There is also a lot of fallout at a very high corporate level as a result of the Royal Commission into the Banking and Financial Sector. Many business and community sectors are looking at the make up of these large corporations, with a view that the culture within is far from where it should be.
Why has this happened? Now don't shoot me, but the issue isn't about gender or ethnicity or any other demographic as such. It's about having a diversity of thinking.
I am all for having women in high level roles. They are just as intelligent and capable as the next person, male or female. I am a woman after all and want women to succeed and live up to their potential in whatever field of endeavour they choose and not be overlooked because they are a woman.
The criteria however shouldn't be just about gender per se, but about the fact that women often approach an issue from a different perspective than a male counterpart would. Remember the ground breaking book by John Gray, "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus"? Men and women think differently, from a different perspective, and this is a good thing.
Now bring ethnicity into the frame and you will often get different thinking perspectives as well. But it's not cut and dried is it, because everyone is different as much as we are the same. We all have commonalities but we are all different.
The true test of diversity can only come from understanding the thinking perspective of the people involved. A team, whether members of a board, or an office of managers and staff, or a sports team need the input of different thinking perspectives to create a whole of brain outcome. No good having a board filled with people who are all creatives or one where everyone is all about the business process. There needs to be input from all aspects on equal footing. Otherwise, essential aspects will be overlooked and eventually create massive problems eg, banks at the moment and the apparent lack of customer care and duty of care in their business model.
So, whether your team is male, female, black, white or any other flavour, is not the criteria that should be singled out. Look at the thinking style of your people and you will identify the diversity you need for success. Every other diversity criteria becomes irrelevant because thinking diversity brings all these differences to the fore without even trying.
Thinking DNA can help you get the best diversity of thinking from your team. Open the possibilities to better thinking.
Ros O'Connor
ros@thinkingdna.com.au
0422 609 010
Thinking DNA - www.thinkingdna.com.au





No one person has all the answers. A collective of ideas will always have a better chance of success




