Managing Diverse Teams

What has been your biggest learning from a team experience?

What are the challenges that you have faced while working in a team?

What are your expectations from your team?

To actively contribute to the team and to be recognized for their contributions.

To be judged fairly and to be recognized and rewarded for our performance.

To be given the opportunity to develop their abilities.

To be treated professionally and respectfully by other members of our team.

To be valued as unique individuals.

A leader needs to recognize the diversity of each team member and achieve unity of common goals without destroying the uniqueness of any person.

“Find the best in everybody. Wait long enough, and people will surprise and impress you.” - Randy Pausch

The Five Biggest Traps To Avoid When Leading a Diverse Team

1. Not Valuing Differences

2. Failure to Create an Inclusive Environment

3. Stereotyping

4. Not Modeling the Expected Behaviors

5. Failure to Coach

Tips for Managing Culturally Diverse Teams

Misconceptions and Misunderstandings

Language is essential to communication yet it can cause many misunderstandings.

Just because people speak English don’t assume that it’s as easy for them to communicate as it is for native speakers.

Behaving Differently

Be considerate and tolerant of cultural differences. These can be habits, or beliefs, body language, or ways of speaking. What may seem strange in some cultures can be normal in others

Understand the Differences

Get to know and understand the various cultures on the team.

Respect different opinions and viewpoints.

Zero Tolerance to Discrimination

Sometimes discrimination can be subtle. It can be in the form of jokes or general comments. What can seem funny to some can be hurtful to others, so it’s important to stop can behaviour which could be viewed as discriminative to someone else.

Being Team Players

Everyone on the team should feel they are an important part and that they are contributing to the team’s success. Check that no one is being frequently being interrupted, ignored or over-ruled by others in the team.

How can you as a Leader make a team out ofdiverse individuals?

Develop an atmosphere in which it is safe for all members to ask for help.

Actively seek information from people from a variety of backgrounds and cultures in order to develop a broad picture.

Include everyone in the problem solving and decision making process.

Include people who are different than you in informal gatherings such as lunch, coffee breaks and spur of the moment meetings.

Respect differences.Don’t assume that different ways of working are wrong.

Be self-aware.Think about how your own background steers your working style: what you consider the normal may not seem normal to others.

Appreciate people as individuals, rather than stereotyping them by culture or generation.

Understand different communication styles and foster good communication.

Let people know constructively if their behaviour – for example, jokes, recruitment or communication style – is damaging inclusion.

Don’t just assume that everyone will gel along to the same extent.

Talented individuals bring different perspectives and ideas to the workplace. It's a leader's job to attract and retain them. Avoiding the five traps can move diverse teams to their highest level of performance.

Food for Thought:

Remember the Titans : final speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bXDarXk-JI