So, to build a culture in the workplace that encourages diverse thinking is not only the right thing to do, it also makes good business sense.
This concept is supported by Sam Altman, chief executive of Open AI, who wrote in a 2017 blog post: “Restricting speech leads to restricting ideas and therefore restricted innovation – the most successful societies have generally been the most open ones. To get the really good ideas, we need to tolerate really bad and wacky ideas too.”
Ultimately, in an environment of too much restriction, innovation can’t thrive.
Our key observations:
- Diverse teams boost creativity and innovation: diversity boosts creativity, we avoid group think mentality.
- Workplace diversity creates greater opportunities for professional growth: companies that embrace ideas and practices from different perspectives create an inclusive culture where the employees become ambassadors for the company.
- Research shows that diverse teams are better at making decisions 87 per cent of the time over non-diverse teams. Diverse teams offer broader perspectives and bring more information to the table. Teams outperform individuals when making decisions and that improves as diversity increases.
Interestingly, one in three will not apply for a position at a company that lacks diversity. In a profession already short on talent, the last thing we want to do is reduce a third of our potential talent pool.
Rachael Fennessey is chief people officer and managing director of recruitment at Melo
