Uniting Diverse Teams for Successful Digital Innovation

Featured article by Chris Jacobs, Director of Certifications, VIRL, and Delivery for Learning@Cisco

The need to innovate is driving the push to digitization. Organizations and governments around the world want to capture the flow of Big Data generated by billions of connected devices, machines and people. They want this information to help them operate more efficiently and connect better with their customers or constituents. They also want it to help them design and produce better products and services. They need it to remain competitive in a global market.

But Big Data alone doesn’t guarantee innovation success. The people who interpret its meaning and then act on it are critical. They must be a diverse group to obtain the best results. A diverse workforce is a key innovation driver, according to a Forbes Insights study of 321 executives in large global enterprises with revenues of more than $500 million.

The more diverse the organization, the better off it is. There’s no doubt about it. Harvard Business Review published a study showing that diversity unlocks innovation and drives market growth. The research was based on a representative survey of 1,899 professionals, 40 case studies and numerous focus groups and interviews.

The three authors of the study defined diversity in two ways. The first is inherited diversity, meaning traits people are born with like gender or ethnicity. The second is acquired diversity, or traits they gain from experiences like living in a different country or selling to a distinct market of consumers. The authors labeled organizations with leaders who had at least three inherent and three acquired diversity traits as having two-dimensional diversity.

Sure enough, 2-D organizations outperformed and out-innovated others. Employees at these organizations were 45 percent more likely to report that their company’s market share grew over the prior year. They were 70 percent more likely to report that their organizations captured a new market.

Need more evidence of the value of diversity? The Forbes study reported that the majority of the companies in its global survey were using diversity and inclusion policies to design recruitment programs to attract, develop and retain top talent. “We are in 75 countries and we want to hire the best talent in each locale,” said the head of diversity for Deutsche Bank. “Diverse teams and companies make better decisions.”

Diversity for your organization

Diversity has devolved into a buzzword when it should be an imperative, especially with the advent of digitization. With diverse teams, organizations benefit from different ideas, different perspectives from people have been brought up differently. They’ve had to do things in different ways. Bring all that together and tap into it. That gives the team and the company a really good opportunity to excel constantly and beat the competition.

It may not always be clear what diversity means for your organization or how to establish it. At the end of the day, your organization has to deliver a product to the customer, and you need the right team to do that. But a diverse organization doesn’t create itself.  The Forbes insight study noted that responsibility for the success of an organization’s diversity efforts lies with senior management instituting accountability and oversight.

Managing a diverse team is about knowing your audience and not being naïve. People are bringing their lives to the table, their experiences, how they were raised, who they are. And that’s what you get. You can’t assume that everybody will understand you. For example, I’m from Texas, and I like to use certain phrases to illustrate my point. If there’s an idea or proposal being discussed that I think won’t work, I might say, “That dog won’t hunt!” The challenge is that only some folks at the table will get it, and others might feel left out because they do not get the meaning. Be aware of that. Different people on your team may have different communication styles, based on culture or personality.

Ask yourself, “How can I communicate to my team the things we need done so they have all the information they need for success, and so that they also feel included and connected?” Ultimately, it’s not about my slang or my jokes. It’s about how I communicate their value to my team. How I connect with them. How I show them that I care. What’s the language that comes across? Be clear. Be concise. Be thoughtful. People connect to that.

Be sensitive to things that happen in the world. There’s a lot of rhetoric in our public discourse, and I manage a diverse team of people from many different backgrounds and countries and religions. It’s critical to make sure you support everyone on your team so they know you have their backs. People want to know that you’re fair and consistent across the board no matter what.

The global business schedule

Be aware that you are touching on a lot of different cultures and your team is very sensitive to it. You learn that when you start dealing with it. You start to understand it. But you have to become comfortable with it. You have to be sensitive to it.

Business today is global. Your conference calls will be in international time zones. Being accommodating to your team sends them a message. If you need to schedule a call at 11 o’clock at night to be considerate of someone in India, then that’s what you’re going to do. Doing so send the message that you are thinking of things from the perspective of a diverse and international team.

Most important, people have to see a future. They have to know what’s in it for them. They need to know what they will gain out of their relationship with your organization. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s always going to have to be a two-way street. And you have to be honest. If people stay with you for a couple years, that’s okay. Don’t expect the employee relationship will last forever. Most likely it won’t. If the employee gives you two good years and you’ve done something for them, your conversation with them might be about helping them get to their next post. People look for that type of connection. But you’ve got to go out there and search for it. And when you find it, you’ve got to work at it. It’s not going to come to your doorstep.

About the author

Chris Jacobs is the Director of Certifications, VIRL, and Delivery for Learning@Cisco. With a team of nearly 100 employees, Jacobs leads Cisco’s Global Certifications and Lab Operations supporting more than 2.8 million customers worldwide. Jacobs is responsible for Cisco’s VIRL (Virtual Internet Routing Lab), which is helping lead digital transformation by making networking easier. She also oversees operational performance for all design, development, delivery, and maintenance of hundreds of Cisco branded written certifications and Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) lab exams across Associate, Professional, Specialist, and Expert certifications globally.