How to Create a Diverse Team
Dr. R. Roosevelt Thomas, a widely known subject matter expert in diversity issues, defines diversity as "any collective mixture characterized by differences, similarities, and related tensions and complexities." Regardless of the type of organization for which you work, embracing diversity is an integral step to creating a high-performance team. A diverse workplace offers many benefits, including fostering a creative environment, improving decision making abilities and providing personal growth opportunities for members working towards a common goal.
Here are 3 tips to help you create a more diverse team:
- Evaluate the Composition of Your Current Team. Make a list of the individuals on your work team and indicate what elements of diversity they bring to the table. Once you evaluate the composition of your team, you can recruit and interview for new members that will complement current members of the team.
- Become Bias Free. A bias is an inflexible belief about a particular category of people - positive or negative. Become mindful of your biases and try to understand their origins in order to weaken their foundation.
- Conduct Behavior-Based Interviews. Behavior-based interview questions focus on job-related experiences, behaviors, knowledge, skills and abilities. Using behavior-based interview questions will help you identify the person with the most-needed skills and abilities and will also help eliminate biases by focusing on the behavior of the candidate.
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