We can all agree that putting political correctness above safety and the capacity to do one’s job is not acceptable. So when experts talk about diversity in the workplace, what exactly do they mean? Let me introduce you to collective intelligence and the role that diverse thinking has to play in it.
Collective intelligence refers to shared group intelligence, meaning that the more cognitively diverse your team members are from each other in terms of background and experience, the more frames of reference that a team has to build a complete picture. Researchers have discovered that when a team of diverse individuals come together and share a common goal, they develop stronger, more innovative solutions quicker to reach that goal.
An introduction to Diverse Thinking: What is Cognitive Diversity?
Cognitive diversity describes the different ways people interpret the world, think and solve problems. Cognitive diversity – a term popularized by American mathematician and sociologist Scott E. Page – results from differences in what we know, the frameworks and models we use to organize our thoughts, and the ways we generate ideas. In this sense, it is therefore internal, as opposed to a more external based concept of identity diversity.
Smarter Together, What is cognitive diversity? The theory, the proof, and tactics for smarter teams
This is a really important distinction to make, as two people who look or act nothing alike but have gone on the same courses or have experienced the same professional backgrounds show very little cognitive diversity. This means that they have the same tools and common methods of thinking or approaching problems.
This isn’t great when it comes to solving complex problems. Complex problems are of course, intricate by nature and involve multiple interconnected factors, variables, or layers. A complex problem with no simple solution can easily become a block for a team of individuals who in the majority all think alike.
Note: What the general public associate with diversity in terms of gender, race, or sexual orientation is a side-effect of what building teams of diverse thinkers is. Being visually diverse is not an initial goal, as it results in an organisation becoming superficial. However, it naturally occurs when diverse thinking is put first along with expertise.
How do I create cognitively diverse teams?
It all starts during the recruitment process…
‘But our recruitment process is already optimised to identify the strongest candidates, this is ridiculous!’
And it probably is optimised for your organisation’s current definition of what a strong candidate is. This is usually someone who fits into the culture of thought and not someone who adds to the culture of thought. Examining candidates with the forethought of ‘what can they add to this team that we don’t have already?‘ is a minor but crucial change in approach to take during the recruitment process.
The reality is (as Mathew Syed highlighted in his thought-provoking book, Rebel Idea) that we tend to hire others who look and think like ourselves. This is a natural bias that we have to manage during the recruitment process to avoid building teams that are going to have the same perspectives, ideas, and failure types. An intelligent team has both different ideas on an individual level as well as different failures on an individual level.
What can I do about our recruitment process?
- Recognise that everyone has a natural bias and buffer this with bias management training
- Consider Assessment Centres for accessibility and objectivity
- Conduct in-depth interviews to understand the both hard and soft skills of a candidate
- Consider widening the definitions of experience that is needed for a role during the advertisement stage
- Understand that hiring specifically for diversity will not necessarily give you cognitively diverse teams
- Recognise that psychological safety is essential in retaining diverse thinking teams
The Diversity Theory
Scott Page’s “diversity prediction” theorem essentially formalises the idea that when it comes to solving complex problems or making predictions, having a diverse group is just as important as having experts. His theorem suggests that the combination of expertise and diversity actually enhances the accuracy of the group’s overall predictions.
The core idea is that individual errors—how wrong each person is—matter less when the group’s members bring different perspectives to the table. In other words, when people make different kinds of mistakes, those errors can cancel each other out, improving the accuracy of the group as a whole. The more diverse the group’s viewpoints, the better they can collectively predict or solve problems.
Page’s theorem also shows that a group’s total error is reduced not just when everyone is good at predicting (expertise), but also when there’s a variety of opinions (cognitive diversity). So, even if the individuals aren’t perfect, the diversity of their errors helps to balance things out and leads to more accurate results.
In short, Page formalises the idea that diverse perspectives lead to better outcomes, especially when it comes to complex problem-solving or predicting the future.
Key takeaways:
- Teams that disagree more are more intelligent
- Teams that fail more in different ways reach innovative solutions quicker
- Diversity and expertise should come hand in hand
The Role of Healthy Conflict in teams of Diverse Thinkers
Conflict in ideas is a given when you have a team of diverse thinkers, so how do you manage this and make sure that the conflict you experience is in a whole, positive?
a) A strong culture that champions psychological safety. Psychological safety is all about your team members feeling comfortable enough to speak up and provide their perspectives without fear of judgment.
b) Conflict management training. This helps people navigate difficult conversations and strong emotions, allowing teams to move onto a path of collaboration.
c) Respect should be the standard of any culture. This means focusing on the issues at hand and not personality.
How do I identify unhealthy conflict?
Unhealthy conflict is easily recognised and marked by a lack of clear communication, mismanaged expectations, and the presence of unresolved issues from the past.
Diverse Thinking Key takeaways:
- There is currently an over-focus on individuals and not the whole picture. In todays business world, it is teams that create, not individuals.
- Cognitive diversity refers to people from different backgrounds, with different experiences, who think differently, and who tackle problems differently.
- When complex problems occur, cognitive diversity is really important.
- Teams with lots of cognitive diversity have different frames of reference to piece together and create a ‘whole’ picture. Some individuals will focus on people, others will focus on objects or context etc. All have their own thinking styles and blindspots which are cancelled out by peers with a different frame of reference.
- In simpler tasks diverse thinking is a distraction. To take Mathew Syed’s example, in a relay race you only need the best runners.
- Cognitive diversity requires psychological safety. The state of Psychological Safety in your culture can either enhance or completely inhibit the positive effects of cognitive diversity.
If you want to learn more about diverse teams and how to best optimise your approach to culture and recruitment to support them, please do not hesitate to contact us here.
