You're leading a diverse team. How can you ensure their strengths are utilized effectively?

To leverage the potential of a diverse team properly it is fundamental to develop a culture fostering psychological security i.e. as a leader show humility, actively listen, ask questions, encourage contributions and acknowledge that failure is a learning process, define the frame to allow risk-taking.

Here are some personality assessments and tools that can help you as a leader to identify and tap into your team's strengths: - **DiSC assessments:** Help your team members discover their personality profiles and understand their strengths and weaknesses. - **Character strength survey:** This freely available survey can help you identify your team members' strengths upfront. - **16personalities.com survey:** This free to use survey can provide insights into your team members' personality types and preferences. Once you have identified your team members' strengths, you can build a plan with their consensus through coaching and mentoring conversations.

I have always found personality inventory tools such as DiSC, Insights, MBTI etc very useful. Not necessarily because of what they show in absolute terms, but how they set the tone for development conversations and how ‘we’ work together. I am a big fan of being explicit, fostering a more open culture. I have worked with organisations & implemented ‘washing instructions’ which allow team members to share what keeps them at peak performance, behaviours that are best avoided with them, how they are likely to show up on a bad day etc. etc. Not an original idea by any stretch, but so useful! Also, an external voice in the room can really help with uncovering the real challenges. A process lead with no internal agenda is very useful indeed!

Help your employees and yourself by using a psychometric and cognitive assessment tool to assess how to best use situational leadership.

In leading a diverse team, I prioritize setting clear goals that align with each team member’s strengths and expertise. By understanding the unique skills and perspectives they bring, I can assign tasks that capitalize on their strengths. This approach not only fosters a sense of empowerment but also enhances collaboration as team members complement each other’s abilities. Clear goals provide a roadmap for everyone to contribute meaningfully, ensuring that our diverse talents work synergistically toward achieving our objectives.

Liderar un equipo en este caso diverso, es estar ahi, en el terreno… tienes que mantenerlos informados de las metas, en donde estamos y si estamos donde deberíamos. Tener claro y dejar claro lo que se espera de cada colaborador, compensar y retroalimentar. Facilitar las tareas y aprender de ellos. Dejarles saber de la importancia de cada colaborador y que la suma de los resultados individuales es lo que asegurara el resultado. Pero regreso al inicio… es estar ahi, no ser el jefe, ser el lider, ser parte del equipo, ensuciarte junto a ellos.

Clear and attainable goals provide direction and a sense of purpose. Ensure that each team member understands the objectives and how their work contributes to the overall mission. Break down larger goals into smaller, manageable tasks with specific deadlines. In my experience, during a product launch, having clearly defined roles and expectations allowed each team member to focus on their strengths, leading to a more efficient and cohesive effort.

Play to their strengths: Match tasks and projects with team members' strengths and interests. AND Encourage collaboration: Pair team members with complementary strengths to work together on projects.

Pour qu'un objectif soit clair, il faut que tu parviennes à le rendre utile à tous. Lier ses objectifs perso et pro est primordial pour qu'il soit réellement impactant pour tes équipes.

In today's diverse workplaces, fostering collaboration goes beyond mere teamwork—it's about harnessing unique strengths for collective success. Research consistently shows that teams perform best when each member feels valued and understood. Coaches play a crucial role in this process, supporting individuals and organizations by integrating powerful tools that not only identify individual strengths but also cultivate environments where these strengths can synergize effectively. By encouraging open communication and active listening, leaders uncover talents and diverse perspectives within their teams. Adopting a coaching approach enables leaders to facilitate interactions, innovation and trust ultimately enhancing overall team performance.

The leader needs to create a culture of collaboration within the team. To do this, they need to create systems that value collaboration. Systems generate behavior. Having shared goals, a developed systemic vision that generates an understanding of the impact of the individual on the delivery of the whole, are extremely important points that create a collaborative environment.

Based on my experience, Co -development and buddying works really well. Asking each team member to offer what they are good at to another person in the team is really powerful : it creates recognition for the person who gives, development for the person who receives and it builds very strong bonds as well. The team becomes then Co-responsible to Co-create in co-relationship their collective development.

Encouraging open communication and collaboration can lead to innovative solutions and a stronger team dynamic. Create an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing ideas and providing constructive feedback. Tools like collaborative platforms and regular brainstorming sessions can be very effective.

Provide opportunities for growth: Offer training, mentorship, and opportunities for team members to develop new skills. AND Foster open communication: Encourage team members to share their ideas, concerns, and feedback.

Investing in your team's continuous development is crucial for sustainable success. By offering training programs, workshops, or mentoring opportunities, you allow individuals to hone their strengths and acquire new competencies. This commitment to growth not only enhances the team's collective skill set but also fosters personal and professional development. As team members evolve, their versatility and impact will increase, driving positive outcomes for your organization. Prioritize your team's development and watch as they reach new heights, unlocking their full potential. Together, let's empower our coaching community by expanding our LinkedIn reach and connections.

Map out your team's skills to promote effective development plans and increase results. This mapping is extremely important for Upskilling and Reskilling opportunities in employee development.

Embrace diversity and inclusivity: Celebrate the team's diversity and create an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and respected. AND Lead by example: Demonstrate your commitment to these values and lead the team by example.

Formez vos équipes aux nouveautés (IA, pleine conscience, ...) Restez à jour, cela permettra à votre équipe diversifiée d'avoir des points communs sur lesquels se rappuyer pour créer la cohésion.

The IDGs are an international accepted framework for individual growth. There are perfectly compatible approaches like NLP to develop and enhance transformativ future skills and other social competencies. this will help to increase the understanding and acceptance of the Sustainable Development Goals. If team members grow together the team can grow together.

Empower your team members by involving them in decision-making processes. Demonstrate trust in their abilities by encouraging autonomy where appropriate. This approach allows team members to lead projects or tasks that play to their strengths, fostering a sense of ownership and accountability. When individuals feel empowered, they are more likely to take initiative and apply their strengths to solve problems and make informed decisions, enhancing overall team performance and satisfaction.

Encouraging Initiative: Motivate team members to be proactive by creating an open and supportive environment where individuals feel comfortable contributing ideas and solutions. Encourage brainstorming sessions and offer constructive feedback, reinforcing the value of their input. Recognize and celebrate team members who take the initiative, providing positive reinforcement that promotes a culture of continuous improvement. As a leader, foster a growth mindset and inspire confidence in their abilities to take on challenges, ultimately cultivating a team where initiative thrives.

MANAGEMENT UP ! S'il vous plait, mettez en avant le fait de venir vers vous! Arrêter de créer des équipe proactive, récompenser les à être réactif !

Empowered decision-making is?a process that involves giving employees the authority and skills to make decisions, and then continuously improving those decisions.?It can help organizations run more efficiently, and can also increase employee engagement and morale.?However, empowerment efforts can fail if decision-making processes aren't designed to ensure quality decisions.?

I particularly love the advisory process. It works in a simple way to empower decision-making: let people decide BUT before they need to talk to 3 people who has already taken this type of decision and 3 people who will be impacted by the decision.

The foundation of helping a diverse team thrive is enjoying and celebrating it. A genuine love for pluralistic thinking, paying attention to the cultural nuances, understanding the potential pitfalls and barriers that create mistrust or is counter to the richness diversity gives are the key ingredients to make your diverse team energized and a place that sets standards of excellence in the organization. Encouraging everyone to find creative and disruptive ways to challenge incumbrances to mutual respect and true comradery amongst the team. It would help to create a calendar to systematically capture uniqueness each team member brings to the table. Creating opportunities to laugh together and not at each other would go a long way!

Celebrating diversity means embracing and valuing the differences that make each person unique. It also means acknowledging and appreciating differences between individuals and groups. It means embracing the rich cultural heritage and traditions through food, music, art or religion.

The D.I. (Drill Instructor) walked into the squad bay with a look of disgust. "Platoon you have failed your first inspection!" "You have one day to fix it! Shined uniform brass, tight (clean, ironed) uniforms, squared away bunks. All things that some did better than others and we all shared our "expertise" in each requirement the rest of the night into personal time. The next day we had our inspection and passed! My parents, military veterans, taught me how to iron clothes to military standards early on. The sense of urgency to look past all cultural, and social, boundaries is created for you in the military because the unit mission comes first. This can be re-created in the workplace when employees are encouraged to share their gifts!

Seek to publicly celebrate the diversity of this team with daily actions as a recognition of each person's skills and contribution. Promote a space for people to get to know each other and tell you about their professional and personal experiences, and at this point ask them to tell you how this has added value to their career. If there is cultural diversity, encourage understanding of each country's culture and how we can learn from other cultures.

Creating an inclusive culture requires continuous effort and commitment. Coaches play a pivotal role by guiding leaders to engage in open and honest conversations that foster empathy and understanding across diverse teams. They help leaders develop the skills to actively listen to and appreciate diverse perspectives, enabling them to address biases effectively and create an environment where all team members feel valued and respected. Through this coaching support, leaders can build trust, encouraging a culture where everyone's voice is heard and contributions are recognized. This approach not only enhances team dynamics and performance but also strengthens the organization's overall ability to innovate in a diverse global landscape.

Before anything else you need to set the example and, in your daily conversations with people, be open to ANY opinion, ideas showing interest and probing all suggestions/ comments before concluding. This is in my view the only way to truly fight your natural confirmation bias. We tend to have limiting beliefs especially on our most cherished beliefs! Set the example and consider any idea for 5 min.