You’re building a team for a new project. How can you ensure diversity?

1 Define your project goals and needs

Before you start recruiting your team members, you need to have a clear vision of what your project is about, what are its objectives, deliverables, and deadlines, and what are the skills, roles, and responsibilities required. This will help you to identify the gaps and opportunities in your current team, and to look for candidates who can complement and enhance your existing capabilities. You also need to consider how your project aligns with your organization's mission, values, and diversity policies, and how you can communicate them to your potential team members.

2 Expand your talent pool and sources

One of the main challenges of building a diverse team is finding and attracting qualified candidates from different backgrounds, cultures, genders, or abilities. To overcome this challenge, you need to broaden your talent pool and sources, and use various channels and platforms to reach out to potential candidates. For example, you can use social media, online forums, blogs, podcasts, newsletters, or events to showcase your project and your organization's culture and values. You can also partner with professional associations, educational institutions, community organizations, or diversity-focused agencies to access and engage with diverse talent networks.

3 Avoid bias in your hiring process

Building a diverse team presents the challenge of avoiding bias in the hiring process, whether conscious or unconscious. To mitigate bias, you should use objective and standardized criteria and tools to assess candidates' qualifications and potential. Additionally, having a diverse and trained hiring panel to conduct interviews and provide feedback is essential. During the interview process, ask behavioral and situational questions that are relevant to the project and the role. Additionally, seek input from other team members or stakeholders who will work with the new hire. Lastly, provide clear and constructive feedback to candidates who are not selected.

4 Promote inclusion and collaboration in your team

Once you have hired your diverse team members, it is essential to ensure they feel welcome, valued, and supported. To create a positive and productive work environment that encourages inclusion and collaboration, you should establish clear expectations, norms, and rules for your team. Recognition, feedback, and rewards should be given regularly and meaningfully. Open and respectful communication should be encouraged among team members. Team-building activities and social interactions should be facilitated to foster trust and rapport. Any conflicts or issues that arise in your team should be addressed and resolved. Finally, the diversity and achievements of your team should be celebrated and leveraged.

5 Monitor and evaluate your team's diversity and performance

Finally, to monitor and evaluate your team's diversity and performance throughout the project lifecycle, you can use various methods and metrics. These include surveys, interviews, or focus groups to collect feedback from your team members and stakeholders; data, reports, or dashboards to track progress, outputs, and outcomes; reviews, audits, or assessments to evaluate quality, efficiency, and effectiveness; and benchmarks, standards, or best practices to compare results with other teams or organizations. By doing this, you can identify and address any challenges or gaps, recognize and celebrate any achievements or best practices, and use the insights and learnings to inform and improve future projects and teams.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?