The 5 questions I ask myself before I hire for a diverse team

Though the word "diversity" is so brazenly used it is still a nadir in the corporate world. We need to change the lens from which we see the world to be able to truly make an effective change.

Since the last decade, I have been part of numerous diversity & Inclusion workshops, seminars and conferences both within and outside the companies. It has been very intriguing for me to realize that most of these are mainly attended by women and the topics are like, “how to make the workplace more inclusive” or “How to break the glass ceiling” and the like.

I have always wondered why are these so exclusively being attended mostly by women. The few men who dare to attend always stand out and I always appreciate their guts and passion for this topic. Unless both men and women attend these we know diversity will remain a buzzword. The people who recruit need to be invested in these.

I have attended these sessions in the US, Europe, Australia and India. I have noticed similar patterns. These workshops mainly end up becoming gender based, are mostly attended by women, at most there are a couple of male speakers with handful of male attendees.

Unless we have everyone in the company interested and invested in Diversity it will not happen.

The question that I grapple with the most is by design people want to work with people who look like them, dress like them, think like them and behave like them. This is called the principle of familiarity. However, in the workplace we encourage that the team should be diverse so that its more holistic, effective and can deliver better and faster.

This diversity is not just gender based but is also diversity in personality, thought process, behavior, skill sets and leadership styles. I do agree that gender forms the first visible barrier and also brings in diversity in all of the above. Most positions that are critical are still not gender agnostic. Therefore, there is a strong emphasis on women empowerment, growth and breaking the glass ceiling as we have fewer examples of these. However, the good part is that there is a relatively strong discussion and emphasis on gender diversity by the Fortune 500 companies leading to strong progress though it is still a long way to go.

 Therefore, coming back to my question on diversity. It is about accepting and embracing people who are different from us.

It actually means hiring, working with and being comfortable with people who are diverse in the way they look, dress, behave, act, think and speak and therefore what they bring to the table.

It is always easy and comfortable to like someone who is just like us. However to be able to step back and ask these 5 questions is critical:

1)      Will inclusion of this person enhance the overall team performance & effectiveness? 

2)     Am I being biased towards this person because this person is different from me?

3)     By including this person in my team can I bring in more diversity?

4)     Will I need to give adequate support to this person for success?

5)     Am I ready to make the decision even if I am 70% convinced?

If the answer to all the above 5 questions is “Yes”, then we should go ahead and hire this person.

It is important to be self-aware of diversity to ensure that we are making an effort and moving our teams and organizations towards Diversity & Inclusion. This contributes greatly to the results of organizations and there is enough data now to back that up. The limitation is in our minds. We need to set our minds free. This would naturally lead to Diversity & inclusion and therefore better and more effective workforce.