Five Ways CEOs Can Manage “The Other Diversity”

Diversity and inclusion are front and center on every CEO’s agenda these days. It is not surprising. Whether it is because of the #MeToo movement or the growing body of research that shows the benefits of a diverse workforce, CEOs cannot afford to have a workforce—or a leadership team—who all look like clones. But, just as importantly, CEOs cannot have a workforce or a leadership team whose members all think and act like each other either. Workplaces need cognitive diversity in addition to racial, ethnic, gender and other more traditional forms of diversity in order to thrive. 

(Good news, CHROs: The single best way to get cognitive diversity is by increasing other forms of diversity—the two go hand in hand.)

It is not easy to manage a diverse workforce. It is especially hard for a CEO to wrangle a senior leadership team with multiple personality differences—finding ways to get structure-loving CFOs to successfully collaborate with creative CMOs, for example, or conservative lawyers to create solutions with hard-charging heads of sales. Several of my colleagues recently put forward some advice for CEOs who are wrestling with challenges like these. Here is what they said:

Make Sure the Big Picture Is in High Definition

Far too often, leaders paint a beautiful, high-level vision for their company, then fail to convey how each piece of the business will contribute to the effort.

It is easy for a leader to focus on one critical part of a vision—increasing revenue, for example—and not emphasize other parts as strongly. But in that situation, sales and business unit leaders will know what they need to do, but human resources, legal and other corporate functions might not feel as connected to the broader effort.

The reality is that every part of the organization needs to be excited about the vision and to know that what they do contributes to success. Sales and legal need to work together on contracts. Business unit and HR leaders need to get the right people into the right roles to deliver growth. Everyone needs to feel included, involved and part of the effort.

Use Rules and Roles to Encourage Equal Participation

Once the overall company goals are clear, it is important to crisply define how the team will work together. Different situations require different types of leadership. 

If the company is growing quickly and expanding into new markets, the team needs to be highly adaptable. Conversely, if companies are restructuring, the focus is likely on executing a specific, defined plan. But it is easy to fall into the pattern of using whatever strength comes naturally, not which one is best for a given situation. Articulating the leadership style needed is essential.

It is also important to have a referee (often the CEO or CHRO) to call people out when they are not behaving appropriately. Without guidelines and referees, many people will default to maximizing their own micro-goals instead of the broader corporate goals.

Build Harmony by Building Relationships

It sounds obvious, but if team members know each other only from formal business interactions and do not know each other as unique individuals, it is inherently difficult for them to feel the empathy necessary to understand opposing points of view.

Too often, colleagues look across the table and see “John from Finance” and not “John who is really passionate about developing people” or “John who coaches his kid’s soccer team on weekends.” It is easy to see a caricature of someone and not the actual person. But unless employees know the people they are working with, they cannot develop trust and respect, and they cannot adequately assess personal strengths and weaknesses. People have to be encouraged to share their real personality with their peers during formal interactions and must be given the opportunity to engage socially to build ties too.

CEOs need to be prepared to model the level of personal depth and disclosure they are looking for in others and to make it a standard practice.

Remember that Actions Speak Louder than Words

If a CEO does not truly value other peoples’ opinions, it will be hard to get team members to value each other’s opinions. Sometimes, the challenge rests in how a CEO acts, regardless of what she says.

One thing senior team members particularly notice is who has the leader’s ear. For example, if the CEO says she values everyone’s opinion but can be seen spending more time with the Chief Marketing Officer than with the CMO’s peers, employees will quickly assume that the CMO has the CEO’s ear and influences her thinking more than anyone else. One way to overcome this? Put structures into place, such as standing meetings with smaller groups, to ensure a broad spectrum of input.

When Tempted to Marginalize, Consider Empowering

Every team has its gadflies: people who are annoying because they are too aggressive. It is tempting to marginalize them—yet the smarter move may be to empower them.

In a recent client engagement, one of the most resented members of the CEO’s staff played the role of the sheepherder, creating necessary processes and structures and pushing people into them. While she got the job done, some pushed back because she did not have an executive title or formal role on the executive team. Once the CEO recognized her skills and gave her an appropriate title, “it made her more effective, and it made others react to her in a way that was more productive,” said Amy Hayes.

In every senior team situation, CEOs play a crucial role in establishing the right power structure in which team members can thrive. When people act in counterproductive ways, it is important to look at how the team structure might exacerbate—or be able to solve—the problem.

These are proven ways for CEOs to manage psychologically diverse leadership teams that we have seen used in large corporations around the world. How have you been successfully leading through this challenge? What other tools have you used?