Are you embracing diversity in your teams?

The story is told of an old and weathered Chinese water bearer who had hung two large pots on each end of a long pole that he carried across his neck to deliver water each day.

One pot had a fairly large crack and only delivered a small portion of water with each daily trip – about half a pot. The other was perfect and always delivered a full portion.

For two years the bearer only delivered one and a half pots of water to his house each day.

The perfect pot felt it had reason to brag in its accomplishments in doing exactly what it was made to do. The poor cracked pot felt ashamed that it was only able to accomplish half of what it had been created to do.

After two years of feeling ashamed, the crack pot mustered up the courage to talk to the water bearer. He said, “I am ashamed of myself. Because of this crack in my side I cause water to leak out all the way back to your house.”

The water bearer said in response to the pot, “Did you notice the flowers all the way down the side of your path? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and one day I planted flower seeds all along the side of your path. Every day when we walk back you’ve watered them. And now for two years you have provided beautiful flowers that I have been able to pick and decorate my table with.”

He said, “Without you being just the way you are, I wouldn’t have this beauty along this path or to grace my house.”

Have you ever thought what life would be like if each of us were good at exactly the same thing? I am personally thankful that we are unique! Each of us has been given and blessed with a unique set of gifts and talents.

Great leaders understand this. They understand that a diverse team can be a more effective team.

Every team member plays an important role in helping the team decide, create and execute. If they all have the same or similar gifts and talents, then the teams strength and possible greatness is limited.

Are you embracing diversity on your teams? Are you hiring diverse talent, or hiring people exactly like you or others on your team? Do you allow others to disagree with your ideas and bring different perspectives? Do you create a culture of healthy and productive conflict on your team? Are you striving to develop and continually identify the uniqueness of each member on your team?