Much has been said and written about advocating for more diversity and inclusion in the workplace. While we still have a long way to go, I applaud and support the move for more diversity and inclusion at work. One aspect of diversity that does not often get mentioned is cognitive diversity, defined as “differences in perspective and information processing styles” (Harvard Business Review).
One obvious response is to find ways to bring people together with diverse thinking styles to join your organisation, involve them in the decision-making process and empower them to make decisions.
Further, from an individual perspective, each of us can use lateral thinking techniques like Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats® to ‘make’ ourselves think in different ways when faced with decision-making responsibilities. Such techniques are good for inspiring us to think differently, to challenge the status quo and to liberate ourselves from habitually following the norms in our workplaces.
An increasing number of studies, and my personal experience, are finding that diversity within an organisation drives growth and profitability. Two good examples are IBM’s 2012 study “Leading Through Connections: Insights from the Global CEO Study” and Duhigg’s 2016 article about Google “What Google Learned From Its Quest To Build The Perfect Team.”
In 2015, Deloitte and Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative did a survey about cognitive diversity. One of the key findings of the study was that “when asked about the business impact of diversity, millennials are 71 percent more likely to focus on teamwork compared with 28 percent of non-millennials who are more likely to focus on fairness of opportunity.” Further, the study also found that “83 percent of millennials are actively engaged when they believe their organization fosters an inclusive culture, compared to only 60 percent of millennials who are actively engaged when their organization does not foster an inclusive culture.”
As one survey respondent beautifully puts it, “diversity is a variety of cultures and perspectives working together to solve business problems.”
Why should we care what millennials think?
(USA Population Distribution)
As at 2016 in Australia, USA and several other countries, millennials (people born between 1981 and 1997) have become the foremost generation, outnumbering Baby Boomers and Gen Xers. The immediate future is clearly theirs.
What will you do differently to embrace cognitive diversity in your workplace?
“Rethink without over-thinking”
GAICD, M.Comp (Monash)
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