T
TALKING HEADS
Embracing our collective intelligence
D
Simon Fanshawe
Difference is an asset
— and we must
recruit, promote
and manage for it.
56 // Future Talent
espite our individual brilliance,
the truth is that we achieve
very little on our own. People
accomplish the most with
other people. But we are prey to the cult
of the superhero: the great CEO who
turned the company around; the
charismatic boss who transformed the
culture of the department; the new
captain who won the prestigious
sporting trophy.
We flatter ourselves that we got
where we are and did what we did all
by ourselves. But we didn’t. Teams lie at
the heart of our successes. We know this
really, but we don’t design our leadership,
recruitment or promotion around it.
There is a lot of insightful research
around what makes a high-performing
team, one of the most interesting
examples being a Google study called
Project Aristotle. Between 2012 and 2013,
researchers scrutinised 180 teams within
the company, looking for any common
characteristics between those that
performed best.
What they began to note was that
team norms — how teams agree to
behave and function — represent the
significant determinant. They ultimately
concluded that what distinguished the
‘good’ teams from the dysfunctional
groups was how teammates treated
one another. The right norms, in other
words, could raise a group’s collective
intelligence, whereas the wrong
norms could hobble a team, even
if, individually, all its members were
exceptionally bright.
These findings chime with a number
of other studies showing that the key
norms for high-performing teams involve
members making an equal contribution
to the work and discussions around it
(no one dominates), their sensitivity
towards one another (members get
to know and understand each other),
and the presence of women within the
group (and by extension, of others who
bring difference).
This is ‘the combination of difference’
writ large. Seeing difference, valuing it
and then combining it creatively is the
way of working and managing that
produces the best results. It requires
managers, through hiring and promotion
processes, to use a format that values
that difference. It’s not about adhering
to the old job description or person
specifications, or simply replacing the
previous incumbent, but tracing the
‘virtuous circle of recruitment’.
What are the team’s goals and what
does the job really require the candidate
to do? What specific combinations of
“Seeing difference,
valuing it and
then combining
it creatively
produces the
best results”
difference/diversity will help the team
perform better? Who do we have
already? The latter relates to team
members’ characteristics (ethnicity,
gender, sexuality, etc.) but also how they
work (we use a psychometric distilled
from a number of frameworks and client
experience). Answering these questions
will show you where you need to bring
in the difference.
Ask candidates not only to describe
their formal skills but also to explain what
they can bring to the role through their
personal experience. Difference is an
asset. For example, when women return
from maternity leave, instead of asking
“what have you forgotten?”, instead
ask “what have you learned… about time
management, priorities, pain, lack of
sleep?”. Recruit, promote and manage
for difference.
Simon Fanshawe is a writer, broadcaster
and co-founder of Diversity by Design.
He serves on the boards of the Brighton
Dome and Festival, Housing & Care 21 and
co-founded LGBT rights charity Stonewall.