"… Diversity of markets, customers, ideas, and talent: These simultaneous shifts are the new context. For leaders who have perfected their craft in a more homogenous environment, rapid adjustment is in order.” ~ Juliet Bourke
Every day leaders are being asked to make difficult game-changing decisions at a quicker and quicker pace. What made you a successful leader yesterday, will not necessarily make you successful tomorrow. Leading during rapidly changing times requires the constants of knowing your values, your North Star and innovative thinking. Yet innovation is often tossed around with a casual coolness and hipness which doesn’t convey the reality that innovation is about more than sharing big ideas, it also requires commitment, collaboration and a willingness to invite and encourage diversity. These are instrumental ingredients to driving innovative solutions. Today leaders must be open to fostering an inclusive environment where teams and organizations welcome and invite individuals from different backgrounds to contribute unique and diverse insights in helping to produce purposeful and profitable solutions. As a leader, how do you welcome and encourage diverse and unique perspectives on your team? One way to offer innovative and inclusive solutions is to encourage staff to step out of organizational and departmental silos and engage in cross-functional engagement by being open to sharing their distinctive expertise with each other. By embracing diversity, collaboration and openness, teams can generate groundbreaking approaches to address pressing organizational, customer and societal challenges.
Exercise:
This week encourage your team members to expand their knowledge beyond their specific roles by proactively seeking out and engaging diverse perspectives on the team.
Questions:
How does your organization drive innovation through collaboration and diversity?
What strategies can you implement to ensure diverse perspectives are included in the innovation process?
How can you leverage partnerships with diverse stakeholders to create more inclusive, impactful and culturally relevant solutions?