Comfort vs Growth: the power of diverse teams

January 30, 2023

“We find comfort among those who agree with us and growth among those who don’t.”

– Frank A. Clark

Take a moment to reflect on the people in your team. And in your organisation more generally.

How diverse are they? What’s the overall mix of cultures, genders, ethnicities, languages, education, neurology, abilities, sexualities…

For most teams the answer is – not very.

This is because as a rule humans like to surround themselves with people who look like them, speak like them, think like them, act like them…

It’s called similarity bias.

Simply put – we prefer people who are like us over those who are different.

Why?

Because it’s comfortable. We get them. We feel like we belong. They makes sense. We don’t have to think too hard to work with them.

The problem with this is that same/same begets same/same.

If you build a team of people who have similar beliefs, ideas, education, culture, wealth, ability… then the likelihood of you innovating, or challenging each other to push to new frontiers is greatly reduced.

So if you want growth – surround yourself with people who encourage (or force) you and your organisation outside your comfort zone.

#growth #bias #diversity #similaritybias

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