In the world of business, diversity is an important topic, as any organization would be lucky to be comprised of individuals from different backgrounds, races, and genders. However, there comes a point where too much diversity can hurt an organization’s productivity and efficiency. What constitutes too much diversity? And how can you tell if your team has crossed that line? This article will help you answer those questions and more!
When a company has too many voices involved in decision-making, things slow down. Every time an idea comes up, there will be at least one person who wants to oppose it; and someone on your team may already have a conflicting suggestion of their own. It’s important to consider whether or not each suggestion has merit before placing it on a list of ideas to follow up on.
If you are planning on bringing on new team members or changing your vision statement to an entirely different direction, you need to make sure that these goals are in alignment with each other. If they’re not, there will be a lot of internal resistance, as every person will have their own idea of where things should go and who should lead that charge. Inevitably, some ideas won’t align at all and conflicts will arise from there.
Within every disagreement or differing of opinion there exists a solution. You may not always like it, but if both parties can get on board with it and push forward, you’ll find that there’s a way to make things work without permanently damaging your relationship. Always keep an open mind, be willing to compromise and get creative. Maybe one of you has skills in coding (or copywriting) that could make up for what their partner lacks, for example.
Now, I’m not saying that every team must march in unison down Main Street, USA. What I am saying is that teams should have a clear idea of their end goal, and all members should be pulling together to accomplish it. When divergent opinions begin to hinder progress towards an ultimate goal, diversity has gotten out of hand. If you want to achieve something great, make sure everyone on your team knows what that something great is. If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.