Organizational leaders are responsible for assembling a competent team of employees to ensure smooth business operations and satisfy their shareholders’ expectations. Conventional wisdom tells us that hiring the most qualified and intelligent applicants will lead to successful outcomes. Despite popular belief, hiring top talent is not enough to ensure a well-functioning team.
According to recent studies, cognitive diversity is the key to improved and sustainable business performance. Businesses around the world have made major strides in diversifying their workforce by hiring individuals of different ages, ethnic backgrounds and genders. However, cognitive diversity means more than the inclusion of people with different ancestral origins and personal identities. Instead, it refers to a unique group of individuals that possess different ways of thinking and processing information. Thus, a group of distinct people does not necessarily demonstrate cognitive diversity if everyone shares the same style of thinking.
Thomas Leen, a highly qualified Information Security Professional with extensive experience in forming multi-cultural and geographically dispersed IT teams, is a proponent of fostering cognitive diversity amongst the teams he has managed. According to Leen, organizations that focus on building cognitive diversity will experience a number of benefits including:
Reduce Cognitive Biases
Emphasizing cognitive diversity within an organization can help diminish the cognitive biases observed by most businesses. Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when a group of individuals come to an agreement without sufficient discussion or reasoning, leading to poor decision-making in order to maintain group harmony. Despite good intentions, peoples’ natural tendency to conform can result in irrational decisions that could potentially harm company objectives.
Leen asserts that cognitively diverse teams are made up of a variety of personalities and unique thinkers, which lessens the probability of groupthink from occurring. A mental set is the tendency to approach problems in a particular way, because individuals have experienced successful outcomes with this method in the past. Functional fixedness is a type of mental set where a person is only able to perceive an item for the use it was originally intended. Leen states that functional fixedness and mental sets are less likely to impede problem solving when a team is cognitively diverse, as collaboration often leads to outside-the-box solutions. It is not unusual for people to want to surround themselves with individuals who share common interests and characteristics to their own.
Similar to how we choose our friends, cognitive biases exist that affect how recruiters select successful candidates. Similarity attraction bias occurs when the same types of individuals are repeatedly hired because they reflect the hiring manager’s particular way of thinking. Leen says that when businesses are aware of such biases, better recruitment policies can be put in place to promote fair hiring practices. Recruiting with cognitive diversity in mind encourages managers to consider individuals with various thinking styles, allowing for a more heterogeneous and versatile team.
Improve Problem-Solving
According to Harvard Business Review, cognitively diverse teams solve problems more efficiently than their less diverse counterparts. A study they conducted utilized six teams with varying measures of diversity. The teams were asked to complete a strategic execution exercise involving new, uncertain and complex situations. The scores indicated that teams possessing greater levels of diversity resulted in faster performance. It was also noted that two teams ranking low in cognitive diversity failed to complete the exercise. Therefore, organizations that are highly varied in their perspectives will be better equipped to deal with ambiguities evident in certain business environments.
Innovation
Leen states that cognitive diversity helps improve idea generation and boost innovation. Predictably, teams made up of individuals with fresh perspectives have a better chance of producing a novel idea, than a group of individuals with similar patterns of thought. Charlan Nemeth, a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, found that minority dissent in groups led to better decision-making, even when these individuals proved to be wrong. According to this theory, group members that challenge the majority are highly valuable as their opinions can inspire discussion and stimulate creative solutions.
Fostering Inclusivity
The Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders published a study that revealed a strong association between autism and creativity. Individuals with autistic qualities were asked to generate as many uses as they could for a common object, such as a paperclip. While individuals with ASD were not able to name as many uses, their suggestions were significantly more creative than the ideas provided by neurotypical participants. The conclusion? People with autism spectrum disorder exhibit divergent thinking that is highly beneficial to most workplaces. However, standard interview processes tend to weed out candidates that struggle with social interaction. Developing better recruitment methods and establishing a more inclusive culture will allow companies to embrace all kinds of thinkers.
Enhanced Company Image
The benefits of cognitive diversity are twofold, while organizations will benefit at an operational level through improved decision-making, businesses will also be perceived as more ethical and inclusive. Companies with a reputation for diversity will fare much better in today’s progressive society than those that do not. Customers, partners, and investors alike are becoming increasingly concerned with the behaviours of large corporations. Leen believes that businesses dedicated to inclusivity will be able to reach a broader audience and have a more positive impact on communities.
Long-term Benefits
While human capital is a firm’s most valuable asset, organizations’ day-to-day actions do not always reflect this. Companies that are not invested in cognitive diversity may perform well in the short run, but evidence shows that individuals want more from their employers. According to Forbes, two of the chief reasons for employee resignation is being overlooked and unheard. Businesses that invest in cognitive diversity encourage employees to have an active voice within the company, leading to longer and more rewarding employee-manager relationships. In essence, Leen believes that leaders who promote cognitive diversity will be able to inspire employees to do more, facilitating a more productive workplace.
Overall, business leaders should encourage their organizations to foster a respectful and understanding culture that embraces employee differences. By doing so, organizations are more likely to realize the many benefits that cognitive diversity has to offer.
