Around 1.5–2 decades back
An enthusiastic but inexperienced version of myself set out to form a company. Along with a like-minded partner, we registered a technology company in the UAE providing web solutions.
Potential clients soon started reaching out to us through word-of-mouth as the quality of our work and our quick turnaround were getting noticed and appreciated.
The lacuna
Everyone in our organization was hard-working, creative, and operationally excellent. But a lacuna was slowly becoming evident — the hesitation to follow up on payments from clients and, at times, the aggression needed to chase a potential deal.
The tendency was to pass the buck around, asking the other to pick up the phone and make that difficult call. Needless to say, this ended up being the noose that did us in.
A reflection on diversity
Now, as a #TeamCoach, when I think back, I am reminded of what Professor Peter Hawkins kept reminding us: Recruit for requisite diversity within a Team!
The moment one hears #diversity, the immediate mapping is to gender, race, age, etc. Leaders often overlook the need for Cognitive Diversity within their team(s).
In simple terms, this is the difference in the way people think, behave, and interact with others; and can be governed by their personality type, values, role preferences, and so on.
Our mistake
In our case, we thought recruiting a BD cum Relationship Manager would help address the gap. What we didn’t realize is, we eventually hired someone who somewhat cloned our existing preferences/competencies.
A question for leaders
Are you, as a leader or team member, recruiting people who clone you?
Even if you don’t, how do you stay away from the risk of encouraging conformity and bring out all the voices within the team?
#teamcoaching #systemscoaching #leadershipdevelopment #cognitivediversity #systemicCI #coaching #team
