Skillsoft Blended Learning Resource

Assessing your Team’s Diversity – AssessmentActivity

Diversity helps to spark creativity, expand horizons, and reveal new ways to approach the world or grow a business. Without diversity in the workplace, companies run the risk of becoming monocultural, with only one limited perspective.

Effectively managing diversity goes beyond respecting the differences between people. It's about putting those differences to work in the best possible way for both the company and your employees.

This activity gives you an opportunity to assess the diversity of your team. You can also use it to identify ways you can more effectively manage diversity and reap the benefits of having a diverse team.

Benefits of Diverse Teams

Diversity can bring with it new and relevant approaches to work.A diverse team gives you a wide pool of skills and ideas from different perspectives, which can lead to enhanced creativity and better team decisions.

Steps Involved in Building Diversity Awareness

Building diversity awareness in a team involves two distinct elements: self-assessment and team analysis. Before you can manage people in a diverse team, you have to know what the values, perceptions, and expectations are – for yourself, and for them. Your team members need to know this as well.

Only when you understand your own beliefs can you develop an awareness of other viewpoints and different backgrounds.

A diversity self-assessment is a four-step process:

  1. examine your first response to someone who's different
  2. review your assumptions about the other person
  3. check the reality behind your assumptions, understanding that some commonly held ideas aren't true, and
  4. find the common ground that will allow you to build trust and rapport

A team diversity assessment can help a manager assess whether the team members can count on one another, no matter how diverse their backgrounds. In other words, the team environment supports diversity. The manager should note whether members have appreciation of the talents and skills of each individual, and if they feel comfortable bringing up problems and conflicts. The members should be open to differences of opinion, and be able to deal with interpersonal problems and conflict.

Diversity Assessment

What is the composition of your work group in terms of the following factors, and what can you do as a manager to more effectively manage your team, given the diversity of your group?

Use the table below to reflect on the diversity of your team by evaluating its composition.

Team Diversity

Age
Older workers?
Younger workers?
Gender
Males?
Females?
Education
College/Advanced degrees?
Special Academic pursuits?
Diversity and culture
Racial and ethnic diversity
Work/family complexities

Reflection

Using the notes you’ve made, answer the following questions to gain insights into how you can more effectively manage and reap benefits from a diverse team.

After completeing these questions, do you feel your team is diverse?

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How could you use the diversity identified to benefit your team?

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What steps could you take to build diversity awareness within your team?

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What ideas do you have for managing the diversity within your team more effectively?

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