Text version scenario

We recently hired a new project manager. We intentionally selected a highly qualified candidate with a different and non-traditional educational background.
This was challenging for some team members. ”He doesn’t ‘fit in’ and he has disrupted the way the team used to work,” some people said. And they have complained that there is more conflict now. However, the productivity and output from the whole team has actually improved overall.

How do we help the team work together and understand that different experiences and backgrounds are beneficial?

Discussion question

• Have you experienced difficulty hiring/working with employees that are different and having teams accept them?
• How did you approach it?
• What did you learn from it?

Things to consider

We can learn from these situations to help us truly live our values. We can consider the following actions:

• Discuss and share research-based insights that diverse teams often perform better than less diverse teams. Diverse teams also tend to experience more challenges which makes the team members feel they are not performing well.
• Discuss our values and how they affect teamwork pro-actively with all employees.
• Display courage in speaking up if we see an employee being made uncomfortable by another employee.

For more information on how to act read our Code of Conduct chapter on Diversity and Inclusion.