Text version scenario

A team had to be put together from scratch. The leader knew she needed a mix of subject matter experts and recruited accordingly. It soon became apparent the team’s results were not good enough. This group of strong individuals ended up competing against each other rather than working together. They didn’t focus on their shared objective, although the leader emphasized team work and joint goals.

Discussion question

• Have you had a situation when individually competent people have not teamed well together?
• 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. While there are no clear-cut solutions, we can consider the following actions:

• Discuss and share insights that diverse expertise is important, but an open mindset and inclusive behaviors are required to turn diversity into value.
• Remind employees that diverse teams often perform better than less diverse teams. They also tend to experience more conflict which makes the team members feel they are not performing well, while they often do in reality.
• Display courage in speaking up if you see an employee being made uncomfortable by another employee.