Text version scenario

A “not invented here “attitude has become a barrier against reaching a diverse team´s full potential. The project manager is frustrated, she strongly believes that diverse teams with a mix of knowledge will outperform non-diverse teams. Provided that they leverage on the diversity in the team. But several members of her team are resistant to listen and learn from colleagues with a different background. She is frustrated with this resistance and wonders how to handle this.

Discussion question

• Have you experienced resistance from team members to listen to perspectives different from their own?
• 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:

• Display courage in speaking up if we see that an employee’s ideas are not being heard or dismissed right away.
• Discuss ways to handle constant references to “not invented here” which results in new ideas not being expressed.
• Discuss and share insights that diverse teams both in terms of representation and thoughts often perform better than less diverse teams when there is an inclusive culture.
• Diverse teams also tend to experience more friction which makes the team members feel they are not performing well, while in reality they are.

For guidelines on this topic read our Code of Conduct chapter on Diversity and Inclusion.