How to build a diverse team

The term diversity means the existence of variations of different characteristics in a group of people including their individual characteristics, cognitive skills, background, age, race, beliefs and preferences. Diversity in the workplace means that an organization employs a diverse team of people. Research shows that companies that have diverse team members benefit from a variety of skill sets, points of views, innovative ideas and approaches to problem solving. So, how can you actually build a diverse team?

Avoiding bias

To avoid bias towards a particular sex or social gender, you need to make all job descriptions use gender-neutral language. Sometimes without even realising it, we write our job ads with a gender-coded language, which can put off individuals from applying. So, make sure that your description is suitable for different genders.

Another approach is blindfold screening, which is the process of removing any irrelevant data from the candidate’s resume such as name, gender, age or ethnic background. It is now widely used in many organizations as it allows you to evaluate candidates objectively based only on their skills, and avoiding factors that can lead to biased decisions.

“Culture add” instead of “culture fit”

Culture fit interviews might be considered offensive because they are conducted to identify someone who is already similar to the existing members of an organization and discriminate against those that do not confirm. Using culture add instead of culture fit means that you’re looking for someone who values your organization's culture, but also brings something new that will affect it positively.

Conclusion

In today’s society creating a diverse organization is more important than ever. However, making your team diverse is not the only goal you should aim for. You should also make sure that all members of your team are treated respectfully & fairly. They should have equal access to all opportunities and resources to make a positive contribution. That way you can make your team not only diverse, but also inclusive.