Creating a diverse high-performing team

1. José R. Sánchez, LCSW, LMSW President and CEO Creating a diverse high-performing team

2. Milestones in the history of diversity 1969: First School of Ethnic Studies established in the United States 1941: Executive Order 8802 1961: Creation of EEOC 1990: ADA 1954: Brown v. Board of Education 1963: Equal Pay Act 1972: Title IX All of these actions paved the way for the diverse landscape we have in business and education today.

3. Diversity… • Is about empowering people. • Is understanding, valuing and using the differences among all of us to achieve superior outcomes. • Is a challenge because we all have biases and prejudices of long-standing. • Means more than just tolerating people that are different from you. It means actively welcoming and involving them in all aspects of the organizations and soliciting their ideas and opinions.

4. Dimensions of diversity Internal Headquarters/Field Military Experience External Management Status Seniority Life Experience Country Knowledge Mental Ability Physical Ability Organizational Family Status Work Style Sexual Orientation Age Pay Scale Group Urban Affiliation Religion Education Gender Race Language Income Gender Identity Ethnicity Job Title Work Location Personal Habits Work Experience Communication Style Department/Unit/Group

5. Why do we need to be concerned about diversity? • Three powerful trends in our society have made diversity an important issue: • The global market in which U.S. corporations do business became highly competitive. • The makeup of the U.S. population began changing dramatically. In the 30 years between 1995 and 2025: • The Asian population will be the fastest-growing population and more than double in size. • The Hispanic/Latino population will be the largest-growing population and will account for 32 million of the 72 million additional people (44% of the total growth of the nation). • Individuals began celebrating their differences instead of compromising their uniqueness to “fit in.”

6. How does workforce diversity affect teams? • Diversity typically provides fresh perspectives on issues but it is difficult to manage • Team members bring their individual worldviews into the team experience. • Age • Education • Race • Socio-economic position • Cultural norms • Religion • Physical ability • These world-views make up the entirety of the individual members and therefore can lead to clashes in the group if not managed correctly.

7. The case for diversity among teams • Diverse teams should help an organization develop a competitive advantage by bringing together different ideas, knowledge, and methods of problem solving. • Diverse groups have been shown to be better at decision making; eliminating “group think” and improving team effectiveness

8. Diversity presents managers with challenges • Individual differences that spawn creativity and innovative problem-solving can create communication barriers and conflict. • Individual differences can also lead to open conflict and chaos if there is mistrust and lack of respect among team members based mostly on the world and cultural views of the individual members. • A team vision needs to be established immediately and it is important to defer to the expertise that exists on the team.