I was thinking about the very meaning of diversity. Which means "the state of being diverse" which roots to latin origin "divetere" that is to "turn aside" or divert. Why is this important in current times?
An organization has a shared mission, principles & culture. It is complex to figure out the best strategy for execution amongst a group of people in an org. Nobody is perfect & everyone has blind spots. A critical aspect of the shared mission when missed by the group is a failure. Most of the systems don't incentivize failures hence leaders in the group focuses on avoiding such failures. By virtue of incentivising successes leaders tend to focus more on successes & avoid failures.
I believe such successes adds a mere improvement to humanity & not something radical or authentic! Not that we've to every-time create radical things, just that system is built for mere improvement!
Blind spot1:
To create something radical & "truly" authentic one must navigate through unknown terrains. A leader finds himself conflicted with his team to navigate an unknown terrain. This is because team already has blind spots & unknown terrain adds to the complexity. Leaders forms research teams to focus on radical ideas. Some of these radical ideas needs extended duration by nature of it. This creates a group with other set of blind spots working in silos for extended duration.
Blind spot2:
As the org grows with global presence it is inevitable to have satellite offices to provide better market understanding & customer connect. This in some forms adds to the diversity but teams are formed in satellite offices with specific areas. The headquarters is where the key events happens & satellite teams are generally not that well connected because of time zone restrictions. For eg: An aspiring kid in India satellite team will find the opportunity in US head quarters immense & impactful.
There are a lot of such hurdles a complex organization has, and you notice we're forming silos of blind spots separated in space & time rather than creating integrated team to cover for blind spots during the life-cycle of the product.
Diversity is a mere myth without tools! We need powerful tools for a diverse integrated team to accomplish greater shared missions!
Checkout the talk by Ray Dalio which touches upon few of these aspects.
An organization has a shared mission, principles & culture. It is complex to figure out the best strategy for execution amongst a group of people in an org. Nobody is perfect & everyone has blind spots. A critical aspect of the shared mission when missed by the group is a failure. Most of the systems don't incentivize failures hence leaders in the group focuses on avoiding such failures. By virtue of incentivising successes leaders tend to focus more on successes & avoid failures.
I believe such successes adds a mere improvement to humanity & not something radical or authentic! Not that we've to every-time create radical things, just that system is built for mere improvement!
Blind spot1:
To create something radical & "truly" authentic one must navigate through unknown terrains. A leader finds himself conflicted with his team to navigate an unknown terrain. This is because team already has blind spots & unknown terrain adds to the complexity. Leaders forms research teams to focus on radical ideas. Some of these radical ideas needs extended duration by nature of it. This creates a group with other set of blind spots working in silos for extended duration.
Blind spot2:
As the org grows with global presence it is inevitable to have satellite offices to provide better market understanding & customer connect. This in some forms adds to the diversity but teams are formed in satellite offices with specific areas. The headquarters is where the key events happens & satellite teams are generally not that well connected because of time zone restrictions. For eg: An aspiring kid in India satellite team will find the opportunity in US head quarters immense & impactful.
There are a lot of such hurdles a complex organization has, and you notice we're forming silos of blind spots separated in space & time rather than creating integrated team to cover for blind spots during the life-cycle of the product.
Diversity is a mere myth without tools! We need powerful tools for a diverse integrated team to accomplish greater shared missions!
Checkout the talk by Ray Dalio which touches upon few of these aspects.