Diversity in Agile teams

Tom Breur

26 October 2014

To begin with, diversity obviously is much broader than “merely” gender diversity. Clearly gender diversity is important, too, but for the purpose of this post I will consider that a narrowed example of diversity. When I refer to diversity, I mean the general differences between people within a team, be that racial/cultural backgrounds, personality styles, experience, education, etc.

Diversity is a double-edged sword. More diverse teams have more “tension” within them, and are therefore better equipped to deal with the most challenging problems. Research (Watson, Kumar & Michaelson, 1993) shows that in the early stages homogenous groups have an easy ride. However, over time more heterogenous (diverse) groups catch up, and overtake the homogenous groups when it comes to creativity. How long it takes to catch up depends on the task at hand and how diverse the groups are you compare. This all seems to relate to a somewhat steeper learning curve for diverse groups with regards to Tuckmans stages of group development: forming, storming, norming and performing.

Diversity is a double-edged sword in that management has a (much) harder time bringing, and keeping a group together that consist of wildly different characters. Even though the evidence shows that diversity “works”, it is much less obvious to individuals that they should welcome and embrace social and professional “outliers.” Somehow it is more comfortable (safe?) to bring in more people like “us.” How brave and bold are you when it comes to selecting winners on the team?