Here's how you can foster innovation by effectively collaborating with diverse teams.

As you think about the diversity within your team, remember to not make assumptions about that diversity. Sometimes you see visual cues and then you make up all kinds of stories about that person. Create the safety for people to share about themselves, and then you will know more about the diversity rather than just making assumptions.

“Embracing” is not enough. It’s also a subjective. “Value” diversity. Consider and connect it to an objective business outcome.

“Empathy” is a lot easier to define when there is a business goal connected to it. “Empathy” should have a reason beyond the nice or right thing to to. Ask yourself: How would empathy help increase the value of diversity?

In other words, focus on what characteristics and behaviors work in your organization, rather than looking for what’s different and wrong about people. Listen with compassion versus fear.

The foundation of a successful team is trust. Encourage empathy and understanding by accepting and respecting the various cultural conventions and communication styles of your coworkers. As a result, there is a smooth flow of ideas and open, honest conversation in a secure environment where everyone is respected.

Make sure every voice is heard and appreciated in order to promote equity. Be deliberate. Determine and fill in any gaps. This creates a diverse atmosphere that allows for the growth of the team and the flourishing of creative solutions.

I have experienced that when team members are given a chance to contribute to the project methodology, beyond just conducting allocated tasks- it opens up a whole new perspective for the stakeholder in-charge or the project manager. Not only does it take the burden off the PMs shoulders significantly, allowing them to contribute to multiple workstreams or projects effectively, brainstorming exercise by multiple people brings in a variety of ideas to think through. Equity in the project approach - everyone being given a chance to explore their capabilities beyond doing what they are told- is key for effective collaboration. As an added advantage, it also builds overall confidence and trust within the team.

I always remind my clients to thoroughly understand their team members and their backgrounds. Often, we overlook valuable intercultural skills, language abilities, and experiences outside the industry. When assigning work, pairing individuals whose strengths complement each other and who can learn from one another, while knowing why their expertise and skills are necessary, is strategic leadership. Additionally, conducting a strengths and growth audit upfront, assigning key roles, and identifying stretch assignments and support can help teams leverage key skills for successful teamwork.

While diverse teams outperform teams that sound like echo chambers, this boost in outcomes requires effective communication and a comfort level with productive friction. If your team is not ready to handle a difference of opinions, working with a team coach can help you create ground rules for success. Team leaders can also help by creating healthy boundaries for communicating opposing opinions. And finding ways for the team to connect across differences.

Being very clear with the key messaging and the end-user requirements is essential to provide direction to the efforts of cross functional teams. Essentially, the ideation must be targeted towards the end goal or specific milestones to be achieved. Further, it is important to check the progress from a timeline perspective, to ensure that the milestones are being achieved as planned and the roadmap of innovation is being followed by each stakeholder involved

Continuous monitoring and critical evaluation of progress is key to determine alignment with the overall roadmap of any project. Tangible KPIs need to be in place right from Day 0 to help PMs track the project with granularity and be able to optimize the approach as needed. Regular check -ins with the team members, close monitoring of project output, assessment of milestones achieved can help give insights into the team dynamics and effectiveness of the collaboration framework.