In a recent post, I postured the view that working with people who think very differently than us can be difficult, but also hugely valuable. In fact, diverse thinking is what great, high-performing teams are made of. Sadly however, a team made up of diverse thinkers does not naturally lead to success. To the contrary, I’ve seen time and again where highly diverse teams have almost ripped each other apart. Difference, if not understood and appreciated, can lead to major relationship breakdowns because we all tend to make assumptions that others will act, behave and respond similarly to how we do. When that doesn’t happen, it can lead to confusion, frustration, and ultimately conflict and mistrust.

What to do?

We’ve found the most effective way to avoid all the angst and build successful relationships between diverse thinkers, is to challenge those assumptions and build understanding. If we can understand how others differ from ourselves, and importantly, the strengths that difference brings, then we can start to open a dialog about how to embrace that difference to leverage strengths across a team, while reducing frustration.

There are many tools out there to help us understand difference – MBTI, JTI, Hermann Brain, TMI and a host of other psychometrics and personality instruments. These are a great place for a team to start. However, deeply shared understanding was never reached in a single day, so whatever you use, ensure the learning continues well past any initial workshop.

The work is never done.

Like anything truly beneficial, you have to keep working at it. This is something my business partner and I have to remind ourselves of all the time, because 12 years in we can still drive each other to distraction. But our shared understanding of that difference plus all those years of benefiting from each other’s strengths has built tolerance and compassion for how the other operates and what the other needs.

For anyone putting together or growing a team, I’d definitely encourage you to find the “Yin” to your “Yang”. Actively build diversity of thinking into your team and you’ll be so much stronger for it. Just make sure you put in the work! The more you understand and respect your differences, the more you can leverage them and grow from the other’s perspective. Working with opposites takes more effort to be sure. But do it well, and you’ll never want to go back! 

Marie Webber
Director, Workplace Culture Specialist

Culture by Design