Open to Experiences

Why diversity and inclusion drive creativity and innovation.

Connections: The last issue, “Where Psychological Safety and DE&I Intersect,” looked at psychological safety concerning the ability to achieve diversity and inclusion goals. This issue connects diversity and inclusion goals to their impact on creativity and innovation.

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Nearly every one of us has a unique point of view of the world around us; from the relationships with our parents to the experiences we have had, we’re shaped and formed from all of it. And yet, some of our experiences are closer to others and in many instances, we can never fully appreciate the experiences of someone when the variables change in certain ways (although we can have compassion and empathy for those experiences.)

But all those things, the positive or negative childhood experiences with fathers or the first music you listened to, or the kinds of books you got into (or didn't because you don’t understand reading for pleasure)…it all shapes the person you are and how you see the world around you. How you approach problems, and how you see solutions to them.

This is the first part about diversity. It’s more of a psychographic breakdown vs. a demographic view (gender, age, race), which is also very important has contributing aspects to the former.

But why do we even care about diversity? Because diversity enables greater creativity, especially for divergent thinking. When you want as many ideas as possible studies have shown that diverse groups working on the problem are advantageous as noted in this piece by Harvard Business Review:

While diverse team composition does seem to confer an advantage when it comes to generating a wider range of original and useful ideas, experimental studies suggest that such benefits disappear once the team is tasked with deciding which ideas to select and implement, presumably because diversity hinders consensus. A meta-analysis of 108 studies and more than 10,000 teams indicated that the creativity gains produced by higher team diversity are disrupted by the inherent social conflict and decision-making deficits that less homogeneous teams create. It would therefore make sense for organizations to increase diversity in teams that are focused on exploration or idea generation, and use more-homogeneous teams to curate and implement those ideas.

A recent research paper entitled “Multicultural experience enhances creativity: The when and how¹” also has looked at the importance of multicultural relationships and experiences and what impact it has on innovation and creativity. NPR’s Hidden Brain did a segment on this concept and the research, talking with social scientist Adam Galinsky. The results of their study showed that dating someone from another country resulted in becoming more creative, and possibly more surprising, just reflecting on the relationship gave a temporary creative boost.

“There's something about deeply understanding and learning about another culture that's transformative. We can get that from living abroad. We can get that from dating someone from another culture. We could even get it from traveling but only if we really learned and understood and embraced and adapted to that other culture while we were traveling abroad. And so the - I think the big scientific conclusion that is very robust is that it's about - really, truly, deeply understanding another culture is the key to enhancing your own creativity.” - Adam Galinsky, professor of business at Columbia Business School

Of course, you aren’t only going to hire people who have been in multicultural relationships because you can’t ask that question, and the point is also that you can get it from other exposures, living abroad, traveling, and diving into other cultures to understand them. So if you’re looking for your creative team to develop the most creative solutions possible for your clients, diversity is what you need in brainstorming. It’s not even a question of if; it’s a necessity.

If we only bring in new talent that watches the same shows, listens to the same music, dresses the same, and exposes itself to the same cultural stimulus, how can we truly ever be as successful as we might if we have diverse teams that look at and approach work in different ways? This is where inclusion comes in (and life-learners, polymaths, and the inherently curious, but that’s another newsletter.)

We also need to have our diverse teams feel part of the team. Not as the outliers or on the fringe of the group. It takes me back to the concept of psychosocial safety, but as I’ve started this series of newsletters, it seems to be core to the ability to do many of the other steps that are required. Individuals with diverse perspectives need to feel that they can speak up and share their ideas or point of view without criticism. There need to be safe spaces for innovation and creativity. Corporate culture or at least a team culture needs to recognize that individually we all don’t have the answers but require the group view to see things from all sides and perspectives. This is necessary for those doing the work, as much as it is necessary for those approving the work. It’s about thinking of what speaks to the audience we’re trying to reach, not about what is self-serving to our own or our client’s views (with the rare exceptions when we fall into the target audience.) This is also when going out and talking to the audience you want to reach is critical as well, but again, another newsletter.

We’ve all heard the tale of the client who rejected an idea because his wife didn’t like it. Well, unless his wife is the target audience, her perspective isn’t relevant. Great innovation and creativity may speak to all, but it also may only speak to those it is intended for.

So as you’re strategizing, creating, or reviewing concepts, think about the diversity of the teams working on the projects, your perspective, and then think about your audiences what they are seeking. If it’s not there, demand more diverse teams (heck, demand that anyway). And then see what comes from the resulting work.

Five links open in my tabs:

• The Lives Of Others. To Find A Way In, We Must Find The Way Out Of Our Own: Martin Weigel recently wrote this great piece on insights and being open to the seeing and engaging outside of our “privileged and disconnected monoculture.” <<research/perspective>>

• The difference diversity makes in online advertising: This week Facebook and the Geena Davis Institute released a report that showed people want online advertising to more accurately reflect themselves and their communities. Not a huge surprise really, but the statistics of how far behind online is compared to mass media is what was the lede. (hat tip to Jerry Daykin for sharing) <<useful resource>>

• Scientists want to store DNA of 6.7 million species on the moon, just in case: The ark, or gene bank, would be safely hidden in these hollowed-out tunnels and caves sculpted by lava more than 3 billion years ago and would be powered by solar panels above. <<interesting stuff>>

• Think cryptocurrency is bad? NFTs are even worse: A point of view why NFTs are crappy (especially for the environment) <<perspectives>>

• Unilever Will Remove The Word ‘Normal’ From All Packaging And Advertising To Promote ‘Inclusivity’: Unilever announced that “it will eliminate the word ‘normal’ from all of beauty and personal care brands’ packaging and advertising, as part of the launch of the new Positive Beauty vision and strategy.” <<ad news>>

Photo Source: via Pexels

1. Leung, A. K.-y., Maddux, W. W., Galinsky, A. D., & Chiu, C.-y. (2008). Multicultural experience enhances creativity: The when and how. American Psychologist, 63(3), 169–181. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.63.3.169