In the rapidly changing, globalised world of business, innovation is king. But, simply putting people in a room and telling them to be creative does not necessarily mean they will perform. The science of team composition and management informs us of the best ways to unlock the creative potential of team members. One characteristic of work teams that has received much attention is that of diversity.
There are several ways to define diversity, but this group of researchers focused on cognitive diversity. Teams that are cognitively diverse are those with “perceived differences in thinking styles, knowledge, skills, values and beliefs among individual team members”. This type of diversity is crucial for complex, abstract, or creative tasks – the type that are becoming more prevalent in today’s business world.
Cognitively diverse teams are thought to increase the creative performance of individual team members because differences among the group members are combined, rearranged and utilised to create novel solutions to problems. The sum creative output is better than each individual contribution.
However, sometimes, diverse groups hinder individual creativity. This could be because group differences prime the ‘us versus them’ distinction. In other words, differences can sometimes cause emotional and relational conflict among group members. During such times of conflict, group members are unlikely to experiment with novel concepts or voice their creative ideas. This can lead to a stifling of creativity by the group members.
So, which path will your employees follow? Creative synergy, or conflict and withdrawal? The researchers identified two key variables in the equation that affect this process: the belief that they can produce creative ideas – termed, “creative self-efficacy”, and having a leader who is transformational – people who inspire and intellectually stimulate their followers.
Confidence in the Face of Differences
To perform creatively, employees should strongly believe that their effort and creative ability will lead to success. Confident employees are more likely to construe a diverse team situation as an advantage for their own creative performance rather than a source of distress. They will also be more apt to take risks by integrating diverse perspectives because of their confidence in their ability. Self-efficacy in one’s creative abilities, it seems, converts diversity into creative output.
In fact, this research found that teams with increased levels of cognitive diversity were associated with better individual creative performance performance for those who were confident in their creativity, but worse creative performance for employees who were less confident in their creativity.
How can you increase the creative confidence of your employees? The researchers suggest gently encouraging employees to take risks and to celebrate and praise their smaller accomplishments. Also, do not punish failures when employees try in good faith. Developing confidence requires a bit of fearlessness that must not be curbed by punishment when things don’t go well.
Confident employees are more likely to construe a diverse team situation as an advantage for their own creative performance rather than a source of distress
Leading Diverse Teams
What about the role of leaders in helping diverse teams reach their creative potential?
Transformational leaders, among other things, motivate their followers to take risks and capitalise on the wide range of perspectives in diverse groups. Additionally, they stimulate followers intellectually and urge them to be open-minded in their search for new ideas.
Importantly, these researchers found that cognitively diverse groups increase the creative output of followers with transformational leaders. However, the creative performance of those with leaders who are less transformational, suffered in diverse team contexts. Thus, it is imperative to select and develop transformational leaders to keep the divergent, creative, process working; otherwise diversity acts as a hindrance.
It should be noted that in Asia, where leadership styles tend to be more transactional and the confidence of employee’s tends to be more understated, it may be difficult to lead such diverse teams forward. Leaders in an Asian context might be more transformational by first developing the skills that are more in line with their culture, like communicating a shared vision.
If creativity and innovation are of high importance, leaders should rise to the challenge of being transformational to maximise the creative output of the individuals, and thus, the collective output of the team.
Methodology
Shin and colleagues collected data from 68 work teams in three Chinese organisations (a grocery store, a design company and an electronics company). They surveyed the supervisors about the creative performance of each subordinate in the team and surveyed the subordinates about their creative self-efficacy, team cognitive diversity and leader’s level of transformational leadership.
Reference
Shin, S. J., Kim, T. Y., Lee, J. Y., & Bian, L. (2012). Cognitive team diversity and individual team member creativity: A cross-level interaction. Academy of Management Journal, 55(1), 197–212.