An instigating conversation while coaching a client last week that I felt compelled to share
Client: While navigating our way through the ambiguity, we face complex challenges in today’s VUCA world. What kind of mindset is needed to solve these challenges?
My response: It is so much need today to embrace Design Thinking as a mindset to solve any of the complex challenges as of the VUCA world. The Design Thinking mindset is essentially about:
- Curiosity to explore the human behavior around the problem.
- Empathy to deeply connect with other human.
- Embracing ambiguity: when we are comfortable being uncomfortable and when we know and accept that we are uncertain, when we don’t know the solution for a problem and at times don’t know the right problem itself, but are ready to explore the problem and different ideas to identify and solve the right problem.
- Optimism that we hold the power to solve problems creatively and humanly. All problems are solvable.
- Overcoming the fear of failure by Experimenting quickly with radical collaboration. It is essential to have multi-diverse teams when collaborating in order to come up with innovative solutions to challenges.
Client: What’s the advantage of forming multi-diverse teams together?
My response: Individuals/people with different skill background or professional specializations need to work on solving a complex challenge in a group. They bring different perspectives, experiences, knowledge, expertise and opinions and this diversity of thinking styles when applied to a work challenge is a recipe for any great product service or experience for the world.
For e.g. In Ford, for our strategy team we had a mix of coaches, change agents, technical SMEs, business SMEs, financial SMEs and the leaders where in all were able to bring diverse perspectives when defining and executing strategy or solving a problem with a team that was culturally diverse.
Client: Can you elaborate with more diverse examples?
My response: Sure, For e.g. During my Delhi Educators workshop for Professors from various disciplines (pharmaceuticals, IT, engineering, architecture, management, design) along with students from multi-diverse streams putting their heads together on “How might we improve/enhance the learning experience for students in the University and How might we create a culture of Innovation?”.Different points of view were key in coming up with a unique, agile and scalable solution that addresses needs of multi-diverse students.
It has been observed that breakthrough and compelling consumer insights come from multi-diverse teams and key insights are translated into successful products, services or experiences.
In a fast changing world, where the ability to innovate is now recognized as the main competitive edge, companies must seek to create more multi-diverse teams.
IDEO has launched ‘Shape’, a virtual visual cross collaborative environment for open innovation at multiple scales, from small teams to large organizations and global communities with easy access to targeted audience & users online. One of its key objectives is to activate communities and teams around shared strategic challenges, and Build and share a knowledge base apart from being a digital innovation tool to build, test, and refine ideas. It took gathering and analysing data from years of extensive collaborative research with 60+ innovation leaders from diverse backgrounds around the globe.
Then there are other well known examples from Organizations like Amazon, Disney, Google, Pixar that have globally multi-diverse teams as they build services, products and experiences that work for everyone.
HBR’s article shares insights on trait of most creative teams i.e. being culturally diverse: The Most Creative Teams Have a Specific Type of Cultural Diversity
Client: Has multi-diversity been applied in a bigger context i.e. like cross-collaboration among diverse organisation to create new solutions for the world?
My response: Yes, Facebook’s new project called Libra: to launch stablecoin-based payments network, it’s a 28 member association which include Visa, Mastercard, Uber, Spotify, the Facebook subsidiary Calibra and many more which come from similar or different background like across payment, technology, music players, telecommunication, online marketplace, venture capital and non-profits with their vested interest to capture/capitalise global payments market .
Client: Any example from India on multi-diversity as cross collaboration?
My response: For the ‘Smart city’ nationwide program sponsored by the Government in India where diverse organisations like TCS, ICRA AIILSG Jones Lang La Salle are in association and collaborating to solve challenges to build the plan for the identified cities in the charter.
U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) sponsored Smart City Ajmer, Rajasthan by giving a collaboration grant to strengthen people-to-people ties between the U.S. and India through the exchange of information, experience, and expertise. Sweden has collaborated with India for clean technologies.
Indeed, Cross collaboration has immense potential for diverse organisations in India too as products, services are constantly reshaping or fading and it’s the right time to explore this opportunity.
The power of cross collaboration is well understood yet it ironically remains so weakly followed.
After this conversation, I left a question for my client to ponder on and it’s the same question where I am curious to know thoughts of my readers as well “What do you think on how could we as organizations diversify, transform and capitalize an opportunity by leveraging cross collaboration, increase profitability, business success and at the same time contribute towards the kind of development for the country that makes living easy and lot more celebrated.”
Share your comments below to join/fuel the conversation…
Gauri Mohan 