Communication is Key

In terms of communication, what factors would you say impact how you communicate as a leader to a diverse team?

I think that’s such an interesting question because there’s some diversity that you can see right away, and then there’s other diversity that you don’t really know about that you have to look for.
I’m a huge fan…As you might expect, there’s like a theme running through this conversation. I’m a huge fan of getting to know the people I work with really authentically as humans. I like to know what they did on the weekend. I like to know what time they go to bed. So, like, are you a night owl? I just like to know more about them.
But where I’m going with this is I find that for teams that I manage, my one-on-one time is a really precious time to hear what they’re thinking in a really safe way. And if I can understand what their perspective is and how they’re diverse, and find ways to amplify their voice.
If I see communication as just “Tracy is going to talk and you’re going to listen,” then that’s not very diverse because that’s just one person who’s talking. But if you can understand the strengths and weaknesses of your team, foster debate, make conflicting opinions okay, then all of a sudden, you will build processes and a safe environment for people to be different.