Innovation
Research has repeatedly shown that heterogeneous groups make better and more creative decisions. In fact, we know that diversity within a team can: increase the variety of ideas and breadth of perspectives, provide more approaches to problem-solving, lead to more creativity and less group-think, reduce premature commitment to one approach without consideration of other options, lead to more practical ideas, and flag risks and challenges to innovation. Yet leveraging this diversity is hard work, and there are many organizations that always follow the same approach, or appoint leadership teams who lack demographic diversity and/or do not solicit diverse perspectives. These behaviors will leave companies behind in the race to innovate.
Catalyst can work with you to determine how to bridge this disconnect by establishing the goals and configurations that will maximize innovation. For example, we can advise you on strengthening collaboration among internal teams and external partners through “open innovation” platforms, developing vehicles for ongoing stakeholder expression and management of virtual teams, creating an environment where risk-taking and new ideas are encouraged and leaders can serve as role models, and recognizing and rewarding the right behaviors to harness innovation.