The Power of Difference
What is 'The Power of Difference' about?
Below is a brief Summary, followed by a longer Synopsis explaining the argument that runs through the book in more detail.
brief summary
The Power of Difference is a guide to how diverse teams can be a major asset to problem-solving in an uncertain environment. Different types of diversity, from thinking and creative style, through personality, values, gender and national culture, to ethics and technology, all offer different strengths and resources.
Most team leaders have far more material with which to solve problems than they realise within the personal make-up of their teams. This book describes how they can go about releasing this powerhouse of diversity for beneficial results. Drawing on years of research and practical experience in the field, the book is packed with examples, exercises and advice which will help any team manager to get the very best out of their team.
synopsis
The Power of Difference: Exploring the value and brilliance of diversity in teams
Teams solve problems which are beyond the capacity of one person either in terms of quantity or quality. However, by attempting to solve problems in teams we have created another problem, that of reconciling the perceptions, personalities and aspirations of all the problem solvers.
The inability to align the problem solving skills of those involved accounts for why many teams work at a sub-optimal level and settle for the lowest form of consensus or compromise. This also leads to much dissatisfaction and low morale as individuals feel that they are insufficiently valued.
We have built on the work of Casey and Kirton to argue that the difference between people within a team can be seen as its greatest strength. Diversity can be seen as power waiting to be harnessed. It can add value to problem solving and give it an unexpected brilliance.
A team needs to develop trust and openness depending on how much it needs to share information. If there is no need to share then there is correspondingly little need to understand one another. However, if there is uncertainty as to either the nature of the problem or how it can be solved, then the team needs to pool all their problem solving skills. In times of change this becomes more and more necessary. Teams need to develop languages with which to describe their different approaches, so that a dialogue can develop. This in turn leads to the discovery of the most appropriate approach for any particular problem – whose particular skills are best suited to solving it.
We have identified the diversity variables of problem-solving, creativity, team role, values, national culture, masculine and feminine characteristics, ethics and technology, as those most likely to affect the team’s problem solving capacity if they are not understood and used effectively.
In this book we explore these diversity factors, explaining the effects of each in terms of the team’s problem solving capacity. We use theory, our own experience and anecdote to examine each diversity in turn, showing how it can be a strength rather than a weakness. This is an entertaining book, with a purpose.
In order to purchase your copy from Management Books 2000 click here.
what can the book do for you and your team?
Buying the book, reading it and following some of the exercises, will, we hope, help you to understand and exploit, the diversity in your team better.
Exercise 1. Does your team need help? is a good place to start as it will give you an overall view of where your team lies in terms of trust and openness and how your team sets about solving problems. This exercise is also a good benchmark for an appreciation of how much the team has changed after you have put into practice some of the ideas in the book. You might also find Exercise 4. Co-operative Groups and Teams, helpful. It is a pair of lists to assist you in categorising the behaviour of your team.
It is important to come to some sort of understanding in your mind as to how much uncertainty you and your team are coping with, as this determines how much investment you will want to make in your team. This may be a new concept to you and it may be one with which you are unfamiliar. If your team do routine work, that is you deal with similar sorts of problems everyday, then there may not be too much uncertainty in your work. Uncertainty arises when you are solving problems about the future and how it will look - new policies, laws, strategies. Exercise 3. Categories A, B and C has longer descriptions in order to identify issues, difficulties opportunities and challenges in terms of whether they are simple or complex puzzles or problems. Once you have decided the level of uncertainty in your team you can then focus on the diversity variable that you think would be the most helpful in Exercise 2.
what can we do to help your team?
Please see ‘team development’
what people have said about The Power of Difference
"A flurry of recent research into teams and diversity tells us that the most effective and most creative teams are those, which value difference and establish practical ways, in which they can capitalise on the diversity of their members. Unfortunately, putting this wisdom into practice isn’t always easy. Karen Jackson and Ian Taylor have captured the mood of this emerging movement in a broad-ranging review of some of the factors that influence how a team manages difference. They provide insights into often hidden and undiscussed areas of team dynamics, such as collective values and differences in approaches to problem-solving and decision-making. This is a well-researched, thought-provoking foray into an area of management which will assume increasing importance in the future, as the quality of team functioning becomes more and more of a discriminating factor between high performing organisations and the rest."
Professor David Clutterbuck
"As the owner manager of an SME I am generally skeptical as to the relevance of management texts to an organisation such as mine. Generally I find that the methodologies and techniques described are skewed towards larger corporations and their need to manage and stimulate groups in multiple locations. I was pleasantly surprised to find that The Power of Difference is extremely relevant to my own needs. Rationalising the problem within our teams and repairing those weaknesses has previously been approached empirically. Whereas I now feel confident the techniques identified within the book will allow for a much more systematic approach to solving those weaknesses as they arise."
Tim Johnsen, Managing Director, Eagle Scientific Ltd.
"I’ve been through just about every sort of team-building and diversity program known to man during my 25-year tenure with one of the global oil majors. Most were interesting and helpful for a short period of time but their focus was on the usual list of ‘differences’: race, gender, culture, etc. The one standout is the time spent with Ian and Karen. Their message, embodied in this book, goes deeper than the obvious and in so doing creates not only a sustainable foundation for maximizing team members’ contribution to the task at hand, but helps team work out the other differences too. This book will help serious managers maximise the human potential within their teams."
Kent Hill, BP Refining& Marketing Data Architect
"Having worked with the authors for over twenty years where they have facilitated workshops for teams that I have managed or been part of, it is really encouraging to see their vast experience distilled into a very readable and practical book on teams and especially the value of diversity in the widest sense of the word rather than the narrow definition so much in vogue in the early 21st century. This book is a must for any team that is striving to move their performance from good to extraordinary."
John Spiers, BP Portfolio and Project Management Lead
"The Power of Difference is the combination of the insights that come from deep consulting experience and the application of the right management theory to help you make your teams succeed. If your goal is to make the most of your people (and whose isn't?) then the Power of Difference is a book you should read, digest and implement."
Simon Galbraith PhD, Joint Chief Exec, Red Gate Software
For me, the book is a vade mecum with a wide range of important ideas and resources, and the necessary frameworks to attempt to work in and with teams. It is a book not only for acquiring knowledge but to use it as a guide at any time when working with teams. It has a didactical structure, easy to consult because of an exhaustive index. It has also the possibility to open the book at any page and be situated in a context, as it has reference calls to go backwards or forward, if necessary, to widen the information about the actual subject treated.
The book reveals not only the obvious diversities within people in a team, but also the importance of more subtle or more hidden differences that occur. It shows that it is written under the experience of many years of working with teams, with anecdotal examples that not only clarify concepts but add a more relaxed reading whilst confirming theories.
I have liked it and enjoyed it very much. I couldn't stop reading it as each chapter was an interesting complement from the previous one.
Isabel Bilbao, Director of Art Galleries in Spain and Germany
2nd April 2008
about the authors
Karen Jackson and Ian Taylor are both directors of The Deva Partnership Ltd, a consultancy that specialises in working with teams in solving business issues. They have over forty years' experience between them working in both private and public sectors, and their client list includes a number of blue-chip organisations from a variety of sectors. Their approach to team development is based on detailed analysis of team profiles, establishment of a shared language, the creation of dialogue, and above all the valuing of difference.
