Freddie Mercury and Cognitive Diversity
By Paul Langfield
In the recent blockbuster Bohemian Rhapsody, Freddy Mercury’s character explains why his solo career failed by saying: “I hired a bunch of guys. I told them exactly what I wanted them to do. And the problem was…they did it.” There are a couple nuggets of business wisdom in that quote, and one of them is about cognitive diversity. Freddy’s attempt to circumvent the hassles of working with a cognitively diverse team killed the magic.
Cognitive Diversity results when a team of individuals with innately different thought and communication styles are encouraged to freely, and safely voice different opinions and ideas in various situations, including decision making processes. Working with a cognitively diverse team can be challenging because it requires effort to resolve differences that arise within the team, but as Queen learned, that creative process is critical in producing the most excellent outcome.
There are several inventories such as the Myers Briggs, and the DiSC, designed to measure a person’s natural tendencies when it comes to thinking and communicating at work. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll refer to the DiSC for this example, where someone with:
a high “D” score is often described as “demanding”, “driven”, and motivated by competition
a high “i” score is often seen as an “influencer”, and “people-person” motivated by relationships
a high “S” is characterized as “stable, “consistent”, and motivated by cooperation, and
a high “C” is referred to as “conscientious”, “detailed”, and motivated by accuracy
High-performing teams have all four types represented and are able to consistently appreciate each other’s uniqueness, bridge to each other’s communication styles, resolve conflict, and make decisions together. There are proven ways to build that type of team environment through programs like Groups Work™, pioneered by Johnna Bavoso at The People Business, Inc.
Why do companies unwittingly migrate toward innovation-crippling homogeny? Imagine a company with a “high D” CEO who has built an organization with a track record of cognitive diversity; but the CEO has recently turned her focus to other demands due to company growth. The Executive VP (EVP) who is a combination “i/S” leaves the organization for whatever reason. When interviewing for his replacement, the CEO naturally feels most aligned with the candidate who is a “high D” because she feels most comfortable conversing with him, and he closely reflects her own innate tendencies. As a result, the new EVP position is filled with a high D.
Those who report to the new EVP are used to an “i/S” who expressed his appreciation generously, showed personal care for them and their families, encouraged input (even from the quiet ones), and took them out for coffee once a month for their team meeting. His “i” traits made him approachable, and his “S” traits made his team feel stable and safe, encouraging their loyalty.
As a result of the new leader’s natural style, the quiet “C” team members begin sharing ideas less and less, the non-Ds in the group slowly disengage feeling that their new leader doesn’t care about them personally, and the monthly coffee meetings stop because the new leader doesn’t have time for them, and they were costing the company an “unneeded” expense.
As it turns out, for a relatively minimal investment, the coffee meetings had been an endearing ritual that brought the team together and made them feel appreciated. Cancellation of “Coffee Friday” the second Friday of each month has several team members feeling resentful of the new manager and speculating that the company no longer cares about them enough to invest a few dollars of appreciation.
Of course, the new EVP is actually a fine guy, and a competent leader. None of these outcomes were intentional, but they happened because there wasn’t a strategy to account for how the change in style (cognitive diversity) would impact the team. Unfortunately, several of the disillusioned team members leave the company within a few months feeling hurt and betrayed. Primarily the Ds stay because they resonate well with the new boss’ style.
When interviewing replacements for the departing employees, the interviews are conducted by the EVP and his team. Following the recent attrition, the majority of the interviewing team are Ds, and they naturally select several candidates who resonate most closely with their communication styles and values… more Ds. As the changes in management impact the next level down and attrition occurs in that lower layer, departing employees at that level are also replaced by Ds in a ratio that’s higher than you would expect by chance. You can continue to extrapolate this trend both down, and across the organization until the company is heavily “D” weighted. This company has sacrificed its innovative edge for homogeny. A secondary impact is a drastic increase in turnover, which is always expensive.
Remember that each of the four styles provide incredible value, and having equal representation is what results in a high-performing team. I used a “D” CEO and EVP for illustrative purposes only, but those roles could have been any style, and triggered a similar outcome. For example, a team accustomed to “D” leadership that is replaced with an “i” leader might feel frustrated about the lack of progress as the team spends more time relating to one another and ensuring everyone is heard. Similarly, a “D” replaced with a “C” might result in a team feeling like they’re so stuck in the details that they can’t get to the end goal. The point is, I’m not picking on Ds, I just happened to choose them for this example.
So, how do I stop the march toward homogeny in my organization?
Help your staff identify differences in cognitive and communication styles within their teams. Assessments like the DiSC help provide a shared, baseline vocabulary.
Train your teams to recognize and appreciate cognitive diversity through programs like Groups Work™.
Support and maintain a vocabulary and culture of cognitive diversity from the top down (I’ve seen companies include DiSC letters on office name plaques so colleagues entering an office can consciously bridge their style to accommodate who they are talking to.)
Executive leaders need to model an awareness of, and support of style differences in meetings and conversations. This includes efforts to bridge their own styles to the styles of others. Encourage those who might not normally speak up in a meeting to share their ideas and opinions.
Ensure that all styles are represented in a meaningful way during interview processes for new hires, and when appropriate, include cognitively diverse members from teams across the company in the interviewing process.
When discussing potential new hires, include conversations about the existing team dynamics. Is there a style that’s under-represented? Rather than just considering what candidate would “jive” with the team, also consider what candidate might challenge the team to grow in innovative thought.
It wasn’t always smooth for Queen, but as a diverse group they won countless awards including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Are your teams poised for similar success?