Tompkins Trust Small Biz Think Big: Leveraging the Power of Diverse Teams

Leveraging the Power of Diverse Teams

Led by Margo Hittleman, PhD, Co-founder and Coordinator, Natural Leaders Initiative
Often, people put together diverse teams, but then work in ways that fail to reap the benefits of that diversity. This highly interactive workshop offers both a framework and practical tools for leveraging the power of diverse teams, optimizing innovation, and strengthening organizational decision-making. It invites participants to become intentional and strategic about this work. It is designed both for those who lead diverse teams and those who want to build their capacity to do so in the future. The content is applicable to across a wide range of contexts.

In this highly interactive workshop, you will:

• Explore the power of diversity for creativity and innovation
• Gain tools to promote an inclusive group process that invites the sharing of diverse and divergent perspectives, experiences and ideas
• Cultivate the art of “asking” vs. “telling”
• Learn to invite innovation-generating, constructive “task or content conflict” while reducing the innovation-destroying traps of “relationship conflict,” false harmony, polarization, and the pull toward conformity 
• Shift your focus from “good intentions” to “intended results”