Diverse Talents In A Team Makes A Qualitative Difference In The Field Of Innovation

INSEAD- 30 March 2015- Vikas A. Aggarwal, an assistant professor at the institute of INSEAD which was originally based at Château de Fontainebleau, in France, writes in his article that a team should consist of people coming from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Team members with different ideas are the keys to unlocking greater sources of innovative contribution leading to original thinking and creations. We are living in a hyper competitive era wherein more and more organisations are beginning to rely on the culture of innovation as their source of sustenance. Innovation, a fundamental aspect of any entrepreneur, brings in certain advantages ensuring ongoing product effectively in the multitudinous competitive market crowd. However, favourable conditions should be created in order to think and function in an innovative way. Most importantly the beginning of an innovative journey should be marked with the ability to recognise and gather knowledge from different places, which then are accumulated together to form a new working team capable of creating a significant impact. Therefore, the team plays an important role in any such process. If a right balance between a good team play along with an individualistic thinking is struck, then a firm can progress in leaps and bound in comparison to a single mind trying to run the show. According to the C.E.O. of Aspen Institute, Mr. Walter Isaacson, team work allows a “sustained pipeline of innovation” to influence the output of any working instead of the “light-bulb moments of lone genius”. Moreover, the value of an innovative team work is now being acknowledged widely. Yet, the need for a team with multiple talents having varied background and experiences which can be instrumental in maximizing the stream of innovation for any company is what escapes from the most. Many researches prove the positive contribution made by a harmonious team consisting of diverse talents and technological expertise. Still, majority overlooks the benefit of such a team work with harmonious diversity, which is in Mr. Vikas A. Aggarwal’s words means “putting together teams which may not be diverse with respect to the composition of their individual members, but which are very different when compared to other units within the firm”. In order to grasp the situation and take full control over it, one should look at it from a ‘hawk-eye’ point of view which includes, in this case, a well coordinated team of varied talents. It is to the interest of the company that it should maximize its combinations of expertise available at hand and minimize the coordination expenses. Consequently, reducing the communication gaps and any frictions caused by misunderstanding as the each player has something totally different to bring to the table. In time, this coordination should be raised to the next level of synchronization between different teams, allowing a “cross fertilization” of ideas to create a new hybrid of innovation. Research studies, conducted by Andy Wu and David H. Hsu, show that companies with diverse cross team coordination, while each unit specialized in different fields, had a better innovative performance rate. References: http://knowledge.insead.edu/diversity/maximising-innovation-with-diversity-3924