5 Ways to Build Strong Relationships in Diverse Groups

Diverse groups offer rich opportunities for transformative collaboration.

Incredible insights and solutions bubble up when diverse people from diverse backgrounds with diverse talents advance diverse interests within the context of collaboration. Cross-functional, skip-rank, inter-organizational, intergenerational, and cross-cultural teams offer especially rich opportunities for transformative collaborations precisely because they bring together broad perspectives and talents.

That said, these strengths can also present vulnerabilities on the relationship-building front, especially when collaborators inadvertently fill in missing knowledge about others and their work with conjecture, stereotypes, or thin air. When working with people who are different from you in any number of ways—ranging from demographic features to ideological differences to disciplinary lenses—it is critical to invest in knowing the other person, decoding your context, and exploring your assumptions.

Here are five ways to build stronger collaborative relationships with others from diverse functional areas, ranks, organizations, generations, geographies, and cultures.

Don’t assume you’re speaking the same language

Take the time to explain what you mean when using jargon that is common in your division, discipline, or company. Ask for clarification when you’re unsure what an acronym from another’s world means.

Specialized language excludes people from understanding what’s unfolding in a conversation and undermines their ability to contribute meaningfully. The language we use thus creates ingroups and outgroups, and those distinctions can undermine the effectiveness of the collaboration.

When kicking off a new collaboration or onboarding a new person to an existing collaboration, consider providing a list of acronyms. Make a practice of defining key terminology at the top of presentations.

Be curious about others’ work

I once facilitated a higher ed collaboration that involved a half-dozen universities and a half-dozen functional areas from each institution. People around the table knew nothing about each other as individuals. Titles such as Faculty Liaison, Registrar, Transfer Specialist, Learning Designer, Academic Librarian, and Associate Dean provided only a vague sense of each person’s responsibilities. People with similar titles from different institutions had wildly different duties. Add in all the degrees and certifications signaled by the letters after people’s names, and the roster of attendees looked like alphabet soup.

Realizing these context clues told us very little about why all these people were in the room together in the first place, I began with deep introductions: What role do you play at your institution? What outcomes do you value? What are your priorities? What does good work look like? What do you think others don’t understand about your role? How do you anticipate your expertise will feed into the goals of this collaboration?

Seek to understand the other person’s interest in this shared project

While you should know what you and your division wish to gain from engaging in a particular collaboration, it would be a mistake to assume others are likewise driven by the same constellation of concerns or opportunities. Rather than risk the misstep of inadvertently squashing somebody else’s desired outcomes, ask what those are so you can protect them and hold them on par with your own. Key questions include: What else are you juggling right now and where does this particular project rank? What about this shared work is most interesting to you? What could we do here that would be particularly meaningful or helpful to you? What do you most want to get out of this experience, either for your division or for you personally?

Don’t assume that what’s appropriate in your local context will be appropriate elsewhere

A Global Operations Manager I interviewed shared a powerful story about the importance of being alert to differences in what’s appropriate across contexts. Colleagues from other countries would often ask her about American politics, sometimes lobbing a joke about specific American politicians. When she offered a parallel critique of their head of government, uncomfortable silence settled in the room. Later, a colleague explained that, in that country, it was risky for people to question the government. The point here is that, whether we’re working with colleagues from another country or just another division within our own company, it’s important to be a good guest. Be mindful of local customs and practices.

Be humble

Intellectual humility is critical in any collaboration, and especially so in collaborations with diverse others. Intellectually humble people know the limitis of their own knowledge. Just because you might be familiar with a division’s work doesn’t mean you know what your colleagues know. Don’t tell others how to do their job. Invite others’ insights. You can ask: “From your vantage point, what are the opportunities and risks here?” or, “This is an area I know nothing about. What would you say are the key points I need to understand?” And my favorite question: “How do you see it?”

In summation: While valuable in any collaboration, these conversations are essential to building strong collaborations across lines of difference. Normalize the practice of holding these conversations by creating time and space for them to unfold. Your relationships, and the collaborations they empower, will be stronger because of it.