Building Diverse Design Teams To Drive Innovation
This article is for people who are part of a design team (or any team) that makes crucial business decisions with stakeholders and how they might go about building a diverse team through the use of the Competing Values Framework evaluation
By Riri Nagao
There has been a surge of conversations about the tech industry lacking diversity. Companies are therefore encountering barriers in innovation. The current state of technology faces inequality and privilege, a consequence of having limited voices represented in the design and product development process. In addition, we live in a challenged political and socio-economic state where it’s easier to be divided than come together despite differences.
Design’s role in companies is becoming less about visual appeal and more about hitting business goals and creating value for users. Therefore, the need to build teams with diverse perspectives is becoming imperative. Design will not only be critical to solving problems on the product and experience level, but also relevant on a bigger scale to close social divides and to create inclusive communities.
