Almost 95 percent of Dutch executives consider men and women equally suitable as leaders. At least that’s what they find with the conscious part of their brain. When they take a test in which the subconscious makes the decision, 83 percent turn out to have a preference for a man. This became clear during an inspiration session about mindbugs, part of the Steyn Parvé program, to which the participants had also invited guests. This program helps female research talent on their way to the top. Everyone has those prejudices that they are not even aware of. And unconscious prejudice, or implicit bias, causes less diversity in teams.
Not only diversity in gender, but also in age, race, introverted-extrovert or other character traits. Diversity is necessary to provide equal opportunities for everyone, but it offers much more. “Heterogeneous teams, with more diversity, do better than homogeneous teams”, says Esther Mollema, who gives the inspiration session. “You do your best work when you are slightly uncomfortable. If you are in a team where you are always slightly challenged, then your brain is on top of its capabilities. Predictability is nice, it gives you more confidence, but it does not lead to better results. Then you know at a certain moment during meetings that Piet will come up with an idea again, which Anneke will say something about. And you know which position you will take yourself. Nice and easy, but not surprising. When the diversity is greater, it leads to more brainpower, less laziness and a better result. ”…
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