Achieving a Diverse and Effective Team

Studies show that organizations with a strong workplace culture comprised of diverse team members are more productive, better meet the breadth of stakeholder needs and have employees who enjoy their jobs more. Here are a few key ways to ensure you are building a dynamic team that will work well together:

• Keep the job description focused on what the actual job includes.
  Eliminate any jargon and superfluous "preferred qualifications" that may confuse or exclude qualified applicants. Also, take a quick scan of your job description to make sure that it does not explicitly or implicitly include gender or age preferences.

• Identify and include the adjectives that speak to your institution's culture in the job description.
  Use synonyms such as rigorous/relaxed, nurturing/autonomous, progressive/traditional, collaborative/competitive, and casual/formal to highlight your institution's work culture.

• Develop a hiring process that reflects your institution's culture.
  If you have a process that reflects the working style of your institution, the candidates that align with it will thrive while others may choose to opt out -- saving you time and money in the long run. For example, if your institution's culture is rigorous, then have the candidates run through a series of steps including presentations, tests and interviews in order to become a finalist.

• Actively recruit beyond your campus.
  It can be tempting to hire a candidate who is referred by a trusted employee without going through the formal hiring process. But by utilizing your institution's website and external career boards, you can be more confident that the finalist is the best candidate for the job and will bring a fresh perspective and new ideas to your institution.

By implementing a few of these recommendations, you can be on your way to fostering your institution's long-term success.