Embracing Diversity in Working Styles

During the expert session, Scott Davenport engages the audience through Mentimeter and real-life examples of diverse work environments. In this interaction his methods facilitate understanding, respect, and adaptation to various working styles for enhanced team productivity.

• Recognizing and Understanding Working Styles: Gaining a deeper insight into your own working style and that of your colleagues is essential for effective communication and collaboration in the workplace.

• Adapting Your Approach: Learning how to adapt your approach when working with individuals who have different working styles from yours can lead to enhanced team productivity and improved project outcomes.

• Utilizing Tools for Self-Assessment and Team Understanding: Using tools like Mentimeter for self-assessment and sharing the results with colleagues can help initiate valuable conversations about working styles and how best to collaborate for success.

In this expert session, Scott Davenport discusses the importance of understanding working styles and embracing diversity in the workplace for optimal productivity. He starts with emphasizing the importance of diversity, which encompasses various aspects including race, age, sexual orientation, nationality, and more. He explains that even when diversity in a group of people seems low based on the aspects mentioned, the diversity in working styles and behaviors can be significant. Scott explains why diversity in the workplace is important, as it brings different perspectives, it improves effectiveness and it makes processes, services and products more inclusive.

Scott introduces four basic working styles: logical, supportive, detail-oriented and idea-oriented. He explains that recognizing and valuing different working styles can lead to improved communication, reduced misunderstandings, and stronger alliances in the workplace. For instance, when collaborating with someone who has an idea-oriented working style, it's essential to brainstorm ideas together, be open to exploring various options, ask questions about project goals, and make interactions more social if possible. On the other hand, when working with someone who has a logical working style, it's crucial to provide data and evidence, focus on logical arguments, prepare for in-depth questions, send agendas and supporting documents beforehand, and express appreciation for their logical approach.

To implement these learnings, Scott takes the audience through a brief self-assessment and encourages participants to reflect on the self-assessment questions provided and create an action plan for implementation. He also recommends sharing questionnaire results with colleagues to initiate conversations about working styles and collaboration strategies. By embracing diversity and optimizing working styles within teams, organizations can foster a workplace where everyone can excel, leading to increased contribution and improved team culture.

After the self-assessment Scott spends more time explaining each of the working styles in more depth, improving the understanding of preferences of each style. Throughout the conversation, Scott emphasizes the significance of adapting to different working styles and being open to learning from colleagues. He concludes the session by expressing gratitude for the insightful contributions from participants and encourages them to reach out with any questions or follow-up inquiries. The audience leaves the session feeling inspired and equipped with practical tools to enhance collaboration, optimize productivity, and create a more inclusive workplace.

Supercharge your Personal Resilience

Personal resilience is now considered an essential skill in any workplace - so let’s explore how you can supercharge your personal resilience so you can bring your best self to work every day.
After this interactive session you will be armed with a fresh focus and new tools to supercharge your ability to weather the storm.