When we talk about DEI, the main benefits that are usually brought up are the critical added perspectives members of under-represented groups can bring to the table, in addition to their professional expertise.
This kind of contribution can catch and address potential problems with a product or a business approach early on, thereby saving time, effort and money in a ripple effect that can ultimately influence company bottom lines in otherwise unforeseen and unexpected ways.
But when you let professional expertise be the only criteria which dictates how teams are formed in the first place, you’re missing out on two important DEI factors.
The first is that even within companies with robust DEI programs, bias still exists, and can still be reflected in diversity within a given profession. So while you may have a DEI program that’s attempting to address bias by promoting diversity, a team of engineers on the ground may still be quite homogenic from a DEI perspective.
That means that until the DEI program attains its planned results, your teams and your products will still suffer from a lack in that critical added perspective.
The second is that DEI works better as a holistic approach.
This means that it’s not enough to just have a diverse team of similarly trained professionals; what you really want is a team and process that are informed by various perspectives, both personal and professional.