Diverse teams can produce better results for your company. Here’s how to incorporate diversity—and individuality—to create a more innovative business.

Source: Inc.com

This business alignment conversation starter is designed to help managers and their teams recognize opportunities to leverage diversity – particularly diversity of thought – to improve business results.

While short-term fixes like day–long innovation sessions or ideation labs can spur the generation of ideas, they very rarely lead to a culture that actually embraces innovation. Like any other culture change, sustainable change requires an integrated system approach. Here are some tips for crreating an innovative culture.

The Card Game is a quick 15-minute ideation activity to help participants leverage diversity of thought and the infusion of multiple ideas into the idea generation process. The idea is to have the group, in a round-robin style lend their ideas to a challenge.

The Word Association Exercise is a 30-minute ideation activity to help participants leverage diversity of thought and the infusion of multiple ideas into the idea generation process. The idea is to use the associations of random words to form connections and solutions to challenges or to generate new ideas.

The Diversity Council Back-pocket exercise is a 20-minute exercise to facilitate idea generation and decision making process.

The New Information Drives New Ideas innovation exercise is designed to train individuals and groups to think differently and apply this process to solve real business challenges and uncover new and exciting opportunities.

The Innovation at the Intersection exercise is designed to help managers and their teams apply diverse perspectives to business challenges and opportunities.

What does it really mean to innovate? And how, as leaders, can we foster a culture and environment that truly drives innovation in our work teams and places of business?  This article provides tips to driving innovation within your teams.