Diversity and Inclusion in Engineering Teams

7 min readApr 3, 2024

We see the success of engineering teams as a result of technical skills and innovative ideas. However, success also depends on diversity and inclusion within the team and how you manage them. When you bring different perspectives and skills together, you increase creativity.

In this post, we will talk about how we encourage diversity and inclusion in engineering teams, why we should, and what challenges we might face.

🌵Team Diversity

Team diversity refers to the many different characteristics and perspectives of your team members such as age, gender, ethnicity, cultural background, education level, professional experience, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and physical abilities. This diversity represents a pool of ideas and skills that can help teams to generate more creative solutions.

In technical disciplines such as engineering, diversity is essential to ensure that products and solutions appeal to a wider range of users.

🧠 Creativity

It is a fact that people with different backgrounds bring different perspectives to problem solving processes. This facilitates the emergence of innovative solutions.

There is a study conducted by McKinsey in 2015 on this subject. The research states that companies with high diversity perform better at a rate of 35%. In other words, diversity also has the potential to create tangible value for companies.

🧩 Decision-Making Processes

In diverse teams, we can see more “balance” in decision-making. Because different perspectives push us to evaluate decisions in more detail. As a result, we can more easily identify weak points in decision-making processes.

Another advantage of diversity is that it contributes to the development of deeper empathy and understanding.

Ways to Increase Diversity

The first thing that comes to mind is to build more inclusive recruitment processes. Awareness trainings can also make a significant contribution. A more inclusive corporate culture can be built by companies developing and supporting policies that promote diversity and inclusion.

Promoting Diversity and Inclusion

To support diversity and inclusion, more open communication channels should be created, and everyone should be encouraged to contribute. This makes it smoother to integrate people from different backgrounds into teams.

“Diversity is a reality; inclusion is a choice. The real strength of an organization comes from how it embraces differences and adds value.” — Nellie Borrero

Leaders have a great responsibility to encourage open communication.

Leaders should use more inclusive language in communication. This can make everyone feel valued. This can start by using gender-neutral language and taking cultural sensitivities into account.

It is the leader’s responsibility to create open channels of communication where everyone on the team is heard and their ideas are valued.

Inclusive Leadership and Team Dynamics

The first step in promoting diversity and inclusion in a team is for the leader to adopt an inclusive leadership approach. The leader’s leadership style should aim to create an environment where every team member feels valued, participation is encouraged and talents are recognized. Strengthening team dynamics contributes to a more innovative and effective working environment.

🎤 Everyone’s Voice Matters

Inclusive leaders listen carefully what people in their teams say, evaluate their ideas and show that they value everyone. In this way, the trust built within the team contributes greatly to open channels of communication. Ensuring that everyone expresses their views during decision-making processes in meetings allows for a variety of perspectives to emerge and more balanced decisions to be made.

In my opinion, one of the most important skills of leaders is the ability to accept the experiences of team members with different backgrounds as a richness and to use this situation to improve the performance of the team.

Leaders should support the professional development of team members and help them to maximize their potential. Human beings are emotional beings; therefore, leaders should try to understand the emotional needs and professional goals of their team members. Through this empathetic approach, a deeper respect and understanding can develop. You should foster trust within the team by prioritizing openness and honesty. In conflict situations, inclusive leaders should behave in a fair and objective way. In this way, team members will feel that the views of all members are considered equally.

Challenges and Overcoming Team Diversity

While team diversity enhances innovation and creativity in the engineering and technology sectors, it also brings challenges that arise when individuals from diverse backgrounds come together. These challenges include communication barriers, misunderstandings due to cultural differences, and in-group conflicts. However, overcoming these challenges offers a way to provide deeper understanding and collaboration among team members.

With diversity, we can of course face some difficult situations. Communication barriers (especially the language barrier in international teams), misunderstandings due to cultural differences are some examples.

Overcoming these challenges is actually not as difficult as it seems.

Communication Barriers
Practicing to express thoughts clearly and concisely and confirming important messages in writing can provide a solution in the first place. Improving language skills and providing trainings for cultural awareness can help team members understand each other better. Otherwise, communication problems will cause a serious loss of productivity.

Cultural Differences
Every culture may have differences in work ethics, perception of time and approach to authority. It is necessary to develop an awareness to manage such differences. In order to understand how different cultural backgrounds are reflected in the way we do business, we need to talk and share these differences more. Only in this way can mutual respect and empathy be developed.

Conceptual Model: The moderating effect of inclusive on the link between team ethnic-cultural diversity and inclusive climate

Global and Cultural Dimensions

Cross-cultural understanding and communication in international teams is a very important issue for the management of these teams.

⏰ Managing Global Teams
It is important that team members from different time zones come together to work towards a common goal and collaborate. In fact, the emergence of such teams from different geographies and cultures has made a big leap thanks to the pandemic effect and the adoption of remote working approaches. However, this diversity has also brought challenges in terms of effective communication, cohesion and efficiency.

People working in international teams have different cultural norms and values. This can lead to significant differences in key business practices such as communication styles, decision-making processes, conflict resolution methods and business ethics. A high level of cultural awareness and understanding of different cultural contexts by leaders and team members helps to avoid misunderstandings and build more harmonious working relationships.

The first places where cultural differences are felt are in decision-making and communication styles. Developing cultural empathy and understanding, and embracing cultural differences can help you overcome these challenges.

Inclusion and Sense of Belonging

Inclusion and a sense of belonging are vital for teams. No one wants to stay long in a place where they don’t feel valued, respected and supported.

“In a place where everyone belongs, everyone has a story. And when those stories are heard, real change begins.”
— Brené Brown

The Importance of an Inclusive Environment
Creating an inclusive work environment should provide the necessary conditions for team members to express themselves more clearly and reveal their potential. The existence of such environments has a significant impact on issues such as job satisfaction, increased individual performance and cooperation within the team, and the emergence of innovation. Employees who feel supported and valued have a higher level of commitment and as a result, employee turnover is reduced.

Strengthening Sense of Belonging
Sense of belonging is a result of team acceptance and integration, especially when new people join your team. Leaders should reinforce a sense of belonging through appreciation, feedback, and celebrating successes. Ensuring that all team members are actively involved in decision-making and that their opinions are valued reinforces the sense of belonging.

Gender Diversity and Equality

Gender diversity and equality has become a key element of sustainable success and competitive advantage. There is a need to increase the representation of women and other genders, provide equal opportunities and create a fair environment for everyone to fully utilize their talents. Unfortunately, engineering and technology have become male-dominated sectors and we still face significant gender diversity and equality challenges today.

The Importance of Gender Diversity
Gender diversity enables teams and organizations to develop broader perspectives, ideas and solutions. The unique experiences and perspectives of individuals from different genders enhance problem-solving skills.

Steps to Equality
Promoting gender equality requires a comprehensive approach. This includes eliminating gender bias in recruitment and promotion processes, facilitating women’s access to leadership positions and preventing gender-based discrimination in the workplace.

Cultural Change
Promoting gender diversity and equality also requires a cultural shift. This includes breaking stereotypes, increasing empathy between genders and promoting a workplace culture that ensures equal respect for all. Leaders must be at the forefront of this change and actively promote values that support gender diversity and equality.