Ways of Hiring and Growing Diverse Product Teams

It goes without saying that the efficacy of a product is what determines the success of an enterprise, extensively. The product that an organization generates however is only as good as the team that is responsible for the entire collaborative process. In this Product Podcast, Head of Product at a streaming platform of Walt Disney, Kasha enunciates the acute importance of hiring and growing diverse product teams and the ways in which this can be achieved by enterprises around the world.

To begin with, Kasha reiterates the crucial significance of forming teams that are truly diverse and inclusive. Stating that hiring and growing diverse product teams are likely to reap far more positive outcomes, in the long run, she explains that invoking diversity while building a team is what opens up an extensive range of possibilities and opportunities that might not have been harnessed before. Yet, Kasha reveals that recent reports indicate not even 20% of members from minority communities are a part of product management teams. To combat this impediment, the first step towards hiring and growing diverse product teams, as per Kasha, is to truly inspect the procedure of recruitment through audits or other modes that would evoke inclusivity. However, she cautions that no transformation or alteration should be initiated, at any point, without taking into consideration the opinion of all the team members involved. Only due regard and participation of all the fellow employees can induce a transformation needed to formulate a successful team that ticks all the right boxes. As the third step, Kasha designates a time-bound strategic vision to ensure that the aspired goals are indeed transformed to reality, in the long run. She also suggests that job openings and such associated information should be made available through platforms to ensure that it reaches out to far more people and thereby, attract potential talent, out there.

While hiring and growing diverse teams is a process that can come to fruition only through gradual steps, initiating the change and taking diligent steps will ensure that it definitely gets transformed into an achievable reality, consequently.