Session: How Technology Leaders Can Build Inclusive, High-Performing Teams
Let’s face it: Technology teams today aren’t exactly known for being the most diverse or inclusive organizational units in the world.
And I don’t say that to make anybody wrong, but if you ask anyone who’s worked in the industry for any period of time, most would agree that generally speaking, teams pretty much “look” the same.
And while that might not sound like a big deal, here’s the problem: That lack of diversity and inclusion decreases team creativity and productivity, which translates into lower business revenue.
Why?
Because most people who “look” the same have a tendency to think the same, and problem solve the same, and do a lot of other things similarly, which can significantly impact product design, innovation and customer satisfaction.
Conversely, when you have a more diverse and inclusive culture inside that team, you’re problem solving and innovating with individuals that have a varied set of skills, beliefs and experience levels.
It’s no longer just the same old same old when it comes to product innovation or problem solving or just team dynamics in general, because now you have a team culture that prioritizes the inclusion of a whole host of experiences, point of views and creative abilities that can absolutely become a legitimate competitive advantage for your business.
And it’s during this session where I show participants how diversity and inclusion is a key ingredient for building and leading high performing teams, as well as some do’s and don’ts for operationalizing those learnings and making them work inside their organization.
Bio
Jossie Haines is an executive and engineering leadership coach focused on empowering women leaders to thrive in tech. She has spent over 22 years in the tech industry as an award-winning software engineering leader at the forefront of emerging consumer technology across Silicon Valley, including management roles at Apple, Tile, Zynga, and American Express. She was most recently the VP of Software Engineering & Head of DEI at Tile where she had grown the engineering team by 45% from 29 to 55 in 5 months during COVID and led all software engineering efforts across mobile, backend, web, and QA. At Apple, she led the Siri music team during the development of the HomePod, as well as the Siri media team which won a technical Emmy for the Siri on Apple TV integration. She is also an avid public speaker, having given over 100 talks, workshops, and podcasts on retaining women in tech, engineering leadership, DEI, and various technologies.