The GEM Connection: Team Cohesiveness for a Diverse and Multi-Generational Environment

The Gem Connection is about building diverse teams and team cohesiveness. The name comes from the original paper clip, the GEM paperclip. This is very symbolic for me because if you chain all different sizes, colors, shapes and ages of paper clips together, they are much stronger than each one individually. This is the same with building high performing teams. In the book, we talk about the skills that a team leader needs in order to build, motivate and develop a high performing team. A team is only as strong as its leader so we start from that principle. There is a step-by-step plan for the leader to use when attracting and building a team that includes a number of factors that impact the diversity of the team. We are not only speaking of ethnic diversity but also diversity of thought, experiences, background, culturally and personality styles. All of these factors should be considered when considering the building of a strong team.