Diversity of skills in the workplace

Standard Chartered is one of the leading international banks with 85,000 employees representing 125 nationalities, based in almost 60 locations and serving customers in 150 markets. In Poland we’re a team of over 750 professionals providing highly-specialised services to our internal customers, with 15% of the team being non-Polish nationals, including myself. Our Warsaw-based employees come from Poland and 40 other markets, working with colleagues operating out of Europe and Americas, Asia, Africa and the Middle East daily.

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The variety of places we, our colleagues and customers call home is only one aspect of the diverse environment we operate in. Gender identity, ethnicity, race, ability, age, sexual orientation, family status, religion or belief are some of the other aspects of our team members’ unique backgrounds.

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These aspects, aligned with our identities, make us wonderfully different from each other as individuals and have impact on many areas of our lives and roles we play, including the ones at work. They are rightly part of every discussion on diversity & inclusion in the workplace, however, what I’d like to focus on in this article is something that tends to be on the periphery of these discussions: diversity of skills.

At Standard Chartered GBS Poland we build teams of professionals with a variety of skills, often significantly different. Instead of creating isolated pockets of, for example, engineering and soft skills, we mix experts with these skillsets to come up with solutions that take various aspects into consideration. A good example is our Treasury Modelling Hub, a team that focuses on helping to manage the bank’s liquidity risk effectively. It’s where software developers work hand-in-hand with data scientists, risk managers and project managers to rapidly develop and implement adequate solutions in this highly complex environment, shaped by dynamically changing market situation, regulatory requirements and technological progress. Another good example is our Trust, Data & Resilience team that focuses on keeping the bank safe from cyberthreats. It’s an environment where colleagues with technical skills, engineers, work with law and compliance professionals, business analysts, transformation program experts and intelligence specialists.

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Reflecting on the diversity of skills it’s worth mentioning that it’s not just about the so called ‘hard skills’, which one will find in job descriptions but also about the more universal ones, often referred to as ‘soft skills’. Problem solving, communication, creativity, just to name a few.

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So what are the benefits of building teams of diverse skills? If there’s no time to lose and the stakes are high, it’s even more important to have people with the right expertise collaborating closely end effectively than in a less dynamic environment. The team needs to be joined up, with members bringing complementary skills picking up relevant bits and pieces of work without the time- and energy-consuming consultations that tend to happen if contributors sit in various departments. One could argue that you don’t have to have people with various skills in one team for them to collaborate effectively and that it is possible to achieve this through relevant project/process management tools and methodologies. However, I’d argue that as the new ways of working are being shaped by internal (eg. new products and services, corporate culture transformation, leadership changes) and external factors (eg. customers’ needs and expectations, regulatory landscape, technological progress, labour market trends), it will take time till we wake up in workplaces where colleagues with certain skillsets move from one project to another, contributing to a project squad as long as there’s something for them to do and then switch to other area.

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Apart from getting things done faster and better thanks to being closely connected within one team and with a single line of command, teams with diverse skills foster knowledge transfer between colleagues. While working together professionals with various skillsets learn from each other, be it planned and intentional (eg. through some internal training delivered by team member with certain skills that other colleagues may not have), spontaneous (eg. ‘hey, I’ve seen you’re using this and that tool, it seems quite effective, would you find 10 minutes to show me how it works while having a coffee?’) or subconscious (through observation and interaction). Daily interaction with colleagues with different competences can also be a source of inspiration and help colleagues discover new development areas, supporting reskilling and upskilling that are key for being future-proof. Moreover, my experience suggests that diverse skillsets in a team benefit effective risk management. With various subject matter experts looking at certain elements of a joint project, the chances that some sort of risk won’t be addressed or at least taken into consideration are smaller than if a team is more homogenous skills-wise. Last but not least, diverse teams tend to be more creative and innovative – they’re built of individuals of various professional backgrounds, who are bringing their unique perspective to the table and inspire each other to maybe look at things differently, from another angle. This brings ‘aha moments’ and ‘Eureka moments’ and results in generating ideas that could take time (or forever) to be put forward if a team comprises of experts with very similar skillsets.

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It’s not all fun and games, though. Putting people from often different professional worlds into one team does have darker side. If one has spent their entire career working with likeminded people and joins a team of diverse skills, this may be challenging. It takes open-mindedness, respect and good will to embrace these differences and adapt. It also requires a style of leadership where managers are the glue that puts these different pockets of skills together, helps resolve issues and makes sure team members understand the objectives and purpose they share (the ‘why are we here with these [insert a skillset] freaks?’ and ‘what are we trying to achieve?’).

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Simply put, in my experience diverse teams with diverse skills-sets, opinions and backgrounds, who are respected and valued, in a diverse and inclusive environment will always outperform non-diverse teams.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Stephen Hamilton

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Head Operations,
Integrated Middle Office,
Standard Chartered GBS Poland
Member of #WorkingTogether Program Council

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Based in Warsaw, Stephen Hamilton leads the Operations division of Standard Chartered’s Integrated Middle Office, a team of experienced professionals with a diverse skillset. Previously employed at JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank in the UK and more recently Citibank in Poland, Steve has 18 years of experience in Securities Lending, Middle Office and Custody. During his career Steve has been responsible for managing various operations servicing a wide geographic of Institutional Clients supporting a wide range of financial instruments across global markets. He has a significant track record of building strong and sustainable teams, driving and implementing innovative solutions to business challenges and delivering efficient risk averse services.

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In parallel to his day-to-day responsibilities, Steve is passionate about culture, diversity & inclusion and employee experience, driving cross-business working groups ensuring that employee feedback is not only listened to but acted upon. He serves as Diversity & Inclusion Council Chairperson at Standard Chartered’s office in Poland, working closely with the bank’s Human Resources team and Employee Resource Groups to deliver the bank’s D&I agenda in Poland. He is also an experienced trainer leading and or facilitating a multitude of programs targeting hard and soft skills at all levels of the business.

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Linkedin profile:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-hamilton-6a8425119/