How the DOT Scorecard® system works
Small groups face complex decisions that influence whether organisations will flourish or fail...
Groups with wide-ranging diversity of thought draw on different life experiences, contrasting beliefs and distinct ways of thinking. They avoid “groupthink” by challenging assumptions and sharing what’s really on their minds. They can also increase their potential for innovation by coming up with alternative approaches to complex opportunities and challenges.
How do you know if your group is diverse thinking?
Increasing demographic, or identity, diversity will increase a decision-making group’s capability for diverse thinking around the represented characteristics. However, it will not automatically increase the breadth of diverse thinking. Especially if experiences, perspectives and thought preferences are similar across the group.
The Diversity of Thought Scorecard (DOT Scorecard®) solves the problem of making visible the invisible elements that underlie wide-ranging diversity of thought.
Input questionnaire - Usually less than 10-minutes
Evaluate any team, board or other group with 3 to 30 members on its inherent potential for diversity of thought. Each group member completes an online questionnaire where they self-report on the experiences, perspectives and thought preferences that underlie their mindset and worldview.
Participants' individual responses are confidential. See our Privacy Policy.
A proprietary algorithm evaluates the representation and overlap of experiences, perspectives and thought preferences within that particular group. The algorithm determines a score for the group on an index from 0 to 100. Higher scores indicate greater potential for the assessed wide-ranging diversity of thought.
The Group Score
The group is the primary unit of measurement for the DOT Scorecard®. The input questionnaire responses from group members are only meaningful when considered with the responses from each of the other group members.
The Group Score is calculated using the Diversity Difference Engine algorithm, which builds the overall score by combining 10 independent sub scores. These highlight attributes from experiences, perspectives and thought preferences where the group’s questionnaire responses showed that the group has a higher,or lower,potential for thinking differently.
The lowest possible score is 0 and the highest is 100 and (five or more group members). With four group members the maximum is 91, and with only three members 73. A higher score indicates a higher level of wide-ranging diversity of thought.
The Group Score can be benchmarking against groups with similar characteristics provides insight into the group’s potential for diverse thinking relative to other groups with a similar factor.
Individual contribution
Diversity, and diverse thinking, are entirely dependent on context. Therefore, the potential contribution each individual makes to a group’s diversity of thought is completely relative to that particular group. An individual that makes little impact in one group could easily be the highest contributor within another group.
Group members with experiences, perspectives and thought preferences that are different to their group have more potential to add diverse thinking. Other group members may have many attributes that match others - they therefore have less chance of affecting the group’s wide-ranging diversity of thought.
To calculate the impact each individual has on the group’s overall score, the Group Score is recalculated with each member excluded from the group (or subgroup).
The degree of difference between each group member and the overall group is represented using a graphic that is inspired by the planetary model of an atom developed by Neils Bohr in 1913.
Individual response differences
The responses from the individuals within the group can be compared to each other instead of the group as a whole. This provides information on group members who might see things differently to each other.
The most, and least, similar pairings can be revealed along with the results of each pair comparison for all members of a group.
Measuring group decision-making culture
Diversity of thought must be realised to make a positive contribution to the decision-making process.
To understand the group’s current decision-making culture, three factors are measured:
- Inclusion in decision-making
- Psychological Safety
- Independence - of both mind and expression
There is interaction between these factors. For example, psychological safety is the shared belief that a group is safe for interpersonal risk taking. If a group has a low level of psychological safety then groups members are less likely to express independent views.
Participants' individual responses are confidential. See our Privacy Policy.
Group decision-making culture - Net Promoter Score
A process based on the Net Promoter Score (NPS) approach is used to convert responses to the decision-making culture questions to scores between +100 and -100 that can be compared across factors, between groups, or within a group over time.
Higher positive scores indicate the group is more likely to actually realise their inherent potential for diversity of thought.