Diversity & Inclusive Practices Flashcards

A team member from a collectivist culture avoids speaking up in brainstorming sessions dominated by individualistic voices. What is the most inclusive coaching intervention?

Answer: Introduce structured turn-taking so every voice gets equal airtime

Structured turn-taking removes the social pressure that disadvantages collectivist communicators and ensures equitable participation.

Which term describes the phenomenon where team members from marginalized groups feel pressure to represent their entire identity group?

Answer: Tokenism

Tokenism occurs when a person is included in a group primarily to give the appearance of diversity, creating pressure to speak for their whole group.

A CTC notices that retrospective action items consistently go to the same two team members. What diversity-aware coaching move addresses this?

Answer: Audit task distribution by role and seniority, then discuss equitable allocation

Auditing and making visible the pattern of task distribution enables the team to consciously correct inequitable workload sharing.

What does psychological safety specifically enable team members from underrepresented groups to do?

Answer: Share ideas and concerns without fear of humiliation or retaliation

Psychological safety allows all team members, especially those from underrepresented groups, to contribute authentically without fear of negative consequences.

A Scrum Master observes that sprint planning discussions frequently reference sports metaphors that alienate non-sports fans and some cultural groups. The best coaching response is to:

Answer: Facilitate a team agreement on shared, universally relatable language

Co-creating a team language agreement respects diverse backgrounds while preserving the team's ability to communicate efficiently.

Which coaching approach best addresses affinity bias during team decision-making?

Answer: Use structured criteria and anonymous idea submission before group discussion

Anonymous idea submission and pre-defined criteria reduce the tendency to favor ideas from people who are similar to ourselves.

An agile team is forming a new subgroup to tackle a critical spike. A diversity-conscious coach would recommend selecting members by:

Answer: Volunteer interest combined with intentional skill and perspective diversity

Combining volunteer interest with deliberate diversity of skill and perspective produces subgroups that are both motivated and cognitively diverse.