As more women rise higher in the workforce and evidence grows of the value of diverse teams, an odd and important management paradox is arising: mixed teams can be hell to manage.

It is perhaps more elegantly summarised by Rich Karlgaard and Michael Malone, who examined the research for their book Team Genius: “The most successful teams exhibit diversity in their ranks, but [diverse] teams face serious structural challenges regarding motivation, integration, and co-ordination.”

The process of assembling, running and developing a team is difficult enough without the additional obstacles thrown up by diversity. The temptation for team leaders is always to look for ways to reduce any friction that might hamper progress towards a collective goal. So how should managers strike the balance?