Managing Effective Teams
How do successful women lead in the workplace? This is the subject of Sheryl Sandberg's book, Lean In. Lean In has launched much discussion around women in the workforce and leanin.org is a useful reference for both women and men who need to find ways to successfully work together. Melissa Thomas-Hunt from the University of Virginia delivered a talk found on Leanin.org that highlights strategies for women leaders who manage effective teams. Her three main strategies include:
1) Identify and Leverage your Expertise
2) Enlist Early Support
3) Engage Others
Melissa's talk was highly informative and I appreciated her female centered approach to managing effective teams. Her strategies are highly tangible:
1) Identify and Leverage your Expertise
In Melissa's own research, she has tested what I call the "expert factor" and how it affects others' perceptions of individuals and their credibility. When groups contain an expert, but members are unaware of who the expert is, they generally assign the majority of credibility to the person who is most active in group discussion. This is not necessary the person who is indeed the expert. Melissa stresses that women especially must establish their credibility early and often. She even recommends setting personal goals when participating in groups. For example, make sure to speak within the first 5 minutes of a group meeting. Tell yourself how many times you will participate in a given session before it starts, and then live up to that expectation. If someone articulates your point before you do, build rapport by vocalizing your agreement and adding evidence. Don't be afraid to say "as an expert in (international education management for example), I believe the following...". However, do not say phrases like "I don't know anything about molecular biology but..." or "this might be a stupid comment but..." because these phrases make it easy for your team members, and those you are managing, to dismiss your comments. Instead say, "coming from an International Education background, it makes sense to me that..." and bridge your expertise to your opinion.
These comments deeply resonated with me. I am not always the most vocal individual in a group, or in class for that matter. At MIIS, where the majority of class time is spent on discussion, rather than lecture, it has been difficult to push myself to participate. I appreciate Melissa's advice regarding setting expectations for yourself before going into a group meeting so that it's clear what you should do and it reinforces self-confidence when you do it. In addition, self-confidence increases when you know that others respect your opinion and so vocally indicating that you are an expert in something goes a long way in making that happen with a simple statement.
2) Enlist Early Support
Networking and establishing rapport before a meeting even starts can go a long way in measuring the opinions and expectations of your team. It also gives you, as a female leader, the opportunity to plant a seed in your teams' minds and allowing it to come into full bloom when the meeting actually occurs.
Not only does this point build on the idea that establishing early credibility is important, it also shows how engaging with team members early on is critical for female leaders. Melissa's research showed that in the groups with the unnamed expert, the groups with male experts outperformed the groups with female experts because women were less vocal about establishing their expertise early, or at all. This situation illustrates how women have a tendency to be less vocal and so by enlisting early support, it allows women to take advantage of situations that may be more comfortable for them to convey their credentials, such as one-on-one situations or email. Personally, it indicated to me that we can break down the barriers between when it's appropriate to discuss projects and when it's not. Typically in American culture, we think of designated group time as the only acceptable time to work on projects, and less formal or more social situations as inappropriate times to discuss group work. If we remove these barriers, it becomes easier for someone like me to express my knowledge and opinions more freely. It also allows for different culturally based work styles to enter into team settings, for example, working on a project over a beer or glass of wine, as is typical in France and much of Europe.
3) Engage Others
As team leaders, not only is it important for us to find strategies that help us express our own leadership effectively, it is important to make sure the "unique knowledge" of all group members is shared with the team. If groups only rely on "shared knowledege," that is, knowledge that each team member knows, either because it has become common to the group through one individual's contribution or because it is an established fact of a given context, groups will not be highly effective. Therefore, we need to include all of the voices and it is the responsibility of the leader to do so.
As an "amiable" type, this piece of advice from Melissa fits with my inherent personality. As a leader, I know that fostering the inclusion of team members will be a strength of mine in the workplace, and I appreciate the validation from Melissa and her guest speakers that this is a valuable leadership skill. One particularly relevant strategy that is mentioned includes creating google docs to facilitate discussion. Discussion does not always need to be verbal and when verbal communication is exclusively the method of communication in a team, unique knowledge will not be shared by individuals who do not feel comfortable sharing in front of a group, however, they can share through the written word. DIfferent methods of communicating will be crucial in exposing unique knowledge from group members of different cultures who may have different norms about vocal group sharing. For example, Asian cultures may feel prohibited from interrupting or volunteering information in a vocal group conversation, but will be compelled to contribute in a written medium where their contribution is asked for. At a school like MIIS, I believe we all understand the usefulness of Google Docs, but here is just one more reason to add to that list.
Secondly, as a leader, watch for body language in your team. If one member is frowning while another is sharing an idea, call the first member out and ask them to articulate their feelings. Though individuals may not like being "put on the spot," doing so allows unvoiced opinons to enter into the discussion. As an amiable, I am quite aware of others non-verbal language and I believe taking note of that, and calling on members (when it is appropriate and when I know that that individual will respond well to it), can enrich group discussion and allow that crucial "unique knowledge" to be heard.
As a future female leader I find the leanin.org resources, and this talk in particular, to be highly applicable to overcoming the leadership challenges faced by women in the workplace, in the classroom or in different cultural settings where females may have specific roles that vary from the American persecetive that is based on gender equality.
