Leading a Diverse Team
The Summer 2007 issue of the MIT Sloan Management Review has arrived (electronically), so I've been able to read the article by Lynda Gratton and two colleagues referenced at the end of yesterday's post.In "Bridging Faultlines in Diverse Teams," Gratton, Andreas Voigt (research assistant in organizational behavior at London Business School) and Tamara Erickson (president of the Concours Institute) report the results of research concerning how to lead large, complex teams — teams that are diverse in demographic terms and/or in terms of members' values, dispositions, and attitudes.
The researchers focus on the significance of faultlines — subgoups or coalitions that emerge naturally within teams. For instance, a team might split into one group mostly made up of male engineers and another made up of female marketers. Or a team might divide between Type A and Type B personalities.
The key finding is that teams for which faultlines are likely to emerge are likely to be most successful if their leaders begin with a focus on tasks to be completed and then, as tensions along faultlines begin to be felt, switch their leadership style to more of a relationship orientation.
Labels: Collaboration, Conflict management, Leadership
posted by Karen Nelson @ 11:45 PM
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