To successfully lead a diverse team, leaders must first and foremost manage themselves and address their own shortcomings.
“Accepting your own limitations as a manager is key,” Jabari Bell, engineering manager at Stash said. “Once you can identify and accept your limitations, you become more comfortable speaking about them and using them as a teaching mechanism for the team.”
The manager at the New York-based personal finance app places a heavy emphasis on leading by example in addressing his weak spots so his team feels empowered to do the same. To evolve his management skills — of which listening is one of the most important — Bell said he tapped into business and leadership methodologies like systems thinking, working to be more deliberately developmental throughout his team and using Erin Meyer’s The Culture Map.
When individuals feel empowered to speak about and tackle their limitations, it helps build a sense of trust that’s vital for creating synergy throughout the team. Bell said when a leader builds a culture of trust, it allows teammates to be self-sufficient while working toward a common goal with colleagues who can vary dramatically from themselves.
“The best way I can add to the synergy on my team is to admit that I can’t create that myself,” Bell said. “It’s not about one individual but the interactions, conflicts and stories between individuals that is the grindstone for synergy; so, it’s more about ‘we’ than ‘me.’”
What are some important things a manager can do to ensure they’re providing adequate support to all members of their diverse team?
Many of us have been conditioned to hide our inadequacies, and this can take a lot of energy away from work. Once you can show that you are comfortable with yours — then demonstrate how you’re working through them — you model behavior that can help others confront their own inadequacies and those of the team. This idea can help to create an environment where vulnerability is encouraged, which helps foster trust.
To provide adequate support, a manager must realize that they are not on the front lines, so there will be limits in what they can perceive. If the team does not trust the manager and their teammates, the manager will never get a solid read on what the team needs. This scenario can potentially lead to misguided attempts of support.
Leaders can’t fix what they can’t see, and they can’t see whether teammates aren’t secure in speaking their truths, no matter how inconvenient. Once that trust is fostered, listening becomes the next most important skill.
You cannot interpret your teammates’ gifts and desires if you cannot listen.”
What training have you received for managing and working with a diverse team, and how has that training shaped your approach to management?
I was trained as a coach and scrum master at my previous job. I’ve come to incorporate various methodologies into my day-to-day with teammates when needed.
For example, there are a few people on my team who need help finding greater meaning in their work, so I’ve been facilitating job-crafting sessions. I’ve been able to apply some of the systems thinking practices that I learned when looking for larger team patterns and their interconnectedness within a large organization. Systems thinking also helps to keep me from subscribing to what’s called a “blaming” view, as behavior is tied to the incentives in the system versus the failings or successes of an individual.
Non-violent communication has been a huge help as well. I’m still learning, but it has absolutely contributed to my toolkit for being a better listener, which is such an underrated skill. I’m still working to get deliberately developmental systems in place, but I’ve made some headway on my own team. I’m also always learning about different cultures. For example, Erin Meyer’s The Culture Map has also helped with my listening skills.
What is a “deliberately developmental organization”?
How do you create synergy among a diverse team and ensure all voices are heard, valued and respected?
The premise of this question is flawed. People don’t need to be managed, and I believe this myth to be an artifact from the Industrial Revolution, particularly Taylorism, which reduced humans to simple cogs that screwed widgets and could be easily replaced. These mental models are clumsy when applied to knowledge work.
The less my teammates rely on me as a manager, the easier it becomes for me to point out ways they can, and do, manage themselves. There is no one-size-fits-all recipe regarding this concept, which is why trust is the most important thing on a team to me. You cannot assess the landscape if people will not share their truths with you. You can’t interpret your teammates’ gifts and desires if you can’t listen. Moreover, you cannot identify how these qualities best tie into the individual, the team and the organization if you can’t effectively interpret what is being shared with you.
