FC NOW: The Fast Company Weblog
August 1, 2006
Thoughts on Women and Collaboration
There's something I observed at BlogHer '06 about women and collaboration that I didn't see mentioned in author and tech geek blogger Robert Scoble's post "What I Learned from BlogHer," where he sums up his experience there and highlights comparisons to the mostly male tech conferences he's used to attending.
What I observed was best summed up in a statement that Arianna Huffington, syndicated columnist and founder of The Huffington Post, made during the closing keynote, where she shared the stage with Hurricane Katrina Direct Relief founder and professional blogger Grace Davis, WashingtonPost.com/Newsweek Interactive CEO and Publisher Caroline Little, and SixApart founder and President Mena Trott in a discussion lead by Chris Nolan of Spot-on.
Huffington made the statement after announcing that she'd soon launch a new section on her site called "Politics Aside" that would feature topics that were not politics, such as mothering, sex, relationships, and cooking. She said, (and I'm paraphrasing here):
If anyone wants to cross post with us, it’s all about linking and cross posting — it’s all about supporting each other. It's not about if you're buying Newsweek you're not buying Time.
In my experience such a call for sharing of content is not common practice at male conferences — at least not in this context or without some sort of business deal being discussed. Well, unless of course the conversation has anything to do with open source. Don't get me wrong, BlogHer is not based upon an us .vs them philosophy, it's an opportunity for all kinds of women bloggers to pursue exposure, education and community. In that vein, session topics ran the gamut from Search Engine Optimization, Writing for the Web, CSS, Podcasting, and Video to Business Blogging, Community Activism Blogging, and Political Blogging. And besides, men were not excluded from the event. Scoble was there, as was Guy Kawasaki, John Battelle and George Kelly, among others. (Read Christine Herron's post on the estimated ratio.)
Back to my original thought though — am I wrong in thinking that collaboration means something entirely different to women than it does to men?
Posted by Lynne d Johnson at August 1, 2006 1:25 AM | Category: culture |
7 Comments
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I think that when you see names like Huffington attached to women and collaboration, MEN think it is some sort of devious left wing/super liberal
Gloria Steinem-like movement to lean society one way or the other -- common sense be damned. Collaboration among men means six guys around the table with a common problem, they skull it out and come up with the best way through the woods without cutting the trees down -- IF POSSIBLE.
I think that when you see names like Huffington attached to women and collaboration, MEN think it is some sort of devious left wing/super liberal
Gloria Steinem-like movement to lean society one way or the other -- common sense be damned. Collaboration among men means six guys around the table with a common problem, they skull it out and come up with the best way through the woods without cutting the trees down -- IF POSSIBLE.
Lynne,
Thanks for the fab write-up. I think you captured the underlying aspect of BlogHer. The conference simply can't happen without collaboration--we ask for it from the very beginning. If anyone's interested, I wrote about how BlogHer runs via collaboration in more specifics here: http://blogher.org/node/8101.
As for whether this is a FEMININE model of leadership. I say yes, but my partner Elisa would say no. As I get older and wiser I'd like to amend my former position to say that this more pure form of collaboration comes naturally to women--we collaborate by instinct, but plenty of men have adopted this model, especially if it tied into a better bottom line.
Women are best marketeers ,good workers and good administrators as well.When it comes to reacting or liasoning with public ,they are the best.
They are the best in PRO job.
To answer Lynn's last question (a typical male response), I especially read Jory's Blog on collaboration. I think the answer is yes, it means different things to men and women, mostly. We each are able to flex and learn different modes and approaches, but men (naturally) generally focus on outcomes and results...fixing or completing things, while women (naturally) generally focus on process, somehow trusting results will follow. There are plenty of exceptions to this, but generally...
Jory's comments kept coming back to the 'male' perspective, who's in charge, and how do we get to final results? As a facilitator, I try to work with consensus, which will focus on getting all to a solution all can accept, even if it isn't one's first/best choice, a form of collaboration and a tool to move decisions forward by getting everyone's input. Jory's comments remind me of a time at one of the NASA Centers where 'leaderless teams' were being touted. After six months on a project with less than acceptable progress, the original (male) leader stood up at a project meeting and said "Alright, I'm back. Here's what we're going to do," and moved the project on.
The problem in the corporate world is combining the desired effects of collaboration and the idea of process management with the discipline of project management. It takes skill, agreement ahead of time (collaboration) on parameters, and outcomes. Buzzwords, such as 'embrace diversity' need to be tempered to appreciate the value that can come from diverse gifts and talents, but to also realize there must be a way to move the project forward. Meyers-Briggs and other ways of 'typing' people can help people appreciate that not all of us are 'leaders' in terms of getting things done...in fact, some people, without training in this area, if given a job of 'leadership' will never get to completion, because the analysis is never done (paralysis by analysis).
In the end, it is not a male or female thing, but a way to appreciate the value people bring to the table and to find a way to not exclude anyone from the table (collaborate), and yet, still find a way to manage the project within bounds of performance, budget and schedule. Spoken like a male who is learning!
I agree with Jory - while it may be a more obvious trait in women (and not all women, to be sure), smart men use collaboration as well to increase profits, retain talent, and attract business.
But the bottom line is, as I heard recently - sorry to to quote the source - this Mars-Venus thing is overblown. It's really more like men are from North Dakota, women are from South Dakota. I see this more as a trend in what corporations are finding produces results, rather than necessarily a trend in which gender is leading the change.