KAI and Mary Kay

Recently, I started my own business as a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant and have immediately been pushed right out of my comfort zone. It's not that I am not comfortable with direct sales; for the past three years, I have worked part time in a retail organization that relied on amount of sales to determine employee schedules. However, with this particular group, I have realized that I am an adaptive person swimming in a sea of innovators.

Kirton's Adaption-Innovation Theory was developed in 1976 as a way "to help organizations understand problem-solving and cognitive style" while stressing that "one style is not better than the other and both are needed in organizations" (Stum, 2009, p. 75). Everyone has a problem-solving style that lands on a continuum between being more adaptive and more innovative and this particular preference doesn't change over the years. After taking the KAI inventory, I have identified as being more adaptive, which considering my near-gold score on the TrueColors test, makes sense. 

Aritzeta, Senior, and Swailes (2005) state that adaptors are more stable and keep the system running efficiently by working inside the existing paradigm. Throughout my life, being adaptive has been successful in business, academia, and my personal life. However, in my new role with this company, being innovative is valued.

In my previous retail position, I sold well because the customers came to me. Once I had someone in the store, then a sale was almost a certainty. But with Mary Kay, you have to find the customers and you have to be innovative and finding ways to attract customers can become difficult. Aritzeta et al. (2014) add that innovators are needed "in times of rapid change and unstructured situations." Conference calls with directors and other consultants indicate focused innovation; that is to say rapid-fire ideas and suggestions on how to increase sales and recruit team members. Admittedly, I have felt a little lost in my attempts to keep up, but thanks to this week's readings, I know that I need to search out ways to accommodate my preferences in order to feel comfortable and to be successful.

Fortunately, the company has kept up with several of the interventions that Franz (2012) lists. For instance, the entire sales team is diversified, so we are not getting the same ideas. There is organizational memory with a log of video tutorials, online modules, and books at consultant disposal. We brainstorm electronically via apps, conference calls, and email. Finally, the company sets high goals for consultants (where else could you win a free pink Cadillac?). Franz (2012) also states that in order to improve creativity, there first needs to be an environment that allows freedom and openness, then working with people to express their creativity, and finishing with providing a variety of procedures they could use to improve creativity. I know my problem solving preferences and because of my ability to improve upon existing ideas (Stum, 2009), I am ready to adapt the innovators' ideas in the toolbox provided. 

#BlackLivesMatter: Using Social Capital to Affect Change

In the post-Ferguson era, a modern take on the Black community's attempt to achieve racial equality, the #BlackLivesMatter movement has effectively surpassed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as the authority on knowing how to recruit and retain young adult interest in politics. 

 According to their website, the organization formed after George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin's murderer, was acquitted for his crime. The movement has garnered increasing support and more national recognition for its work following the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO and taking . This increased support led to the decision to make the movement chapter-based, which allows for the increase in local events in addition to national ones. By forming teams around the U.S., the organization has made it possible to affect change through leading teams of people who have bought-in to the same ideals to political action as opposed to leaving the social media hashtag to linger on Black Twitter. But what is the draw?

The leaders of #BlackLivesMatter, Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Cullors, appear to have a high Emotional Intelligence (EI). According to Chang, Sy, and Choi (2011, p 76), EI is "a set of competencies for identifying, processing, and managing emotions." Without a doubt, there is a veritable flood of emotions tied to race relations in our nation, and these women have been able to successfully navigate the varying dimensions that the authors identified: mood regulation, emotion appraisal, social skills, and emotion utilization. Garza, Tometi, and Cullors seemingly do this with a certain finesse, "appropriately responding to the emotions of their followers" (Chang et al., 2011, p. 80). Rallies, art shows, twitter chats, town halls, and more allow members a safe space to express their emotions and create plans of work to move the cause forward.

But more than allowing space to express these emotions, leaders created a space for other marginalized groups. They have effectively partnered with the LGBTQ community, brought a spotlight to those with disabilities, and given women a leading seat at the table. By tapping into the use of social media and providing opportunity for other minorities, they've increased their voices as a collective, creating a work team, or people who consider themselves to be part of a social entity (Henttonen, 2010).

Chua, Lim, Soh, and Sia (2012, p. 578) would add that #BlackLivesMatter leaders have developed a clan culture, which they say utilizes clan member communications "to direct, influence, or regulate others to achieve project goals." And it's easy to see why clan culture can take root here. Franz (2012, p.180) states that "when group rewards are large, there is more cohesion." This type of grass-roots movement and member-led direction accelerates group trust and cohesion and as trusts grow, so do synergies (Zornoza, Orengo, & Penarroja, 2009).

So where do we go from here?  Well, for the movement at large, the 2016 presidential race has been a primary concern. Other organizations, such as We The Protesters, an off-shoot of #BlackLivesMatter, have joined in the call to bring race relations to the front of the debate, meeting with Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sec. Hillary Clinton. Their efforts are causing people to think and have important conversations about how they see race and the systemic injustices that occur, which is an important first step.

What can I learn from them? Having to navigate a particularly sticky work situation where I must play mediator between two groups, their success shows me that I need to establish a group identity and to employ the right emotions to garner buy-in. #BlackLivesMatter uses a mix of fear, anger, frustration, and even hope to rally supporters. In my work, appropriate emotions may simply be the need for adults to put differences aside to focus on the kids who need us. Just as they've provided space for marginalized groups to collaborate, I need to allow everyone a seat at the table while being emotionally intelligent and aware of how to manage those differences. They've created group trust through calls to action and actually doing something compared to just talking about it. I can help our team to form synergy by enhancing group trust, showing how meaningful their work is, and empowering members.

While my work situation is nowhere similar to the fight in which #BlackLivesMattter activists are engaging, their successful use of social capital to affect change is a lesson for us all.

References

Chang, J.W., Sy, T., & Choi, J.N. (2011).Team emotional intelligence and performance: Interactive dynamics between leaders and members. Small Group Research, 43(1), 75-104. doi: 10.1177/1046496411415692

Chua, C.E.H., Lim, W.-K., Soh, C., & Sia, S.K. (2012). Enacting clan control in complex IT projects: A social capital perspective. MIS Quarterly, 36(2), 577-600.

Franz, T. (2012). Group dynamics and team interventions: Understanding and improving team performance. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.

Henttonen, K. (2010). Exploring social networks on the team level-A review of the empirical literature. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 27, 74-109.

Zornoza, A., Orengo, V., & Penarroja, V. (2009). Relational capital in virtual teams: the role played by trust. Social Sciences Information, 48(2), 257-281. doi:10.1177/0539018409102414