Todd Pittinsky and Intergroup Leadership

This month at LeaderTalk we have been talking about the leadership principle "A leader values and engages others." Earlier this week, I participated in a webinar sponsored by the International Leadership Association. Dr. Todd Pittinsky spoke on the topic of "Intergroup Leadership." His research explores the importance of encouraging positive interaction between distinct subgroups.

What is the opposite of prejudice? Pittinsky asked. In those he surveyed, the most frequent reply: tolerance.

But tolerance doesn't come close to being the opposite of prejudice according to Pittinsky. Neither do acceptance or respect, other terms noted in the survey.

Instead, he has created his own term to describe the concept of having a positive attitude for a group that is not one's own. This positive feeling is much more than the absence of negative feelings.

Allophilia.

From Greek words meaning "liking or loving the other other," allophilia consists of five factors: comfort, kinship, affection, engagement, and enthusiasm.

When we express allophilia in our relationship with people who are different from us, we are proactively engaged in supporting them.

For leaders to effectively work with people from diverse groups, they need to go beyond bring individuals together and instead work to bring subgroups together. In doing so, leaders face two distinct tasks:

• reducing negative feelings or actions between subgroups and
• creating positive attitudes and interactions.

Pittinsky used two metaphors that clearly illustrate this concept.

The Garden

To display the beauty of your garden, you must pull weeds regularly and give your plants room to breathe and grow. But suppose the gardener spent day after day weeding and never planted any flowers? A empty patch of dirt is not a garden.

There is no garden until the gardener sows the seeds and waters the plants.

In the same way, a leader must pull the weeds of prejudice, hatred, and resentment from his organization before they choke the life from his plants. But he must also take the time to sow positive actions and relationships among the people he leads so that kindness and supportiveness can spring to life.

The Balance Sheet

Your company has two fiscal responsibilities: to reduce debt and generate income for your organization. If you reduce, or even eliminate your organization's debt but fail to produce streams of income, your organization is in trouble.

A leader who reduces debt in his organization by reducing negative attitudes among subgroups still has the job of generating income (creating positive attitudes and interaction).

Dr. Pittinsky's scholarship on the topic of intergroup Leadership challenges leaders to make a difference by encouraging subgroups to value and engage each other. By creating positive relationships among "groups of others," we begin to shape a world where people cross boundaries, joining together to accomplish common goals. 

Join the conversation!

How do you increase positive interactions between different subgroups in your organization?

How do you decrease negative ones?

Which seems easier: building positive regard between subgroups or eliminating negativity?

Comments

[E. Christopher Zaucha]

I try to increase positive interactions between different groups by facilitating their ideas to one another. Share a good idea from one group to another and they begin to see that a common ground not only exists, but it is very beneficial as well.

[BIGstLittleCity]

I was just having a discussion with my two teen daughters recently about the fact that I do not like the word tolerence when used in regards to how we feel about differeces with others. I have always thought acceptance was the more accurate term. Based on the definition you provided, Allophilia, is a better description of my truth:

From Greek words meaning "liking or loving the other other," allophilia consists of five factors: comfort, kinship, affection, engagement, and enthusiasm.

When we express allophilia in our relationship with people who are different from us, we are proactively engaged in supporting them.

I also appreciated the analogies of the Garden and Balance Sheet.

Thank you for helping raise consciousness on this subject.

[Tanveer Naseer]

Becky, this is an issue that unfortunately doesn't get enough exposure so first off, thanks for pointing this out.

In terms of reducing negativity, for starters it's a question of shifting the focus from the differences to looking at the common goals. For example, let's say we have a project team made up of people of different ethnicities, religious beliefs, etc. While these differences may affect how they view a particular problem, they all share something more important - a desire to reach a common goal as defined by the creation of this team.

As such, instead of looking at these differences as being negatives, we should examine them more for opportunities to offer different insights into how to view the situation. Having access to seeing a situation from different vantage points is a sure-fire way to come up with the best solution to reaching that common goal.