FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — To be leaders in human services agencies, American Indian women must straddle two cultures. While doing so, they redefine what it means to be a leader. An exploratory study by a University of Arkansas researcher and her colleagues of American Indian women leaders found that they typically downplay the use of power and control and use a leadership style “characterized by a sharing, building, collaborative and mentoring process.”

As one participant, a Comanche woman, put it: “I’m not a leader. It’s more circular. Not a pyramid. It takes all of us to make it work.”

Kimberly Stauss, a University of Arkansas social work researcher, worked with a team at the University of Utah to conduct face-to-face interviews with 13 participants from nine tribes in four states. The researchers chose a qualitative, exploratory method because the topic had not previously been examined in depth. Their approach was to uncover how the participants understood their experiences in leadership positions.

The researchers found that to be leaders, American Indian women must contend with both discrimination at work and cultural misunderstanding. Whether their institution was tribally affiliated or not, the issues the women handled “required a self-reflection and prioritization that most organizational leaders do not have to face.”

To maintain equilibrium, the participants all reported on their “reflection back to family teachings when making leadership decisions.” Their spiritual and cultural traditions were important to their balance. They viewed mentoring as a norm, offering it to those with whom they worked and relying on it from other American Indian women leaders.

Stauss and co-author Mary Jane Taylor of the University of Utah reported on the research in an article, “Native American Women Who Lead Human Service Organizations,” which appeared in a recent issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work.

Stauss noted that the women interviewed bring perspectives based on both gender and culture into their leadership roles. While it was “more difficult for women not working in Native American agencies to balance a bicultural way of life,” Stauss noted that there were also barriers for women working in tribal agencies. The challenges depended on the tribal culture.

“In more matriarchal tribes, the women were more accepted in leadership roles, but in the more patriarchal tribes, they sometimes had to manipulate the situation to lead,” Stauss said.

While the participants faced adversity in the workplace, they also developed their strengths.

“The participants overcame a history of racial discrimination and humiliation and gained a healthy self-identity as a minority female leader,” the researchers wrote. “These successful women displayed a resilience, which allowed them to navigate their way through a maze of work-related discrimination and cultural misunderstanding.”

While the women who were interviewed described the problems they faced in depth and detail, the problems were not presented as “overwhelming obstacles.”

“What emerged was the ability to move beyond past and present discriminatory obstacles and bridge the gap between multiple cultures,” the researchers noted.

This study lays a foundation for studying in more depth the “deep and significant differences” in distinct tribal cultures in regard to gender differences and leadership, the researchers said. They also suggested that additional interviews be continued with American Indian leaders in urban agencies.

Stauss is an assistant professor of social work in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas.