Date: Monday, July 7, 2025
We are Tania Jarosewich, PhD, PMP with Guardians of Honor and Censeo Group and Mandy Smith, PhD with Jackson State University. We are members of the evaluation team that supports the NASA Office of STEM Engagement. We’re here to talk about leadership in evaluation teams.
Effective evaluation team leaders are skilled communicators who persuade, guide, and influence team members and stakeholders towards a strategic vision. A leader’s style and effectiveness can significantly influence the success of an evaluation study. By supporting team and individual growth, effective leaders cultivate effective evaluators.
“Contrary to popular belief, the best way to climb to the top of the ladder is to take others up there with you“ – Maria Eitel, Founder and Chair of the Nike Foundation and The Girl Effect
“Contrary to popular belief, the best way to climb to the top of the ladder is to take others up there with you“
– Maria Eitel, Founder and Chair of the Nike Foundation and The Girl Effect
Particularly compelling for evaluation teams is servant leadership. This leadership style focuses on supporting and empowering teams, of working in service to others. For servant leaders, the traditional hierarchical power dynamic is inverted. The needs of team members are at the forefront. The leader takes responsibility for the well-being of team members ensuring that they have the skills, resources, and support that they need to successfully complete project work. A servant leader relies on interpersonal skills, integrity, and humility to encourage collaboration and consensus building.
Maybe you’ve experienced the following scenario: the team is working hard on project tasks, stress is high, there’s no room for error, and the deadline is approaching. A servant leader rises above the stress and creates space for coordination, reflection, and support. Our servant leader set a daily 30-minute check-in. Each team member reported accomplishments from the day before and their plan for that day. The team decided whether changes in their plans were needed, discussed questions and offered support. The deadline was stressful, but the team knew that they were making progress and were supported. This process allowed the team to quickly address problems in a calm way.
The Project Management Institute encourages servant leadership across all agile teams to foster a harmonious and productive team dynamic. No matter the place that you sit on a team (leader or not) you can use these ideas to improve communication and foster effective collaboration with your colleagues. Our motivation for this blog post stemmed from serving each other on a team. Each member of our team lead part of the work based on our individual strengths. This allowed each of us to shine and support each other’s learning and professional growth. Servant leadership at the team level is powerful for building trust, supporting innovation, and providing client value.
Leadership is a skill that can be learned and improved through practice. Leaders can reflect on and build their own skills and also develop and support the leadership skills of team members to promote efficient use of team resources; bolster confidence, trust, and relationships; and enhance evaluation products.
Learn more about servant leadership from The Servant Leadership Institute at Seton Hall University. We also enjoyed reading the following books about servant leadership.
Join Mandy and Tania on LinkedIn to continue the conversation about leadership development in evaluation teams. We are looking forward to hearing about your experiences with your leadership journey and resources you have found helpful.
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