What makes Mondragon Team Academy (MTA) and TeamLabs/ different is the “Team Learning by Creating”. This means that teams, dialogues and creation are at the centre of the learning process. March is directly connected to International Women’s Day and therefore we believe that it is time to ask ourselves and also to reflect on our community, our teams, etc, in short, in our daily spaces of learning and growth. The aim, however, is to turn this into a starting point for our entire community.
With this intention in mind, we have designed 30 questions for reflection: a collection of questions to look inside ourselves and reflect as a team: How are we doing? How can we improve? How is feminism a lever for change and improvement in our teams?
If you share these concerns, here are the 30 questions we want to reflect on in our team companies to generate honest spaces for growth and learning in LEINN.
#NotOnlyOnM8
Context for dialogue:
1 — Why do you think we are having these sessions? Why do you think we want to put focus on this?
2 — Some facts about the situation of women in business and entrepreneurship:
- Europe and the MENA region are below the global average of 6.2% women owners of established businesses (at 5.3% and 4.5%, respectively) Source: Union for the Mediterranean (UpM) 2022 report.
- Startups founded by women raised only 1.8 % of investment in Europe. Mixed founding teams accounted for 9.3%, while male founding teams raised 89%. Source: IDC European Women in VC, 2021.
- Only 14% of startup founders in Spain are women. Source: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Spain Report, 2019.
- Only 6% of management positions in Spain are held by women Source: Emakunde, 2023.
- Less than 35% of senior management positions are held by women. Source: INE Spain, 2021.
- The 5th goal of the SDGs is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
3 — To create the right context for dialogue, we propose:
- Non-violent communication.
- Empathy.
- Speaking from within without judging others.
- Listen actively to understand, not to convince.
- Share what you need to make this space safe.
30 questions for reflection and dialogue:
Projects
– Have we analysed the kind of projects the males* and females* in the team do?
– In our customer visits, how many female leaders have we met? If the majority are male, why do we think this happens?
– In project teams, how do we choose the needed profiles?
– Do we recruit more women or men in the development of our work?
Feminism and socio-economic context
– Do we generate spaces to dialogue on feminism in our team?
– Is feminism the same as machismo?
– How do I feel when I hear about feminism?
– Are equality and equity the same thing?
– Do we think that all the people in the team start from the same point?
– Who are professionals of reference for the team? Who do we admire?
– How many women of reference do we know in the business world?
– And how many women are in management positions in large companies?
– How many books written by or about women have I read in the last year?
– What do we think about “A sustainable life vs. the Sustainability of life”?
Team and Safe Space
– Do we experience situations, words or gestures that make us uncomfortable?
– Do we know where we want to set boundaries and do we communicate them?
– Have you ever seen anyone verbally or physically assaulted at the LAB or in the street? If so, did you intervene or did you let it go because it didn’t affect you?
– Before we do or say something, do we make sure that the person agrees with what is going to happen?
– Have you ever felt inferior just because you are a woman?
– Is our team a safe space to share?
– Do we feel equally comfortable expressing our opinion as men and women?
– Do you feel that women speak as easily as men in your team?
– Have we generated conversations to find out how women in the team feel?
– Who is taking care of the people in our team?
Leadership
– Who has the decision-making power in our team?
– What leadership positions do women hold? Does this change over the years?
– Do we listen to the opinions of women and men in our team with the same respect?
– Do you think you give the same value to something coming from a man or a woman?
– How do we take care of equality within the team? Is this a present criteria in our team?
