Supervisor-subordinate developmental relationships: Strategies of African American female leaders

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to identify, what experts believe, are the most important cross-race developmental relationship actions and strategies that influence the career advancement of African American female leaders under the leadership of nonminorities.;Methodology. The researcher used a modified e-Delphi method and techniques to reach consensus among an anonymous group of expert panelists using a series of three iterative surveys. The study produced descriptive and inferential data; the statistics were formulated using central tendency measures: mean and median, interquartile range, and correlation tests. Additionally, interviews were conducted utilizing unstructured questions to identify and assess cross-race developmental experiences.;Findings. Analysis of quantitative and qualitative data from expert panelists indicated a wide and varied range of recommended actions to increase professional development and optimize cross-race developmental relationships of African American females. The experts identified more than 50 actions and found consensus on 12 of the most important actions to implement. Persistent themes emerged across the most important actions to implement; nonminority leadership behavioral deficiencies were identified as fundamental to cross-race developmental relationships and developmental experiences were not associated with leadership success. Secondly, examination of the findings did not indicate actions related to improve intergroup dynamics, which was the theoretical framework in this study.;Conclusions. The study data support the conclusion that there continue to be barriers influencing the cross-race development relationships between African American female leaders and nonminorities.;Recommendations. Organizations should implement leadership behavioral assessments geared to segregate the results of diverse team members. Organizations should implement cross-race mentoring for nonminorities mentored by minorities. Organizations should embed diverse leadership characteristics into their developmental programs.