Link to Charlie Mable’s Research Action Plan

I am greatly intrigued by Charlie Mable’s professional vocation and have been since day one! More education is definitely needed regarding opioid use disorder.  Last summer, it felt like I couldn’t go a single week without hearing about a new influx of opioid deaths, mostly due to Fentanyl laced products. As Charlie pointed out in her introduction, opioid addiction is a major problem in our Country. She stated that in the age group of twenty-five to  thirty-four year olds,  1 in 6 deaths are due to opioid addiction overdoses.

The Problem:  Determining what barriers may be preventing some family physicians from being willing to treat uncomplicated cases of addiction at their clinics through an ongoing maintenance program.

Purpose: Working for a pharmaceutical company that produces a drug called Suboxone that can help treat patients with opioid use disorders, Charlie’s purpose of her research is clear.  If she can determine what the barriers for family physicians are, perhaps through education, she can help reduce/remove some of them so that more patients can receive treatments. In doing so, her representatives can provide more treatment products to more family physician clinics to try and help stem the loss of life due to this addiction that is sweeping our Nation.

Data Collection & Analysis:  Using a Mixed Methods approach,  and by contacting both a family health clinic that is participating already in providing treatments and one that is not, she genuinely would like to research and explore further why some family practice clinics are hesitant or not willing to treat patients with opioid use addictions.  She stressed the need for open ended questions so as not to bias the results due to how her questions are framed. I believe this is very important and essential due to the nature of her work. It would be discouraging and heart wrenching to have her research overlooked due to people thinking that her reasons were maybe financially motivated (being a representative for a pharmaceutical company), instead of genuinely trying to help those who are in need the most.  Through these open ended questions she would like to gather quantitative data through surveys filled out by both the doctors and nurses that work in the clinics. She would also like to collect further qualitative data by interviewing both a doctor and a nurse.  As part of her data analysis she states that she would code the data received into areas such as education, philosophical reasons, the number of patients etc.,

I humbly suggest, that perhaps, Charlie Mable might want to survey more than one non-participating and participating clinics in order to collect as much quantitative data as possible.  Only collecting survey data from one participating/non participating doctor or nurse might not be sufficient. Is it also possible to send out random surveys across a larger geographical area as well? This way the data that is gathered could be viewed as transferable to other parts of the country.  Qualitatively, she would still only need to interview  a small number of individuals.

Who the Data Will Benefit:  From the data gathered, Charlie will be able to share the information directly with her representatives and with her company’s medical and marketing departments.  She rightfully questions whether the question of her research is much bigger than just her company and whether or not the information gathered can be shared with medical schools and across the nation.

Thanks for sharing Charlie! I look forward to learning more and wish you the best of luck in your research quest!  It was a pleasure to listen to your plan, as it is obvious how much you genuinely care and wish to help those who are suffering.

Part A – A Practical Professional Problem

A practical problem that I have encountered in my professional life is  the lack of mentorship available to brand new teachers.

Imagine, being a new parent and all of a sudden being responsible for not 1 but 30 children. All of whom who have different needs, at different times of the day.  While there is sympathy and understanding for new first time parents of infants as well as a transition period where people are quick to offer assistance and support; new teachers are expected to step in from day one, and run their classrooms as efficiently and affectively as an experienced teacher.   Oftentimes, new teachers struggle with balancing new curriculum, lesson planning, classroom management, special needs, communication with parents/other staff/administration, report card writing and authentic assessment. The struggle is real.

It is so real, and overwhelming that a large number of teachers want to leave the teaching profession within the first five years.  With our current teacher shortage in British Columbia, we cannot afford to lose more teachers. As a Nation, we are doing a very poor job of supporting new teachers. Why is this and what can we do to change it?

Teachers go to teachers college where they mostly learn the theory of education.  They write anticipatory lesson plans and spend a few weeks of time ‘practicing’ in someone else’s classroom.  And then, they are placed (sometimes with only a few day’s notice) into a classroom of their own.  The classroom is a much different environment than teacher’s college or even their practicum. There are so many variables at play! Often times, new teachers feel isolated, overwhelmed and nervous about admitting that they are struggling for fear of appearing incompetent.

What if new teachers had a support group to turn to? What if they had a mentor they felt comfortable with? Would this help them feel more successful and enable teachers to want to stay in the profession?

Part B:   Please click on the link below. A huge shout out and much gratitude to Dr. Strong who copied my file onto Soundcloud for me.

Soundcloud Recording

Please note that for this assignment, I separately interviewed 3 women from my school district who are all at different points on their leadership journeys. Only one of them has agreed to have her name and title published in this blog. I have received permission from our Professor to leave the other women as anonymous.  I have included  excerpts from all of their answers as part of this blog post because I believe that what they have to share is extremely valuable.

It is interesting to note that there are far more females than males in the teaching profession in our district, yet, males by far outnumber females in district leadership roles. This is especially noticeable at the high school level. Why is this? Do males predominately enter education to become administrators and pursue leadership roles or is it just a fluke?

The first woman I interviewed was at the beginning of her journey as a school administrator in the role of Principal of an elementary school.  The second woman I interviewed is a retired Principal and the third woman is Dawne Tomlinson, Director of Instruction and former proud high school principal.

@dawnetomlinson
Twitter

Dawne’s story is extremely interesting, as she was the very first woman principal of  the very first high school built in our District. The hallways are lined with old portraits of moustached male principals and at the end of the row is a framed picture of a smiling and beaming Dawne.  Another male principal replaced her when she moved into her position at the school board office last year.

When asked what was the most challenging aspect of being a female leader the answers were synonymous with each other.  Every single woman that I interviewed talked about the difficulty of finding balance between home life and work. They each mentioned that everyone always talks about the need for ‘balance’ but ‘balance’ is actually a myth.  Each one of them mentioned the huge amount of guilt that they felt because they were unable to give 100% and ended up not doing anything perfectly.  If they gave 100% to work, then they were missing out on dinner at home or their child’s recital. If they gave 100% at home, then they were unable to answer that angry parent’s email or deal with the massive amount of paperwork that was piling up on their desks. They felt it was very difficult to do anything as well as they would have liked.  They mentioned that many of their male counterparts went out for drinks on Friday nights while they were busy rushing to Costco to get their groceries and racing home to make dinner for their families.  They all agreed that it is hard because they all want to do a good job in a world that is dominated by men. At the end of the day, the woman is still the primary caregiver of kids and women are trying to work in a world that has more expectations of your time.  The favourite meeting time for male principals is breakfast which is really hard when you have little kids. We are not yet at a place where we recognize that there isn’t an even division of responsibilities. So, women live their lives in guilt because they aren’t fully present for anyone or anything. They are pulled in multiple directions that their male counterparts don’t experience to the same extent.

Some excerpts from the interviews when asked about the biggest challenge they face or faced:

• “It’s daunting to walk into a room filled with male principals and I have had to learn to walk in with confidence knowing that I have the knowledge to do the job. I stayed quiet a lot in the beginning and felt that I had to earn my seat at the table. I only spoke when I felt it was essential and when I had something necessary to add to the conversation.”
• “My first leadership role was department head in a high school. At that time, the challenge I had was of not being taken seriously. I found that I was under greater scrutiny to prove myself than my male counterparts. My age at that time was also a challenge, as the more experienced female department heads were also skeptical. It did not help that I was good looking. The assumption right away was that I did not have the intelligence to be in leadership. I also faced jealousy from other women. Snide comments, sarcastic references and subtle and unsubtle comments were not unusual. I developed a thick skin fast.”
• “A lot of times, dads have come in to speak to the principal and they look right past me and automatically assume my male vice-principal is the principal.”
• “When I became principal of an elementary school, I found I really had to act the role. If I knew it was an important parent meeting, I dressed the part. Power suit and exuded confidence. The fathers of students would be skeptical. Handshakes were deliberately firm. On one occasion when I had made an unpopular decision, the dad posted on Facebook a rude sexual comment. I think women leaders are more prone to receive insults like that.”

When asked what they do to help meet or deal with the challenges they face…

• “Current role feels less guilty as my kids are older so I have more flexibility in my job. Same amount of hours but less urgencies to deal with. I try to be more mindful of delegating and trying to use the team more instead of just single handedly trying to do it all.”
• “Have created a G-Summit for Girls in Secondary which is a support group for women in leadership roles within secondary schools. It’s not about the role of women in leadership but about supporting women who are in leadership roles surrounded by males. It’s fun! We have a lot of laughs!”
• “It’s important for females to support each other and stop being competitive. I encourage others to live their truths and to praise each other!”
• “Hired a housekeeper and put structures in place so that I can be home for dinner each night. I’ve also dedicated time to spend with my husband.”

When asked what advice they would have for women in leadership…

• “Women need to be present, to take chances and step out of their comfort zones.  You need to show up or else you risk missing out. Relationships are huge! Be willing to ‘lean in’ and sit at the table.”
• “Focus on the gifts that you bring to the table because they will become noticed. Build relationships with males. Be yourself. Don’t allow yourself to be branded as a woman. Leave the labelling behind you! Speak up when you have an important idea to share. Don’t share just for the sake of talking. Don’t monopolize the conversation. The people who stand out and have been seen, have been really thoughtful and speak only when they have something to ADD to the conversation.”
• “Gender imbalances can happen in cycles. People gravitate to people who are like them. Men in positions of hiring leaders gravitate towards people who are like them. I don’t think it’s intentional who you gravitate towards. It’s hard for a system to see that and to notice a gender imbalance. Balance brings better dynamics to a group of leaders.”
• “Street cred is so important. If you can take on the tough challenges and be successful you get street credit with the males. People will respect the work that you have done.”
• “My advice is to go into leadership for the right reasons. If it is because you want others to think highly of you, forget it. If it is because you know you can make a positive contribution, you might be on the right track. It’s not the money! I would encourage women to think hard and not go into this lightly. It will affect your family, your health and your mental well-being.”
• “I think the glass ceiling is still there. One only has to look at how many women there are in positions of power and politics. And there is the question, ‘Is it worth it?’ ‘Why do we do it?'”

I greatly admire each of these women that I interviewed. I appreciated their candid honesty about the challenges of their roles and their experiences along the way. Each of these women are strong and courageous in their trail blazing.  As a school district, we are expected to promote inclusivity and to celebrate diversity and differences. While, I honestly don’t think it’s intentional on the part of the males in educational leadership that females tend to face far different challenges than their male counterparts, there is still some work to be done around gender inclusivity.  The interviews raised a lot of questions for me and left me pondering. While the women were willing to be interviewed and were very gracious about sharing their stories, they still requested to remain anonymous. How can we start to create change if we aren’t transparent? There is obviously a need for support, and women are supporting women through the creation of the G Summit Group, but how can we also get men on board too?  One of the women that I interviewed shared that someone once asked her “How does your husband feel about you taking on this role?”  She shared that she couldn’t honestly imagine a man being asked the same question. Why do people continue to ask these kinds of gender inequality questions?  Breaking new ground is never easy and is tough work, even for those who have been at it awhile.  I was left with this for now… “I went into administration because I knew I could contribute in a positive manner and influence adults to look at education in a way that would benefit children. I try to stay positive but I also look for affirmation that I am on the right track. Most of the time I just keep going and ignore the folks who are negative. Often it is their issue.”

https://create.twu.ca/lewaahmed/2018/06/24/ldrs-500-unit-8-learning-activity-2/

I enjoyed reading your post Lewa and the points that you have shared about how you would further promote gender inclusivity within your organization.  You’ve got me thinking and I’m just curious about a couple of things:

• You mention that you would visibly reward inclusive behaviour in your organization and I’m wondering what you mean by “visibly reward”.  What does that look or sound like?
• You mention the possibility of offering paternity leave for men at your organization and I was a little bit surprised as I thought paternity leave was offered at the majority of businesses now.  Is this not currently an option for males at your workplace? I wonder if men have raised this as an objection?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, it is always so nice to learn from each other.

https://create.twu.ca/layla11/2018/06/23/unit-8-learning-activity-8-2-2/

I loved your willingness to be open about the gender differences in your workplace. I especially liked how you referenced Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and her TED talk on why we have too few female leaders. I was just doing an interview today with a female administrator in my school district who also referenced Sheryl Sandberg and her catch  phrase “lean in” (she wrote a book about this and is the founder of the group Lean In). The link for the organization Lean In can be found here.

Time Magazine

Sheryl Sandberg in her book and in her TED talk encourages women to step outside their comfort zones and be willing to sit at the conference table, to ask for more money, to participate in the traditional male activities such as golf tournaments so that women can “lean in” and have more of a presence in a male dominated environment.

I think that if we were to take a poll, even from our small class group, we would most likely find that the majority of women feel like gender gaps definitely exist in our workplaces.  I don’t believe that all of these gaps are intentional by any means, rather the formulas for how things are done have been ingrained over the years and women who break into leadership roles, are too afraid to speak up about these practices for fear of having their progress stalled or finding themselves suddenly demoted.  So instead, women are choosing to go along with it and consciously settle for what they can get, rather than risk losing out on leadership opportunities.

I loved how you commented that,”once we can understand the perspective held by another gender, we could be more supportive and welcome”. I honestly think that most men would be shocked to discover how women feel as they genuinely aren’t consciously aware of the existence of these dynamics or the challenges that women feel they face.  I agree with you that communication is definitely key to being able to see things from both male and female perspectives so that both genders can learn from each other and recognize that both bring strengths to the table and that together they are stronger as a result.

Wow! I didn’t think that I would struggle to complete the Gender Leader Implicit Association Test (Northouse, 2019, pp 421-423) in a quick and timely fashion.  I was fighting a battle  in my head, debating logically that words such as ambitious, dynamic, understanding or leader could just as easily apply to male/supporter or female/leader.  It didn’t seem fair that there wasn’t a ‘both’ column.  I discovered that I too am guilty of succumbing to stereotypes as I quickly assigned words like sympathy and compassion to being more likely to be female traits than male. What does this say about me and my ability to have an open mind about gender inequality in the workplace? Do I as a member of the female persuasion actually help contribute to the exclusion of my own gender by my own stereotypical assumptions?

I openly admit that I am not an in your face feminist, hear me roar type of person. I strongly believe (perhaps naively)that positions in companies and promotions should be offered to those who have the best qualifications, the best skills (people, technical, critical thinking and creative), the best education and/or experience to do the job well regardless of gender, race or culture. I believe this because by doing so it is doing what is best for the organization as a whole and not the individuals involved. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the reality and oftentimes there is discrimination against women when it comes to leadership roles.

I believe in inclusion and equality and because I believe in inclusion and equality I also choose as much as possible to not be a bystander when exclusion is taking place. When we don’t speak up, and we don’t try to take action, we are as guilty as those who are doing the excluding.  I am grateful for those who have gone before me and fought for women to have the right to vote, to drive, to attend school and get an education work, and work outside the home.  There is still much to be done to promote inclusion in our work places.  We need to be willing to be role models in order for our voices to be acknowledged and our actions to be contagious.

Image courtesy of www.fullinclusionforcatholicschools.com

It is hard to speak up, especially if you are a woman vying for a spot in a competitive male dominated world. No female wants to draw unfavourable attention and face the consequences of a potential fall-out as a result.  A woman I know from another school district, requested a follow-up meeting with a member of  that district’s senior leadership team to inquire as to why she wasn’t accepted into the hiring pool for Vice-Principals despite her many credentials, qualifications and years of experience.  She felt that she had done well at the interview and wanted to know what she could do differently the next time and the areas that she could improve upon.  The response she received shocked her as she was questioned about her aspirations to become a school administrator due to her also being a mom. She was reminded repeatedly by this individual of the long hours and the toll it would take on her family life and her small children.  It’s sad to see, in an organization that is known for strongly promoting inclusion in the classroom that people in management positions are still being exclusive.  We all know the reality, that if she had been a man, the person asking the questions would never have  questioned how a man’s dual role of Dad and school professional would affect his ability to do the job and try to persuade him not to apply.  It was hard for her to speak up, because she didn’t want to ironically risk ‘offending’ the person and further face the possibility of being blacklisted for future opportunities. I wonder how many women reading this, would have had the guts to speak up and question the validity of the comments and how they not only didn’t foster the inclusiveness that the school district was supposed to be promoting, but they also had nothing to do with her abilities and skills to do the job.

So, how do we foster recognition and a sense of belonging for females in a male dominated leadership organization? ‘Do’ being the operative word, that constitutes actively seeking ways  we can consciously be role models and provide daily examples of how we wish everyone to be treated.  Men and women both need to “pay attention to whose voices are being heard, whose opinions are being validated, and who is being ignored or dismissed during meetings” (Nugent, Pollack & Travis, 2016, p. 10) and then “actively seek feedback from people who don’t usually contribute” and “role model the inclusive behaviour that diverse opinions have value by repeating them and building on them as the discussion evolves” (Nugent, Pollack & Travis, 2016, p.10).

Google Images

I personally have found it to be extremely helpful whenever I am attending a male dominated meeting, to have one of my male colleagues from my school reaffirm a point or a suggestion that I make. It’s sad that we sometimes still need to do that in order to give credibility to a female voice, however, I am grateful for the support and acknowledgement of my peers.  It is also important to acknowledge and provide credit to the rightful owner of innovative ideas and suggestions, male or female (Nugent, Pollack & Travis, 2016, p.10). I have found that when we support each other by acknowledging contributions, ideas and providing the opportunity for everyone to have a voice, we are helping to build an inclusive community. Men and women both need to be role models for what is acceptable behaviour and treatment for everyone regardless of gender. I loved the idea behind the ‘BS’ sign as shared by a Canadian woman in Nugent, Pollack & Travis’ article (2016, p.12) where everyone present at a company function had the opportunity to openly question or discuss issues further that they disagreed with simply by holding up the ‘BS’ sign.  Everyone needs to own their part and take responsibility for the change that they wish to see take place.

I know that I still have a ways to go to not only speak up for myself but to be a more active role model and example for others so that I can be a part of a team that helps to build an inclusive environment that acknowledges everyone’s voice and gives credit where credit is due. I have a responsibility for my daughter, my son and for our future generations to take ownership of my part and to DO what is right.

References

Northouse, P.G. (2019).  Leadership: Theory and Practice.  (8^th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:  Sage Publications, Inc.

Nugent, J., Pollack A. & D. Travis (2016). The day to day experiences of workplace inclusion and exclusion. Retrieved from www.catalyst.org/system/files/the_day_to_day_experiences_of_workplace_inclusion_and_exclusion.pdf

As a global society we have made many strides forward in technology, the creation of innovative prototypes for a variety of purposes, medical research and agricultural advances to name a few but we sometimes seem to still be in the dark ages when it comes to the inclusion and credibility of women in leadership.

Northouse (2019, p. 418-419), in his case study involving Lori Bradley, an experienced probation officer and her interaction with her male colleagues addresses several issues that some women still experience in the workplace today.  Firstly, Lori is not acknowledged by her male counterparts when she enters the room and is blatantly ignored. The actions of Ted and Ian send a blatant non-verbal message that Lori is not an accepted member of the group and that she doesn’t belong. Similar to schoolyard bullies, only these are grown men in a professional work place setting. Secondly, when she shares her well thought out and researched ideas with the group her suggestions don’t even receive a response.  Thirdly, when the conversation between the two men swings back to her suggestion, they claim the idea as their own and provide praise and credit where it is not due.  When Lori objected, she was slighted and insulted yet again by being told that she was being “too sensitive” (a stereotypically offensive trait). What Lori experienced in the case study is not an uncommon occurrence.  Women all around the world are subjected to this type of indifference and dismissal.   It made me wonder where and when men are being taught  this unprofessional behaviour and what we as a society can do to change this.

Why do women feel like they still have to “prove themselves” more than 143 years after Jennie Kid Trout became the first licensed female Canadian doctor to practice medicine in 1875 (Chang Yen-Phillips, 2017) and why do some men presume that they are better, more effective leaders simply due to their gender?

Nugent, Pollack and Travis (2016) discuss the “returns on inclusion and the costs of exclusion” (p.2) and the importance for leaders to ensure that all employees feel a “sense of uniqueness” and a “sense of belonging” (p.2). Exclusion can cost organizations through employees having “compromised job satisfaction, lower sense of well being, reduced work effort, diminished employee voice, and greater intention to leave” (p.2).  Lori from Northouse’s case study would definitely over time feel less satisfied with her job, feel voiceless, non-existent and through the deliberate lack of inclusion from her male co-workers be more inclined to want to leave the organization.

Image courtesy of www.cbc.ca

I have to admit that when my daughter was born in 1998, we purposely gave her a neutral gender name so that future employers could not engage in gender bias behaviour based on the name on her resume.   This is similar to Northouse (2019, p. 410) discussing the prejudice that existed towards females auditioning for roles with symphony orchestras and how changes were put in place to help prevent discrimination by having everyone audition behind a screen.

I read an interesting online article  (Bryant, 2018) the other day about Equinox CEO Niki Leondaki and how like Lori in the case study she used to be ignored at meetings. Men assumed she was the assistant in the room rather than the boss and avoided addressing her questions or comments. Once she realized this was happening, she took measures to try and fix this misconception by handing out her business cards at the start of the meeting.  This enabled everyone at the table to be informed that she, instead of her colleagues was the CEO.

As a woman who has also at times experienced what feels like ‘the boys only club’, I try to take steps like Niki Leondaki did to raise awareness and find ways to be pro-active to help off-set any preconceived assumptions.  I will discuss this further in my next blog post. We’ve come a long way in many areas, but we still have a ways to go when it comes to breaking down years of gender bias in the workplace and making sustainable changes so that everyone has a voice and is acknowledged regardless of race, gender, religion or culture!

If you are reading this and are a woman, do you stand up for yourself and other women in your organization when you or someone else is a victim of gender bias or exclusion? If you are a man reading this, do you stand up for women and inclusion if you witness a woman being excluded or ignored at a meeting or during a discussion simply because of  her gender? If you said no, I am curious to know your reasons why not.  If you said yes, I am equally curious to know if you felt like your actions helped make sustainable changes in the culture of your workplace.

References:

Bryant, A. (2018, June 13). Equinox CEO: Men used to ignore me in meetings – here’s the trick I use to get their attention. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/12/equinox-ceo-niki-leondakis-shares-the-trick-she-uses-to-command-respect.html

Chang-Yen Phillips, C. (2017, March 7). Canada’s first licensed female doctor had to swallow many bitter pills. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/2017/canada-s-first-licensed-female-doctor-had-to-swallow-many-bitter-pills-1.4011950

Northouse, P.G. (2019).  Leadership: Theory and Practice.  (8^th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:  Sage Publications, Inc.

Nugent, J., Pollack A. & D. Travis (2016). The day to day experiences of workplace inclusion and exclusion. Retrieved from www.catalyst.org/system/files/the_day_to_day_experiences_of_workplace_inclusion_and_exclusion.pdf