{"id":254,"date":"2018-11-13T20:34:19","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T00:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/?p=254"},"modified":"2018-11-13T20:34:19","modified_gmt":"2018-11-14T00:34:19","slug":"gender-and-leadership-practical-inclusion-ideas-unit-8-learning-activity-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/2018\/11\/13\/gender-and-leadership-practical-inclusion-ideas-unit-8-learning-activity-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender and Leadership – Practical Inclusion Ideas – Unit 8, Learning Activity 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I read chapter 15 of\u00a0Leadership (Northouse, 2018) and the Catalyst (Nugent, Pollock, & Travis, 2016) report I was challenged to think about practical inclusion ideas while also finding myself encouraged and grateful for the environment where I work. No situation is perfect and we should always be paying attention to the areas where we have become passive and status quo. At the same time, I can genuinely say that much of what I read about in these two resources is valued and has been implemented in my workplace.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Nugent, Pollock, & Travis (2016) state, employees who experience uniqueness and belonging report as feeling included. This can be a challenge as an organization grows and becomes more complex. Employees are hired to complete a task but have a desire to be recognized for who they are and that they are welcome among the larger group.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a manager, I meet with my direct reports one-on-one every month to give organizational updates but also to ask them how they\u2019re doing, to ask what questions they have, and to ask for updates and feedback on their current projects. This is more than a performance check-in (although it does serve that function) and becomes the place where meaningful relationships can happen and trust is built between employee and manager. These meetings happen with all employees regardless of gender and the same requests are feedback are given in all meetings.<\/span><\/p>\n

In reflection, part of my active leadership to the team I lead could then be to have employees share great insights or feedback they\u2019ve given and to invite this from both male and female employees in our department. For the wider team to know that I value and respect the input and insight of male and female employees alike would speak to this desire for inclusion through the feeling of uniqueness and belonging.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, from taking the Gender-Leader Implicit Association test (Northouse, 2018) I was quite surprised to find a level of gender bias within my own understanding of leadership. While I don\u2019t believe it is possible for zero bias to be achieved, I do believe that I can work actively to overcome this bias and build this culture of inclusion among those I work alongside.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nugent, Pollock, & Travis (2016) also speak to these inclusion experiences in the Catalyst report as being invisible and yet expected. The challenge is that inclusion doesn\u2019t speak to a program or workplace training but instead to something within the character of the leaders. Inclusion can\u2019t be narrowed down to individual conversations or bulletin board material but needs to be instilled across the organization through leaders who are committed to acknowledging exclusionary behaviour and choosing to do the opposite.<\/span><\/p>\n

In summary, I believe that our organization is doing a good job of practicing this inclusionary behaviour stemming from employees feeling a sense of uniqueness and belonging. However, we cannot assume this is automatic and will always continue so I need to pay attention to my interactions with all employees, regardless of gender, and look for ways to speak publicly of the contributions they are making to our organization\u2019s shared goals. This needs to be modelled for other leaders within our organization who can then continue this behaviour to grow these feelings of uniqueness and belonging to every area of responsibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reference
\n<\/strong>Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice, Eighth Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.<\/p>\n

Nugent, J., Pollack, A. & Travis, D. (2016).\u00a0The day to day experiences of workplace inclusion and exclusion<\/em>. Retrieved from\u00a0http:\/\/www.catalyst.org\/system\/files\/the_day_to_day_experiences_of_workplace_inclusion_and_exclusion.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I read chapter 15 of\u00a0Leadership (Northouse, 2018) and the Catalyst (Nugent, Pollock, & Travis, 2016) report I was challenged to think about practical inclusion ideas while also finding myself encouraged and grateful for the environment where I work. No situation is perfect and we should always be paying attention to the areas where we … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Gender and Leadership – Practical Inclusion Ideas – Unit 8, Learning Activity 2”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":342,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,45,38,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ldrs500","category-leadership-character","category-people-development","category-unit-8"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/342"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions\/255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}