Tag: LDRS 500

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Thoughts on Leadership

Leading others is one of the greatest honours (and greatest challenges) of my life. I dive into it daily with a mixture of anticipation, inspiration, vulnerability, fear, and hope. Our leaders matter. What we do as leaders matters greatly.

One of my greatest inspirations for leadership is Brene Brown, author of Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (2012),  research professor, and thought leader about vulnerability and courage.

She gives voice to so many of us engaged in leadership who “enter the arena” with equal parts bravery and vulnerability. One (often) hidden aspect of leadership is the courage it takes to be vulnerable, to challenge assumptions, to create innovative solutions to ongoing problems, and to ultimately, lead people down paths we have not yet walked ourselves.

“If you don’t understand vulnerability, you cannot manage and lead people. If you’re not showing up vulnerably as a leader, you can’t expect anyone to follow you—period.” –Brene Brown

The challenge we have as leaders is to combine our vulnerability with a bravery to lead others, to care for them, to imagine a better future for our families and our communities, our corporations and institutions — our world. The stakes are (at times) high. The outcomes matter. That’s why, as leaders, we must be at the same time aware of our vulnerability and areas of weakness, and confident enough to imagine better paths ahead — and lead others down those paths.

“Is there anyone that does not need to navigate uncertainty and risk on a regular basis? To be alive is to be vulnerable; to be a leader is to be vulnerable every minute of the day. You don’t get to opt out.” — Brene Brown

We travel this journey together as we engage individually and collectively in our own leadership development.

A shout out to LDRS 500 Leadership Foundation students at TWU in Summer 2018 as we embark on this learning experience together.

Leadership Prof

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Bias in our Classrooms: Girls and Boys become Women and Men

Education is certainly one field where women are very active in leadership. However, research consistently shows that there still remains a common theme of gender bias within classrooms (taught by both women and men teachers).

This inherent bias continues to challenge so many of us as educators, who often have deeply-held values regarding equality of access and academic success for all learners, regardless of gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and other factors. Yet, despite these values, the experiences of students too often reflect an unconscious bias.

Einarsson and Granstrom (2010) who studied the interactions between students and their teachers through classroom observations, found a substantial difference in the attention given to students by their teachers.

“The classroom observations revealed that boys, in general, are given more attention than girls. However, male teachers increase the attention paid to girls when the pupils get older, while female teachers always give more attention to boys.” (Einarsson & Granstrom, 2010)

As an educator and leader within higher education, I believe that what happens in the university (or college) can change the world. Individual lives are shaped by education; families, companies, communities and nations are shaped by individuals. Therefore, what happens in our educational environments is critical to our future.

So what does this type of bias within our educational settings mean for our future families and companies and communities and nations? What does it mean for the children who experience this bias? And what does it mean for us as educators?

As Allyson Jule writes in her book, “Gender, participation and silence in the language classroom: Sh-shushing the girls” (2004):

“The classroom is a microcosm of society. Who counts here and why? The shushing of the girls is a complicated thing. We can’t solve it, but our awareness can make a great deal of difference here and this can affect the way we manage gender. If we as parents really see that gender is a big ‘card’ to play, and if we understand some of the ways it limits as well as propels people, then we can articulate this better to our children.” (Jule, 2004)

Because education plays such a critical role in opening opportunities for students, both today and in the future, our thinking about fundamental bias in teaching is a critical component of reflective teaching. Beginning with an awareness of how we, as educators, support students voices within the classroom is a start. For those of us who also hold leadership positions, we must also be reflective about creating spaces for the voices of others within our organizations, regardless of gender (or other factors).

 

Einarsson, C. & Granstrom, K. (2010). Gender-biased interaction in the classroom: The influence of gender and age in the relationship between teacher and pupil. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. (46)2, pp. 117-127.

Julé, A. (2004). Gender, participation and silence in the language classroom: Sh-shushing the girls. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.