I took the Gender-Leader Implicit Association test twice. First at the beginning of the unit, and again at the end. I consider myself to be be an advocate for women in leadership, which has evolved over the years from a more patriarchal belief. However, as the text aptly noted, I was surprised that my scores were incompatible with my stated egalitarian philosophy (Northouse, 2019, pg. 423). Even having changed my perspective over the years, being in leadership myself, and having strong women mentors, my score still indicated a bias.
The positive is that even though both my scores indicated bias, there was a significant decrease in my bias from the first round to the second. My first attempt yielded a positive score of 3.1, and my second score was down by almost 2 points at 1.4. This demonstrates that through the mechanism of education, positive women role models, and increasing gender bias awareness, prejudices and misconceptions can be changed. My perceptions of my own (female) leadership journey and leadership style have changed as I have worked through this unit and given me empowerment to increase my voice on this issue.
In my current workplace, I already do feel valued as a professional woman and have been given leadership advancement opportunities. However, there is still some improvement that can be made. A significant way that I can make a difference is by improving myself as a female transformational servant leader. I should continue being warm and communal, but need to increase my agentic qualities in competence and assertiveness (Northouse, 2019, pg. 214). This will establish me as a stronger female leader and will help to break through any existing or residual biases and prejudices. Through this, I can be a role model for other women coming behind me and provide mentorship for them on their own leadership journeys. I can be an advocate for them and make a path for them to have their own voice heard.
I can also be watchful for gender biases that occur in the workplace and take steps to mitigate against these. To do so, I will begin to watch for and take note of whose voices are being heard, and whose opinions are being validated, as well as who is being dismissed (Nugent, 2016, pg. 10). With this information I can then work to include those who are being excluded and give credit and visibility to ideas. This will model to others an inclusive approach and build up a culture that embraces diversity of all kinds. As a leader, I will also be able to “review, revisit, and revamp existing practices to uncover exclusionary norms” (Nugent, 2016, pg. 11). I will be able to revise practises and procedures that may be exclusionary. To implement these, a transformative approach will be necessary to bring awareness to all employees so that change is implemented on a human level and not just on a policy level.
This test was a helpful barometer for me to really identify further work I need to do to overcome my own biased perceptions. I wonder if any others took the test twice and saw a change in their perceptions, and if so, in what way?
References:
Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice. Eighth Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA. Sage Publications.
Nugent, J., Pollack, A. & D. Travis, (2016). The Day to day experiences of workplace inclusion and exclusion. Catalyst. Retrieved from https://www.catalyst.org/system/files/the_day_to_day_experiences_of_workplace_inclusion_and_exclusion.pdf
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