Reading Ryan Morrow‘s brilliant post was very timely for me. I have noticed a pattern in my life: work to exhaustion, become incapacitated, recover, then repeat. I am ashamed to say that this pattern has been happening for many years (the older I get, however, the longer the recover stage takes). I believe that there is wisdom in withdrawing from the busyness of daily life, and as Ryan aptly notes, Jesus modeled this in his life on earth. However our society tends to see this as the two-week vacation we take once a year to get away from it all. I have recently come to the realization that daily quiet time with God is hugely beneficial for re-focusing, clarifying purpose, and even rest. Having made this a regular part of my routine, I will next begin to implement a true Sabbath. Too often my weekends are simply a change from being busy with work, to being busy with other activities. I am starting to appreciate the value of spending time doing very little activity once per week. Like Ryan noted, life “can quickly allow me to become buried in the details of the urgent or distracted by things which shouldn’t be important” and regular times of solitude and reflection are as necessary as air and water for us to be able to function effectively in our lives.
Response to Georgeena’s Unit 8 Learning Activity 1
I know of two women who have lost their jobs because they were pregnant. One is a friend who had recently started a position at the time. When she found out that she was pregnant and told her boss, she was terminated during her three month “probation”. The second is my mother. She was being groomed for management at her job when she discovered she was pregnant with my sister. Her supervisor actually told her that she BLEW IT. She was never given the opportunity for promotion.
I wholeheartedly agree with Georgeena’s thoughts citing Northouse in her post : “legalities around the Family and Medical Leave Act should be front and center for an organization (Northouse, 2018). Senior administrators and division heads should have this legal education embedded into their practice and organizational policy and immediate action must be taken if law is violated. Moreover, training sessions on rights of employees and educational seminars to bring awareness to gender discrimination in the workplace is necessary.”
When women today feel they are terminated due to pregnancy I fear there is still a lot of ignorance about their rights and how to proceed legally. It is important that women know their rights and are able to speak out about injustices such as this. The only way that change will take place is when people are empowered to speak out.
Response to Monica Grace: Unit 8 Activity 2
After reading Monica’s post I was even more surprised that my score on the IAT was positive, indicating that I have subconscious associations between female / supporter and male / leader. Like Monica, I also work in a female-dominated environment. I fully expected that I would not have these stereotypes in my head. The experience made me realize how important it is that these stereotypes continue to be addressed, even in companies that have a higher proportion of females than males. I wondered if I have in any way communicated gender stereotypes to my students? The readings in unit 8 really served as an eye-opener for me. It made me appreciate my work environment, but I realize that I have to be careful and very intentional to challenge gender stereotypes and not promote them inadvertently.
Unit 8 Learning Activity 2
When I took the IAT test it took me 5 seconds longer to do trial B than trial A, indicating that I have bias towards associating leadership qualities to males over females.The results were surprising to me (1) because I am a woman and (2) because I feel that women can excel in leadership roles. I immediately wondered how statistically significant this five second difference was and I was disappointed because I could not find about this on the IAT website. Thus I do not know if 5 seconds represents a relatively large or small bias.
According to Northouse, prejudices against women in leadership roles are deep seated and pervasive (p. ). The problem is that even people like myself, who hold egalitarian values can still harbour prejudices unbeknownst to themselves, as was evidenced by the test. My learning from this exercise is that there is value in anti-bias training even in companies that value equal opportunities for men and women.
I value and appreciate the work that the non-profit organization Catalyst is doing to promote workplace inclusion for women on many fronts via its four research centers (Nugent et. al., 2016). I also learned that it has a long history in working to promote women’s rights, beginning with its work in 1962 to help women get into the labour force (Catalyst, n.d.). I consider myself fortunate to work in the field of education, one of the few fields where women have relatively equal opportunities for leadership. Over the past 18 years for example, three of the six directors of education for the Toronto District School Board have been women. I feel that the greatest way I can promote recognition and a sense of belonging for women in the workplace is by modelling effective leadership at the classroom and school level and by making students aware of, and actively disproving implicit social biases against women.
Catalyst (n.d.) Our history. Retrieved fromvhttps://www.catalyst.org/who-we-are/our-history
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Nugent, J., Pollack, A., & Travis, D. (2016). The Day to day experiences of workplace inclusion and exclusion. [Pdf file]. Retrieved from http://www.catalyst.org/system/files/the_day_to_day_experiences_of_workplace_inclusion_and_exclusion.pdf
Unit 8 Learning Activity 1
How can leaders level the playing field so that both women and men can have equal opportunities to make meaningful contributions in leadership? (Trinity Western University, n.d.) The issue of gender equality in leadership needs to be addressed at the individual, interpersonal, organizational and societal levels. A more androgynous conception of leadership focusing on best practice is what is needed. How might leaders embrace the challenge? (Trinity Western University, n.d.)
According to Northouse (2016), three prevalent explanations for the lack of women in upper leadership roles worldwide are: human capital differences (women have less education, training and work experiences than men); gender differences (differences in leadership style and effectiveness) and prejudice. In case study #1 Lisa’s advancement barriers were clearly due to pervasive negative stereotypes of women and a general unwillingness to challenge the status quo. Gender stereotypes are highly resistant to change (Northouse, 2016). In this situation gender equality could be challenged at the individual level if her colleagues were to publicly acknowledge to the CEO that Lisa knows as much as they do about what is going on during their staff meetings. At the interpersonal level, Lisa could point out the hypocritical nature of her colleagues’ interactions when they seek her opinions privately but not publicly. At the organizational level gender equality could be addressed through transformational leadership, the goal of which would be to shift the culture of the company to begin to engage in courageous conversations about gender biases. It would also protect those who speak out from negative repercussions to their future employment or advancement. Finally, gender differences could be challenged at the societal level by the utilization of social media to promote awareness of companies that ‘walk the talk’ as well as negative attention to companies that do not.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Trinity Western University (n.d.). Unit 8: Unit 8 notes. In Leadership 500: Fall 2018. [Webpage] Retrieved from https://create.twu.ca/ldrs500/unit-8/unit-8-notes/
Light from Many Lamps #4
This story was about how Robert Browning convinced his wife Elizabeth to publish poems that she had written to him while they were courting. Elizabeth was understandably reluctant to make her innermost thoughts public. However, she eventually did publish them and her work—especially the poem ‘How do I love thee’ is famous today. Elizabeth didn’t feel that she had any special talent, it was her husband who recognized it and told her that her work was too important to keep hidden but should be shared with the world (p. 242). As a leader it is easy to share your ideas when you are convinced that they will work, but it is much harder to be vulnerable when you are unsure of your ability or of the merit of your ideas. Add to this an introverted personality and it becomes all the more difficult at times. When I taught alongside three educational support staff I struggled with this. These individuals had been previously trained to follow directions and keep their opinions to themselves. But I felt it was important that I create an environment where everyone’s ideas were welcomed and equally valued. So I went out of my way to solicit their ideas and perspective; utilizing our collective experience and expertise to create my programs. Having said that, however, I was reluctant to share MY thoughts when I was stuck, especially when I was required to make decisions that I didn’t have the answer for. My silence in those moments flew in the face of my hard work to create a collaborative environment. One individual who was a little bit insecure took it personally, and this grew into a conflict between us. I learned that as a leader, it is just as important to share your vulnerabilities as it is to share your great ideas. Had I done so she would not have misconstrued my silence and I would not have missed some great opportunities to learn and to grow in my role as a leader.
Barrett Browning, E. (1979). How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…. In L. E. Watson (Ed.). Light from many lamps (pp. 240-243). New York, NY: Simon & Schuster