{"id":10341,"date":"2016-11-16T20:16:30","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T04:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=10341"},"modified":"2016-11-16T20:16:30","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T04:16:30","slug":"reflections-on-identity-gender-and-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/reflections-on-identity-gender-and-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on Identity, Gender, and Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a sense in the Handbook of Leadership Theory & Practice, of two not-incompatible leadership definitions. Several chapters (Power and Leadership, Leadership in a Globalized World, <\/em>etc.) focused on the functional aspects of leaders\u2014what they do, how they perform, and outcomes of their performance. Other authors took a different approach to understanding leaders based on identity; a comparison between doing<\/em> and being<\/em> (cf 370, 394, 658).<\/p>\n

Throughout the text, I primarily explored chapters most relevant to my own growth as a leader. As a woman who\u2019s been in leadership, but not in roles I would choose for myself, I found myself dwelling on the frustrating realities of Women in Leadership<\/em> (chapter 14) and some hopeful descriptions of Identity-based Leadership Development<\/em> (chapter 22).<\/p>\n

First, the struggles: I recognize and have seen examples of the double bind<\/em> placed on women in \"7ace687fb5bb072cf342b5840da08c8b\"<\/a>leadership (to either be liked or respected, but not both). More importantly for me though, women in traditionally male-dominated settings often have difficulty breaking into the \u201cold boys\u201d loop of advice and professional development opportunities <\/em>(380). Yes. Yes. Yes. It is the informal chatting over beer or golf, networking with buddies (hanging out) that I see as most challenging to the opportunities women are given. [W]omen who are scrambling to build careers while raising children have\u2026 difficulty finding time for the social activities that help forge professional relationships. After the workday ends, men are picking up tips over golf and drinks; women are picking up \u201claundry, dinner, and the house<\/em> (381). I\u2019ve experienced this personally with my husband going out with his colleagues while fellow female faculty are not invited (\u201cshe wouldn\u2019t want to come anyway\u201d), or the late night cigars smoked while I am home with the kids. I sense frustration on my husband\u2019s part when I attempt to spend time with him and his friends, with him asserting I\u2019m not independent, while I attempt to use that time to get into the \u201cboys\u2019 club\u201d; his frustration that I prefer \u201cinstrumental\u201d relationships with leaders (usually men) in informal networks (660), rather than conversations about shopping or nails or hair.<\/p>\n

I confess I\u2019m having a hard time communicating this clearly, probably because this chapter hits close to home for me. I don\u2019t want to appear at odds with my husband, but the reality is that he has \u201cadvanced\u201d as a leader within our networks, while I have not. It\u2019s not hard for me to consider that part of the reason is that he has been given opportunities to \u201clearn through experience\u201d (The Experience Conundrum, <\/em>705, etc.) and has built upon those informal social network relationships, and I have \u201cchosen\u201d a job with lesser compensation and fewer responsibilities than [I was] qualified to assume in order to accommodate family responsibilities<\/em> (383). The reality for me, as recent evidence suggests\u2026[is that] the sexes have increasingly similar employment aspirations and that women\u2019s unequal opportunities to realize their potential ill serves all concerned<\/em> (388-389).<\/p>\n

There\u2019s so much more I\u2019m still processing about this chapter on women in leadership, but I also want to explore the being<\/em> of leaders, our identity. The authors of Identity-Based Leadership Development<\/em> apparently journeyed to England with us (who knew?). Either that, or Jason explored this model when creating our doctoral program. Ibarra et al identify and encourage experimenting with new possible professional selves (665) through a process of separation, transition, and incorporation. The exploration of Victor Turner\u2019s concept of liminality is something I\u2019ve studied previously (spoiler\u2014and plan to incorporate in my ethnography). To one extent or another, we are all dissatisfied with our current situation, which has led us to pursue this doctoral program (665). Our experience in London\/Oxford was<\/em> liminal for us, creating the opportunity to separate from our comfortable contexts at home (666). And while the Advance was in a bounded time and place, we will continue to cycle through liminality and incorporation throughout our doctoral program (and hopefully, beyond). As we seek to incorporate our new experimental identities as leaders into fresh situations, Ibarra et al emphasize the value of external assessments based on the observations and reactions of role-set members who offer explicit or implicit feedback<\/em> (667). That\u2019s us! That\u2019s the Sevens! As we individually seek to re-create our identity as leaders, we trust in the feedback from others, and especially from one another. It is only when we take into account\u2026. the socially grounded nature of incorporation processes<\/em> will we see sustainable identity change<\/em> (668). This process is hopeful and exciting.<\/p>\n

I will close, though, with a point of discouragement. Ibarra et al suggest that professional identities are claimed and<\/strong> granted in social interaction<\/em> (659, italics mine). While I may claim a particular identity as a leader, such as a pastor, it is left to my social network to grant such an identity. The reality is that I am a woman seeking to be recognized as a leader in a highly patriarchal church movement. While some congregations and non-profits in our movement have acknowledged the leader skills of some women, the majority of our institutions have not. For some of us, the hope was [that] the filling of the pipeline would take care of the problem, but it is now clear that time alone is not the answer<\/em> (377). This is not only a loss for the individual women who are skilled, gifted, and aspirational, but for the Church as a whole: A lack of gender diversity can also limit an organization\u2019s opportunities for learning and renewal<\/em> (389). Or to suggest the same concept in spiritual language, when gifts of the Holy Spirit, given to the Church through a part of the Body of Christ are prevented from being used, the entire Body suffers (1 Co. 12.7). This is as true for the woman (or man) who refuses to use her gifts, as it is for the church that refuses to allow the gifts given to women to be used.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a sense in the Handbook of Leadership Theory & Practice, of two not-incompatible leadership definitions. Several chapters (Power and Leadership, Leadership in a Globalized World, etc.) focused on the functional aspects of leaders\u2014what they do, how they perform, and outcomes of their performance. Other authors took a different approach to understanding leaders based […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[770,414,195,406],"class_list":["post-10341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-identity","tag-khurana","tag-nohria","tag-women","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}