1 Developing your leadership identityCynthia Munro, Organizational Health and Effectiveness, University of Alberta 9-10:15 Bring: Toy boxes : with pens, markers, small, med & large stickies Markers Giant beliefs map Giant values map Candy Kleenex & hand sanitizer Handouts: Slides Values definitions Values map (colour copy per table) Start with Why books Put up posters on the wall World café tablecloths & harvest sheets

2 Honouring Treaty 6 Territory"I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are gathered on Treaty 6 territory. We are all treaty people with the responsibility to respect the histories, languages and cultures of First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and all First Peoples of this land, whose presence continues to enrich our communities.”

3 Our Agenda Context setting: Leadership approaches Leadership metaphorsResearch on leadership identity in academic institutions Leadership approaches Leadership metaphors So What? Leadership metaphor and authenticity Evaluation and wrap-up

4 Agreements for this sessionBe curious Engage, listen, interpret and share Honour time limits Limit technology usage that distracts focus Respect and maintain confidentiality Have Fun

5 Why talk about leader identity?We are faced with adaptive challenges that cannot be fixed with technical solutions (Heifetz et al., 2009) “Traditional” command-and-control leadership is disrespectful, disengaging and disempowering. Heroic and charismatic models of leadership are culturally biased and lead us to believe that leaders are born with leadership traits Leadership today is about building trust, and trust revolves around competency and character (Covey, 2006) As we consider the impacts of our actions, particularly in the spirit of truth and reconciliation, leaders face many challenges. Ron Heifetz, Alexander Grashow and Marty Linsky distinguish between technical challenges (that have known solutions through existing expertise and existing processes, structures and systems) and adaptive challenges (can only be addressed by changing people’s priorities, beliefs, loyalties, and engaging, aligning, and mobilizing people’s values) Much of leadership development focuses on what you need to know and do, rather than who you may need or want to BE. We need to think about the person behind the title and the responsibility holistically.

6 Leader Role What are qualities of good leaders? (brainstorm)Pair activity: Taking ~5 min each share: What is leadership to you? What motivated you to step into leadership? What do you see as your biggest strength as a leader? What is a leadership challenge that you struggle with? Before we go too far, we can’t assume that everyone has a common definition or conceptualization of leadership. Role, service, position?

7 How does leadership differ from administration or management?Leadership: “Helping [others to] confront problems that have never yet been successfully addressed” (Fullan, 2001 as cited by Fris & Lazaridou, 2006) “crafting a collaborative way to a better good” (Giles & Yates, 2011) “ability to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute…” (Evans, 2014) “…a way of being towards others…” (Giles & Morrison, 2010) Management = ensuring outcomes are achieved (Giles & Yates, 2011) in a smooth, efficient way (Fris & Lazaridou, 2006) Administration = management + leadership (Fris & Lazaridou, 2006) Before we go too far, we can’t assume that everyone has a common definition or conceptualization of leadership. Role, service, position? Many definitions refer to the distinctions between them in a circular fashion “Administration= management + leadership” (Fris & Lazadidou) Leadership focus on ethical, moral correctness “Managers ensure things are done right, leaders ensure the right things are done” – Warren Bennis

8 Leadership approachesTransactional Transformational Less participative More participative Each style has an appropriate time and context, and is motivated by specific values. Your identity in terms of how you see yourself as a leader needs to align to/integrate the skills and values congruent with your style. Unskilled Highly skilled Hall, B. & Tonna, B. (2009) Hall-Tonna Values Map

9 Identity is: the embodiment of culture, shared beliefs and values that signal belonging (Smircich, 1983) the result of knowing and conscious subjectivity (Coupland, 2007) formed and performed through experience and is represented through narrative (Bottero, 2010) not fixed (Giddens, 1991; Somers, 1994) – it constantly evolves as experience is interpreted (Inman, 2014) I start from the assumption that leadership is gendered, classed and racialized, which are implicit tensions that leaders may rub up against. These power relations influence identity

10 Professional identityPersonal and professional identities are socially constructed with varying levels of agency and reflexivity (Coupland, 2007) Professional and personal identities relate to the groups to which we belong (Eagly & Chin, 2010) Professional discourse puts boundaries on identity (Somers, 1994) Professional identity relates to our adoption of an identity based on a categorization in the division of labour. Professional discourse influences how those of a certain profession should behave. There are espoused values in the discourse as well as values in action.

11 Leadership identity Professional identities may be exclusive of other identities (Krahe & Fitzgerald, 2015) Embodies beliefs about leadership and how leaders see themselves (Moorosi, 2014) Matches values, skills and beliefs (Krahe & Fitzgerald, 2015) Lack of leadership identity is a factor in turnover among leaders (Acker, 2014; Gmelch, 1991; Krahe & Fitzgerald, 2015) (e.g I’m a doctor not a leader) Values & skills: self-initiation, proactivity, and interpersonal skills needed to influence others to achieve a goal Embodies beliefs about leadership, how leaders see themselves (Moorosi, 2014), along a continuum of positional authority to servant leadership.

12 Leader Identity Personal Values Collective Values Context SkillsSelf-Awareness Social interaction Time & experience Sense of possibility & agency Positionality in relation to “norm” Purpose Habitus My position: Leadership is a practice, a way of behaving, not a position. Our foundation is our values, and these values inform our leadership mindset and our resulting practices (creating the conditions for success). Leadership as a force multiplier. We know that our culture in academia is different, so what does leadership mean to us? Reciprocal relationships/self-reinforcing nature between factors of leadership identity and identity

13 Values, Metaphors and MeaningThrough narrative we constitute our social identities (Somers, 1994). Metaphor is a visual cue to facilitate exploration of identity through narrative. Knowing that we have implicit beliefs, habitus, cultural context and blind spots, metaphor is a great way to shed light on your narratives about yourself as a leader.

14 Why Use Metaphors? Leadership—beliefs about leadership, perceptions about what leaders say and do—is regularly expressed through metaphors The associated narratives uncover new understandings Metaphors are great tools – they paint a picture of a concept. Metaphors can be used explicitly and deliberately by leaders, in order to influence others, to give shape to the world in certain ways, and even to manipulate listeners. Paying attention to such metaphors and to the implications they suggest helps the “recipients” of leadership to recognize such influences more quickly and to react to them in more informed and more reflected ways. Metaphors invoke emotional responses and are values-laden. Metaphor users and the audience alike fare better the more they are aware of such implications.

15 Activity Browse the images and select ONE that best reflects:How you see yourself as a leader at the moment Take pictures (with your phone) to take back to your seat. You have 5 Minutes to choose your image

16 Reflect Individually (5 mins):What connects you to the image? What does it mean for you as a leader? What challenges or opportunities does the image represent?

17 Paired Share (5 mins each)Each person to share their reflections and insights Identify connections and key learnings (Ah-ha’s) between you

18 Large Group Debrief (10 mins)Share key learnings from this experience in large group. What have you learned about yourself from using a metaphor?

19 Leadership is storytellingOur strategic narrative about ourselves and our leadership challenges can inspire, sustain, or sink us. The stories we share implicitly or explicitly impact our behaviours, which have an impact on others. What story do you tell about your challenges?

20 So What? How does your leadership identity help you to cope with/overcome your leadership challenges? 10 min large group discussion

21 Wrap-up Questions? What worked well in this session? What could be improved? Please complete the session evaluation. Thanks so much for starting off the day with me!

22 Thank You

23 References Acker, S. (2014). A foot in the revolving door? Women academics in lower-middle management, Higher Education Research & Development, 33(1), Bottero, W. (2010). Intersubjectivity and Bourdieusian approaches to 'identity', Cultural Sociology, 20(10), 1-20. Coupland, C. (2007). Identity: The Management of Meaning, in Ritzer, George (Ed.).The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology.  Blackwell Reference Online. Covey, S. M. R. (2006). The speed of trust: The one thing that changes everything. Fireside: New York Eagly, A.H. & Chin, J.L. (2010). Diversity and leadership in a changing world, American Psychologist, 65(3), Evans, G. L. (2014). A mega review of cultural studies: linking leadership to corporate governance, Poznan University of Economics Review, 14:1,

24 References cont’d Fris, J., & Lazaridou, A. (2006). An Additional Way of Thinking About Organizational Life and Leadership: The Quantum Perspective, Canadian Journal Of Educational Administration & Policy, (48), 1-29. Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Giles, D. & Morrison, M. (2010). Exploring leadership as a phenomenon in an educational leadership paper: An innovative pedagogical approach opens the unexpected, International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 22:1, Giles, D., & Yates, R. (2011). Re-Culturing a University Department: A Case Study. Management In Education, 25(3), Gmelch, W. H. (1991). Paying the price for academic leadership: Department chair tradeoffs, Educational Record, 72(3), Hall, B. P. (1994). Values Shift: A guide to personal & organizational transformation. Eugene: Resource Publications

25 References cont’d Hall, B. P. & Tonna, B. (2009) Hall-Tonna Values Map. Values Technology Inc. Heifetz, R., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). The practice of adaptive leadership:Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world. Boston: Harvard Business Press Inman, M. (2014). Bringing life to leadership: the significance of life history in reviewing leadership learning within higher education, International Journal of Leadership in Education: Theory and Practice, 17:2, Krahe, J.A. & Fitzgerald, A.K. (2015). Innovation studio 101, Journal of Higher Education Management, 30(1), Moorosi, P. (2014). Constructing a leader's identity through a leadership development programme: An intersectional analysis, Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 42(6), Smircich, L. (1983). Concepts of culture and organizational analysis, Administrative Science Quarterly, 28(3), Somers, M. R. (1994). The narrative constitution of identity: A relational and network approach, Theory and Society, 23(5),