As we at Ceannas celebrate LGBT+ History Month, I was invited to reflect on my experiences of how the representation of and support for the LGBT+ Community may have changed over my career. The unfortunate reality is that unlike so many other Leadership issues, where I have a multitude of first-hand experiences to bring an issue to life, there are far too few within this dimension.
When I look back upon my 30 years in public service I wonder if there was more I could have done to ensure that young people, teachers, and school leaders who were also members of the LGBT+ community were more included, suffered less discrimination and didn’t feel the need to hide their true identity? The uncomfortable answer to that question is a resounding – yes. Although I will never truly understand what it is to walk in the place of a member of the LGBT+ Community, a woman facing domestic violence, a person of colour, a disabled person, or anyone who has felt pressurised by society to hide their true identity, I am conscious that it is time to move beyond wearing my ribbon to demonstrate my support and empathy. It is time to understand how Leaders, like myself, can take action and move to actively support the LGBT+ Community and others who do not benefit from the same privileges that I do.
This brought to mind an event I participated in – “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” – which invited men to walk a mile while wearing a pair of women’s shoes. Although on the surface it seemed like a light hearted fundraising event, from a personal perspective it changed me. Not in a shallow sense of understanding what it’s like to walk in women’s shoes, but much more from the metaphorical significance of the experience. For I came to realise that leaders like me can delude ourselves that we do enough simply by supporting causes through our positive words, and personal endorsement, but without actually engaging with the issue to the point of taking action.
At the core of our work at Ceannas is our mission is to “change the world through wise leadership”, which we define as doing the ‘right’ thing, at the ‘right’ time, for the ‘right’ reasons. It strikes me that promoting and supporting LGBT+ issues falls very much into the category of being a ‘Wise’ decision. With that in mind here are seven small suggestions for Leaders based upon the Ceannas Wheel of Wise Leadership as to how they might begin to go about shifting the dial on this critical issue:
SELF-AWARENESS: Unlike so many other challenges that come across a leader’s desk, LGBT+ issues may not be something in which they have an in-depth appreciation. That recognition that they are not the expert, but the willing learner, who is willing to admit to their vulnerabilities, their potential biases, and mistakes is a great starting point.
SEEING ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES: By recognising that this is not an issue in which I have expertise as a leader opens the opportunity to begin to “walk in other’s shoes”. Actively seeking out those perspectives, listening without interruption, and demonstrating that these alternative perspectives are showing through in my behaviour become incredibly powerful statements in themselves.
ENABLING OTHERS: This feature forms the last part of the foundation that a leader needs to build in terms of wise leadership. Enabling is about giving others the means to take responsibility. It requires the leader to encourage and create the space for others to step forward and bring their own experience to bear on the issue. It is through this feature that so much diversity of practice and innovation can be derived.
MAKING SENSE OF COMPLEXITY: It is the role of the leader to help others to make sense of complex issues as they relate to their organisation. Part of the leader’s responsibility is to translate these issues into something which has resonance and meaning for everyone. The power of sustained story-telling, connecting to the organisation’s sense of purpose, and linking to the values that are supposed to inform everyone’s behaviour can help to create a powerful environment for change.
SEARCHING FOR THE COMMON GOOD: This is about ‘we’ not ‘me’. It’s about ‘us’ as a community, a community where everyone is valued and respected for who they are. The Common Good creates a bond where each of us carries a responsibility to include others – not just the responsibility of leaders. A collective obligation towards the Common Good provides a scaffolding for action.
CREATING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE: Here the leader must look to the future, and ask themselves what the long-term impact upon their organisation is if it fails to fulfil its obligation towards any group of colleague. Will we attract and keep great people? Will customers support an organisation which fails to match the standards they expect? Will our organisation remain profitable if we cut out a section of society who have so much to offer in terms of their diversity of thought and life experiences? These are practical and pragmatic matters – but for those whose only interest is the bottom line then it’s not a bad place to start.
COURAGEOUS AND ETHICAL DECISIONS: This is where the ‘rubber meets the road’ in terms of wise leadership. For all the challenge of fulfilling all the other features of wise leadership this is where the leader must stand up and be counted by taking action. Our own research into the most admired qualities of leadership shows that ethical and courageous behaviour are in the top 3 of these qualities. For it is this domain that the leader must push beyond their own status quo and begin to take courageous action, informed by what is the ‘right’ thing to do and stand up for LGBT+ issues as an alternative to simply nodding in its direction at the appropriate time of year.