Insights on Women's Leadership in Higher Ed IT: Lessons from Dr. Amy Barry

On Monday, The EDUCAUSE WIT Community Group hosted our monthly online gathering, and our guest presenter was Dr. Amy Barry, reviewing the research she completed last year for her doctoral dissertation. Her work focused on how women start to think of themselves as leaders, how they experience the tasks of leadership in their organizations, what challenges they face, and how they manage to overcome those challenges. Her study is an in-depth one based on literature reviews and the use of a theoretical framework on leadership to guide and analyze extensive interviews with 6 current women leaders. I've been able to look at the first 24 pages- and have ordered the full dissertation through my library for further study. It's interesting work and one of the rare studies specifically focused on women's IT leadership in higher education.

A Little Loud and a Little Alone: A Phenomenology of Leadership Identity Construction Among Women in Higher Education Technology by Dr. Amy Barry, Assistant Director of Academic Technologies, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

"Abstract: This qualitative study is an exploration of how women in higher education information technology (IT) positions navigate constructing their leadership identities. This includes the messy, personal, internal identity work that occurs prior to claiming their leadership identities on the public stage, followed by an examination of what the experience of attempting to claim and negotiate a leadership identity is like in the social context of their organizations."

I'm using information from her presentation slides from Monday's session to share this information with you...please know that I cannot do full justice to her extensive research! The recording of her presentation will be available on EDUCAUSE Connect shortly. So check it out!

First, her analysis resulted in these 5 thematic groupings of leadership identity construction:

• Navigating Bias and Challenges
• Growing and Building Resilience
• Cultivating Meaningful and Nurturing Connections
• Self-Building and Developing Authenticity
• Solidifying Leadership Perspectives and Practices

Then, her analysis of how these successful women in IT reached and sustained leadership positions resulted in these recommendations for IT organizations:

• Professional development content for women
• Cultural communication training to help fight additional bias that women in IT from non-white backgrounds experience
• Workshops and learning materials that show women’s current challenges and experiences. Better understanding = better allies, dispelling the myth of postfeminism
• Creating inclusive informal social opportunities, the antithesis of the exclusive good old boys’ clubs
• IT Senior Leaders should realize the impact of their validation and support, be more visible and accessible so that aspiring leaders have the opportunity to see and try on leadership traits that resonate with them

Finally, her analysis resulted in these recommendations for women in IT:

• Women in IT should consider that integrating their life identities may lead to an increased sense of well-being
• “Just keep swimming” - a sense of struggle is a normal part of the experience for a woman in IT, rely on social support to process and get through feelings of struggle
• Take on a strength’s mindset - find and embrace your unique strengths
• The way we dress can be a powerful approach to building confidence, make sure what you’re wearing makes you feel authentic and powerful!
• React to disrespect with verbal and non-verbal communication strategies, speak up or do something and don't just accept disrespect!
• Practice reframing so that you don’t see yourself as a deficit
• Choose an “I don’t know”/learning mindset over the need to constantly prove yourself

I look forward to diving deeper into this research, and figuring out how we can use this information to increase the value of this WIT community to all of SUNY.

All the best,
Holly

Indigenous Gratitude

Hello all,

We have just celebrated Indigenous People's Day, and so I want to acknowledge that day with special gratitude for the Native Americans who are still here, and who are still willing to engage with the rest of us and share their accumulated wisdom.

Last spring I attended a wonderful meeting which showcased libraries, academics (SUNY ESF), and museums and cultural centers working together to create exhibits and provide student interns with deep educational practicums. The session was held at the Wild Center and sponsored by the NNYLN. In case you don't know, each region of NYS has a multi-institution type library network and our SUNY libraries are all members of one or another regional network.

At this particular meeting we got to experience the Ways of Knowing exhibit, which includes a recording by Dave Fadden (of the Six Nations Iroquois Cultural Center) of this wonderful story of how the birds got their songs/names. And if you know birds, you'll see how much science and accurate knowledge is passed on in this story. Why does the hummingbird flap his wings so fast? Why does the crow have a simple single note song? Why does the Hermit Thrush live deep in the forest? Listen and learn! Science, history, morality, art, and culture are all connected here.

We can grow by remembering that our educational systems are just one way to teach, our libraries are just one way to store cultural histories, and our advanced computer technologies are just one way to code. We can grow by remembering that other important and beautiful ways of knowing and being came before ours in a multiplicity of cultures and can still coexist alongside.

All the best,
Holly

Lessons From Autumn

Hello all,

We are living through changing times. This is always the case, and still, certain times seem to have an acceleration of changes, disruptions, and uncertainties, and I've been feeling as though we are in that space now.

On October 7th, I reflected back to a year of deadly wars (in Ukraine, in Israel and Gaza, in Sudan, and more), a year of divided political campaigning, a year of universities wrestling with free speech and social activism support and restrictions, and a year of challenges to libraries and IT operations from bugs to budgets! Feels like a lot.

And then, a beautiful ray of sun shines through a fall leaf on campus - and students gleefully paint pumpkins at the fall festival, and I can relax for a minute. As I need to. As you probably need to.

So, take a few moments to relax now...

Four Lessons We Can Learn From Autumn

“Be like the trees and let the dead leaves drop.” - Rumi.

All the best,
Holly

WIT Updates: Culture Code Snippet #9

Vulnerability: Ideas for Action

This month we finish exploring the second of Daniel Coyle's (The Culture Code) three big skills that create successful groups: build safety, share vulnerability, and establish purpose.

In chapter 12, Coyle covers ideas for action all around the idea of sharing vulnerability to create a cooperative organizational environment.

• Make sure the leader is vulnerable first and often. Coyle gives an example of a leader who, after his first TED talk, explains how scared he was. He points to several people in the room who helped him with the presentation technology when it wasn't working for him. Coyle says this underlines the deeper message, “it's safe to tell the truth here.” (p. 159)
• Overcommunicate expectations. If cooperation is your goal, be explicit and persistent about sending big, clear signals. Establish these expectations, model cooperation, and align language and roles to maximize helping behavior.
• Deliver the negative stuff in person. This is a key (often unspoken) rule. When you have to deliver bad news, do it in person. This creates an opportunity for true understanding. Coyle says this rule is not easy to follow because “(it's far more comfortable for both the sender and the receiver to communicate electronically), but it works because it deals with tension in an upfront, honest way.” (p. 161)
• When forming new groups, focus on two critical moments. Coyle refers to research by Jeff Polzer from Harvard Business School. Polzer traces any group's cooperation norms to two critical moments that happen early in the group's life: the first vulnerability and the first disagreement. At these moments, people either become defensive or they say, “Hey, that's interesting. Why don't you agree? I might be wrong, and I'm curious to talk more.” Coyle says what happens in these moments helps set the pattern for everything that follows. (p. 162)
• Listen like a trampoline. Good listening is about more than nodding attentively. It's about adding insights and creating moments of mutual discovery. Coyle references Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman, who analyzed thousands of participants in a manager development program. As they put it, “the most effective listeners behave like trampolines; they aren't passive sponges, they're active responders, absorbing what the other person gives, supporting them, and adding energy…”
• In conversation, resist the temptation to reflexively add value. Coyle says this means forgoing easy opportunities to offer solutions or make suggestions. Skilled listeners understand that they need to keep the other person talking and thinking out loud. This way, you uncover risks and vulnerabilities, rather than collapsing the conversation into “let me tell you my story” mode.
• Use candor-generating practices like after-action reports, brain trusts, and red teaming. These tools can be applied in any business domain. Ask questions like: What were our intended results? What were our actual results? What can we do differently next time? (p. 164)
• Aim for candor; avoid brutal honesty. Coyle describes the distinction between candor (feedback that's small, targeted, less personal) and brutal honesty, which doesn't allow for comfort or a sense of belonging.

There are several other ideas for action that Coyle lists in this chapter, but I think all of them demonstrate that purposeful sharing of vulnerability offers the opportunity for people to grow, share, and cooperate.

Next month we will move on to the last big skill—Establishing Purpose.