Five Good Ideas about reflexive leadership

In this session, you’ll hear Paulette’s ideas on reflexive leadership as a lifelong effort to do the hard work of changemaking, starting with yourself and moving outward to your organization and broader society.

For the full transcript and the ideas, visit https://maytree.com/five-good-ideas/five-good-ideas-about-reflexive-leadership/.

Every leader wants to become the most effective they can be, and leaders of changemaking organizations carry a special responsibility to “be the change.” But there’s always a gap between how you see yourself and how others see and experience you. Closing that gap – enabling your “inner leader” to match your “outer leader” – requires a reflexive leadership approach. It helps expand your consciousness of who you are and how you show up in the work you do, as well as how you fit in a broader context of systemic realities that lie outside of you but deeply impact you and your communities every day. In this session, Paulette Senior provides key insights on reflexive leadership as a lifelong effort to do the hard work of changemaking, starting with yourself and moving outward to your organization and the broader society itself.

Five Good Ideas

1. Stop going in circles

2. Circle back

3. Draw a new circle

4. Explore what’s in the circle

5. Complete the circle

Resources

1. Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most, by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen

2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey

3. Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity, by Kim Scott

4. Dancing on Live Embers: Challenging Racism in Organizations, by Tina Lopes and Barb Thomas

5. The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias, by Dolly Chugh

About Paulette Senior

Paulette Senior has devoted her life and career to breaking down systemic barriers and building up diverse women and girls. Her personal experience immigrating to Canada from Jamaica as a young girl ignited her interest in social justice and helped make her the dynamic, grounded leader she is today. Paulette’s career began in social services in some of Toronto’s most underserved neighbourhoods. She witnessed the need for systemic change and learned the power of putting the voices of women and equity-seeking communities first. She became known for her excellence in shelter, employment, and housing service provision, as well as for her intersectional approach to advocacy. She has earned numerous awards and has become one of the most respected women leaders in Canada. In 2016, Paulette joined the Canadian Women’s Foundation as President and CEO after a decade serving as CEO of YWCA Canada. She is a sought-after thought-leader on numerous issues including gender equity and gender-based violence; women’s poverty and the wage gap; girls’ empowerment; and leadership. Her focus at the Foundation is to bolster an inclusive national movement for all women, girls, and communities across Canada.