Catherine O’Donnell

Statement of Inclusive Leadership

Recent education on inclusion and diversity has blossomed my leadership skills

significantly. The tools that I have learned will help me to lead a diverse population of people

and I believe I am more confident in doing so because of this continual education. For example,

I was the leader of a Greek InterVarsity Bible Study during my sophomore year of college. This

was my first time facilitating a small group of people. I made it a priority to tell my peers that

our conversations would be kept confidential in this safe space each week. I can connect my

facilitation to Kolb's Learning Styles Model because I organized my practice through a

continuum of planning, initiating, reflecting, and revision of the material while incorporating the

needs of the participants to ensure they felt comfortable each meeting (Chiong, 2011). In the

future, I see myself being as engaging and open to my peers as I was in the Bible Study

regardless of their race, ethnicity, or sexual identity.

Additionally, I aimed to be an inclusive leader in a group project on Child Abuse and

Enslavement for one of my honors classes. Utilizing Bolman and Deal’s Four-Frame Model, my

position consisted of assigning specialized roles, creating relationships among group members,

remedying conflict, adjusting to change, and creating a shared vision for a desired outcome

(Bolman & Deal, 2013). I found that being a developer helped me to notice the individual

differences in my peers. I think this strength helped me to be inclusive of my group members by

valuing them for who they truly are. In the future, I will use this model to create a structured

facilitation and safe environment by being respectful of each individual, acknowledging each and

everyone’s identity, and granting an equal opportunity for all to share their ideas and opinions in

the safe environment that I create.

 References

Bolman, L.G. & Deal, T.E. (2013). ​Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice & leadership.

(5th ed). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Chiong, S. (2011). Kolb's Learning Styles Model and Experiential Learning Theory. Retrieved

October 27, 2020, from ​http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/Kolb's_Learning_Styles_Model

_and​_Experiential_Learning_Theory