Running header: LEADING FOR DEI 1

Leading for DEI - EDU - 605

Option A (Original Project)

Final Project: “Designing Our Way Towards Equity”

Action, Reflection & Celebration

Molly Maher
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Challenging the Current Systems

Beginning the year-long action plan initially felt challenging and at times daunting. Our

cohort began by participating in a two or three week long deep dive. All day classes focused on

learning about structures, oppression, diverse perspectives, and included hands-on activities. We

found ourselves constantly engaged and pushing our biases and boundaries. Although the members

of the cohort were small, we each came from different backgrounds and held varying positions at

multiple schools. We were able to use each other’s experiences to sharpen our minds and lean on

one another when stressors arose. What became daunting about the course of ‘Leading Diverse

Equity Design’ and creating an ‘action plan’ to disrupt system; was that throughout the course you

began looking at your world differently because the material showed the pain, the oppression, the

oppressed, and those who either benefitted, created, or were a cog to the system. I can remember

walking through my personal, social, and professional life and becoming frustrated. I would hear

discriminatory language and behavior, witness white privilege and fragility, homophobia, politics

and policies that impacted people’s lives, and microaggressions. I soon moved from frustration to

anger...feeling defeated to figuring out how I could use an ‘action plan’ to make small positive

changes.

I began dialoguing with fellow professors and classmates, and they helped me narrow down

and rechannel some of my energy towards the area of gender inequity in the work environment. I

often experienced microaggressions in my workplace which made me feel devalued and minimized.

I observed that the majority of leadership positions are held by men even though more that half the

staff is female. There are no structures in place to support women who are interested in pursuing

leadership positions and no protocols to resolve gender related issues or microaggressions. Early in

the year, tension existed amongst our staff and I wondered if small changes could be implemented

to positively impact the work culture. Gender inequity continues to be a major source of negativity
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affecting our workplace. After building strong rapports with many of the females at our school,

honest conversations began to occur. Many women began to share their experiences and concerns

regarding injustices in the workplace. Likewise, I personally experienced derogatory comments

directed at me that were disrespectful and unprofessional. For these reasons, I felt like this topic

warranted further examination and research.

Goals and Equity Design

I created an affinity group for the women at my workplace. We established our group and

the purpose of our meetings. We then build a space where each participant would safely name and

address issues related to behavior and microaggressive commentary towards women. We met twice

a month. One meeting was devoted to focusing on the logistical and content aspect of the group

while the other meeting was outside of school and served as a way for us to connect. We reviewed

content from Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg and Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit. Next, I

created a professional development that would allow our participants to practice leadership skills

like problem solving, collaborating, and decision making through the mock scenario activity. After

the activity concluded, members were asked to share their own experiences anonymously (if they

felt comfortable or willing). The mock scenario was an important milestone for the group resulting

in our ability to name the issues.

My goal and priority was to support female colleagues. Women needed an outlet to express

themselves, end or interrupt gender microaggressions, promote and prepare themselves

professionally, and collaborate best practices with one another. The equitable design was to fuel and

support women so that women could establish themselves as a voice in decision making processes

and make headway on leadership representation. I came to the conclusion that in order to truly

create change; we would have to clearly and concisely name the issues, be listened to and heard,

and hold a position of authority which can impact policies. Additionally, how female colleagues are
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treated, talked to, approached, respected/disrespected serves as a strong message to our students.

Modeling appropriate professionalism and mutual respect amongst our teaching staff empowers

students to advocate for themselves when they experience derogatory comments and behaviors.

Challenges

I experienced group and personal challenges along the course of the year. Personally, I am

an extrovert and am able to easily connect with others. However, I struggle with articulating in

front of peers and other adults during presentations. I continue to work on public speaking by

practicing and putting myself into situations that force me to communicate in a group forum. I

began building my self-esteem and confidence by overly preparing for the meetings and saying a

couple affirmations. I relied heavily on my personality, being transparent with my purpose and

honest about my knowledge/lack of knowledge regarding the topic. After reading Elena Augilar’s

book, The Art of Coaching Teams, I realized that coaching teams had less to do with the person

leading the group but more about facilitating the group. I did not have to be the center of attention,

but more of an orchestrator of logistics, materials, and putting the members in the right headspace.

As a group, we faced attendance challenges which made it difficult to build trusting relationships to

share out. Time management became an obstacle when meeting, we had a lot of content to cover

and a limited time to discuss or process information. In response to continually running short on

time, I restructured our schedule and shortened excerpts from the text of the content I wanted the

group to review in advance. Meeting time could then be spent concentrating on one activity

(shortened the agenda and amount of content/activity). Lastly, my greatest challenge was naming

the issues and figuring out protocols to disrupt or resolve gender microaggressions. The group was

on the cusp of developing positive and effective protocols on addressing how staff reacts and

communicates when tensions exist or when problematic behaviors occur. The COVID pandemic

abruptly stopped our meetings and our progress. Our group will meet two more times virtually and
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we are still in the process of figuring out what needs to happen in the future.

Pro Tips

If one is considered to do this work, I would narrow my focus and the purposes. I would

pick one or two aspects to do really well in relation to facilitating the group. Knowing that it takes

time for a group to gel and to feel safe with another, the first year of the group needs to be

designated to build connections and rapport. The second aspect would be to really listen to the

members of the group, and to take a step back from entertaining the group (entertainment may only

be a personal problem). Another contributing factor is involving your leaders into what you are

observing and doing and allocate specific all staff meetings to participate in a scenario activity.

Lastly, if I could do it all over again, I would not delegate some of the mediation and crucial

conversations to my leaders; since I am at the same level (perhaps there’s other reasons as well) as

the male colleagues who said microaggressive statements, when confronted or when the

conversation was brought up to them (individual basis) they still did not change. Overall, have fun

with the group you are creating and hosting; there is so little built in opportunities that you get to

connect with your coworkers with no agenda, enjoy the time to get to learn and rejuvenate!
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References

Aguilar, E. (2013). The art of coaching: Effective strategies for school transformation. San Francisco:

Jossey-Bass.

Aguilar, E. (2016). The art of coaching teams: Building resilient communities that transform schools.

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Coyle, D. (2018). The culture code: The secrets of highly successful groups. Bantam.

Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. L. (2016). An everyone culture: Becoming a deliberately developmental

organization. Harvard Business Review Press.

Sanchez J. E. and Thorton B, (2010). Gender Issues in K-12 Educational Leadership. Advancing

Women in Leadership Journal. (30) 13.

Sandberg, S. (2015). Lean In. Random House UK.

Solnit, R., & Fernandez, A. T. (2015). Men explain things to me. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books.
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Appendix - A - Resources for Women’s Group

Calendar/Agenda of Women’s Group

Scenario Activity - Practicing Leadership and Problem Solving

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Appendix B - Presentations

Leading DEI - Presentation

Women’s Group - Monthly Presentation

Facilitating Adult Learning - Presentation

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Appendix C - Plans

Action Plan Draft

Action Plan Revised

Remaining Questions/Plans for Next Year

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Appendix D - Rubric

Rubric