1 June 2017
MAKING SHI(F)T HAPPEN different spaces : different conversations women and men working together in a collaborative inquiry, creatively and critically examining, rethinking and reframing the theory and practice of gender, leadership, learning and organisation to meet the pressing needs of our times
Prompted by the work of the Theorizing Women & Leadership (TWL) global network, and in the belief that meeting differently creates the space for more innovative and generative conversations, Sue Pritchard, Carole E l l i o t t , K a re n Wa rd a n d K i r s t e n Wisniewski, convened a gathering at L l a n a n a n t F a r m , S u e ’s o rg a n i c , permaculture farm in the heart of Monmouthshire, Wales. Inviting women Kate Mobbs Morgan, moving very big things, with Kip.
f ro m d i ff e re n t b a c k g ro u n d s a n d contexts, we wanted to explore the intractable issues of gender, leadership and organisation in the hope of inspiring and enabling some new and different actions.
Our guests came from academic and practice backgrounds and from the UK, Europe, US, Africa and Australia; from conventional and post-conventional organisations; and bringing their experiences of inhabiting many different versions of organisational space. Further, women came with their experiences of researching and working with all points of the traditional organisational hierarchy - from private and public sector boards to the frontline, from big institutions to micro-businesses.
Our design for our two days together was intended to make the most of the spaces that Llananant Farm offers. But mindful of British Springtime weather, it was also essentially Open Space, so we could codesign our programme to meet the (internal & external) conditions, punctuated with some activities designed to prompt us to think (and act) differently. Kate Mobbs Morgan is one of the few women horse loggers in the UK and chair of the Horse Loggers Association. With her fabulous ‘co-facilitators’, Kip & Sol, her Ardennes horses, we explored themes of power, control, authority, impact and presence - a particular and awe-inspiring delight. The power of the horses at work, Kate’s skilled and calm authority and the nature and quality of the relationship between them in their work together is a thing to behold.
Making Shi(f)t Happen
Sue Pritchard, Carole Elliott, Karen Ward
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1 June 2017
Our invitation, though, made clear that we were approaching this conversation from a particular standpoint, building on the work of the TWL network, best expressed in excerpts from this Think Tank report1 .
Current women and leadership theories use male-normed/male-defined concepts: leadership theory is embedded with masculinity and “embedded in a neoliberal stream of thought.” Existing women and leadership theories do not uniformly apply or use gender theory. This matters because gender is one of the systems used to allocate power in society. It results in ‘bifurcated’ theories on women and leadership—one set of theories plays within the existing rules of the leadership literature with all of the related norms and privileges allocated to men; and another set of theories seeks to destabilize the norms and privileges, and to change the way leadership is conceptualized and understood. Gender theory is the key to re-imagining leadership. Future theorizing must be generated from women’s diverse experience, has a responsibility to seek to change [broad and deep] streams of ideas and ideologies, must recognize intersectional and contextual differences, needs to take a critical perspective on politics and policy “…in today’s world, leadership is more complex, and there are more contradictory demands on leaders from different perspectives.“ Gender theory involves men, and men, too, want different things from life and work. Women & Leadership Theory Think Tank Report., 2017 Julia Storberg-Walker & Susan R. Madsen
Percy the gander
“Power ain’t giving up power”
Reflections: Professor Carole Elliott, Roehampton Business School The 2-day event at Llananant Farm was a stark reminder of the extent to which alternative spaces of learning and collaborative inquiry are diminishing. The marginalisation of forms of learning that do not correspond to patterns I associate with the corporatisation of education has many consequences. One consequence is that we risk homogenising and sanitising approaches to learning and research. This restricts the topics of our enquiry, how we engage in the topics of our enquiry, and puts limits on the diversity of people with whom we engage to explore the questions that concern us. Another consequence is that we cease to develop, extend and enhance, skills and processes that help individuals and groups listen to others’ experiences, and to work with each other to explore, discuss and envisage alternatives.
Llananant Farm is a working farm that is the home to chickens, cows, dogs, geese, goats, horses, pigs, people and sheep. Being welcomed into such a space immediately places you into an eco-system where humans and animals live in relation to each other, and to the land and rivers that sustain our existence. While the buildings and configuration of the fields are ostensibly designed and organized by the human mind and hand, it only requires a short walk beyond the farm buildings to be reminded that the farm and its inhabitants must live in relation to the natural environment for their mutual survival and flourishing. The environment of Llananant Farm provided an alternative space for thoughts and conversations which reminded me that the configuration of hierarchies, and circuits of power, within the setting of rational-legal organizational structures is not a given, even though we mostly treat them as such. To begin to think about how to re-configure default organisational structures and processes, we must remove ourselves from them. Opportunities to do so are few, but we are working to create more.
Making Shi(f)t Happen
Sue Pritchard, Carole Elliott, Karen Ward
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1 June 2017
Ctrl Alt Shift: Shift in Alternative Spaces - Marit Parker, Paramaethu Cymru Women working within large corporations sometimes assume it must be so much easier in alternative organisations. Sadly, this is not necessarily the case.
difficulties with a particular course of action can nevertheless consent to it, being a risk worth taking, when all concerns have first been considered by everyone.
Six years ago, at the first Welsh national gathering of an environmental organisation, a working group was formed.
With a clear vision and a thoughtful, inclusive approach, other people came on board, so now the organisation is
With 12 people in the group initially, there was a wide range of pre-conceived ideas and assumptions. One or two were keen on marketing and membership, but this was met with disinterest, so they left. One or two argued against any notion that Wales might be different from England, and resisted any move towards bilingualism. These sentiments were met first with shock and then with the gradual
active and dynamic. However, I feel the difficulties arising from the pressures, restrictions and expectations of the UK organisation are getting worse, so the chance to reflect on this at this gathering was invaluable and enlightening.
emergence of different voices introducing words like 'patriarchal' and 'colonialism'. So eventually the group whittled down to just a few, all women, and who all identified as Welsh*.
occupy. The UK structure includes a CEO, a man occupying a traditionally masculine role. Ambitious perhaps, but firmly within and protecting the status quo: a father figure. The Welsh organisation encourages different people to adopt different roles at different times:
We were under pressure from the UK organisation to move quickly. Both England and Scotland had a demonstration network of land-based projects and we were expected to replicate this in Wales. But we resisted, sensing that we needed to find a vision which somehow encompassed Welsh culture.
Moving round the chalk lines on the barn floor, it struck me what different spaces the Welsh and UK organisations
During a weekend at Llananant Farm three years ago, a
d e fi n i t e l y d y n a m i c , creative and personal, so tending towards the feminine. It suddenly dawned on me there was a reason why we
clear idea emerged, based on all three underlying ethics of the movement (earth care, people care, fair shares), and not just the first one. We realised we wanted to highlight people/projects/organisations working in all three areas, so some might not be land-based at all. We also wanted to be inclusive and to honour those already doing it, without necessarily being part of the movement, perhaps never
often feel we are being spoken to like incapable, naughty children. And a reason why I am so angry. The challenge now is what to do with these
having heard of it, but nevertheless, to a greater or lesser extent, showing what putting one or more of the ethics into practice means.
insights.
At the forthcoming Welsh National Gathering, decolonialisation is a central part of the agenda. And the UK's CEO will be there. I hope this is an opportunity to present clear arguments for the emergence of a different approach, where we don't claim to have all the answers. Perhaps this is a crucial point. The Welsh word dysgu means both to learn and to teach, so when you are teaching you are also learning, and vice versa. This requires a degree of humility on the part of teachers, and confidence on the part of learners. Translate this to leadership, and interesting questions arise about the nature of leadership and organisations.
We also started learning about sociocracy, a key part of which is decision-making by consent. This is different from consensus, because people who can see potential Making Shi(f)t Happen
*When the Welsh Assembly was first formed, the Welsh government took the deliberate and enlightened decision to have a civic, not ethnic, definition of Welsh, so anyone living in Wales can consider themselves Welsh if they wish.
Sue Pritchard, Carole Elliott, Karen Ward
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1 June 2017
In celebration of an intellectual workout, with cake. Dr Terri Simpkin, Anglia Ruskin University
There’s something truly inspirational about putting oneself out of the humdrum familiarity of a normal working environment. Attending the usual academic workshops and conferences presuppose an intensive period of thought provocation and cogitation but are
There is simply nothing like being able to truly delve into intellectually driven discourse in a place where disagreements are made with respect, and challenge to thinking is undertaken with rational consideration. Robust argument is encouraged and positively engaged
inevitably driven by structure and catering schedules and, if attending women’s conferences, the inevitability of the queue for the toilets.
in. I’m not sure I’ve been to a conference or workshop where it felt perfectly right to look at the ceiling and just be in the moment of reflection and thinking. That headspace is precious and has delivered a more rigorous and critical contemplation of the work I am currently piecing together.
It was literally a breath of fresh air to decamp to Llananant farm in May for two days of discussion, challenge, cogitation on topics as broad as paternalistic organisational structure, emerging managerial paradigms and the place of women in the world of work.
My own research got a good ‘raking over’ as I rolled around the theory, stories from my research and experiences of my fellow workshop attendees. The surety of connection between theory, data and enacted phenomenon on my topic of interest, the impostor phenomenon, was poked, prodded and questioned. Just what was needed.
My work is currently focussed on pulling together over 500 responses to the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (Clance, 1985) and a suite of in depth interviews from women in science, technology, engineering and maths occupations. Women have responded from all over the world and their stories of feeling intellectually inferior and waiting for the ‘tap on the shoulder’ to call them out for being a fake are an indictment of generations of social learning and paternalistic
Overall, the two days spent at the farm provided a unique opportunity to link thinking with practice, theory with reality and rigorous challenge with human consideration.
We reflected intensely on what our organisations should be about, but aren’t.
I realise I took away from the farm a better constructed picture of how organisations should be thinking about their structures and how we, as academics, should be pushing the boundaries to influence a more appropriate response to today’s organisational approaches.
And cake. The cake was properly good.
I look forward to visiting again later in the year for another dose of clarity and collaborative scholarly challenge
organisational structures.
It is clear that the ‘fix the woman’ approach to meeting the demands of dysfunctional organisational processes, behaviours and structures are increasingly failing individuals and we all as a community. I shall continue to cogitate on this and how we can invoke compelling ‘counter stories’ to diminish generations of corrupt narrative.
Making Shi(f)t Happen
Sue Pritchard, Carole Elliott, Karen Ward
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1 June 2017
Making Shift Happen - whose work is it? Dr Maureen Vontz Arriving on a wet grey morning at Llananant Farm in Wales, I was struck by the contrast of the cold and gloomy weather and the warmth and good humour that greeted me. Having met with some of these women a year ago in a very different context, at Roehampton University, I noticed how seamless a transition we made from the formal confines of an academic conference to the unpredictable informality of a barn—never knowing when a bottle-fed lamb may leap onto your chair or when Florence the piglet came in search of a cuddle. Yet, our conversations were rich, deep and challenging as before. The shifting of space served to shift our embodied selves into quick connection with one another, the ease of hugs hello and American-style chocolate chip cookies making it more like a homecoming than a work going-on. Inspired by the diversity gathered there, of women from academic and corporate life to those with literal hands-on power in the case of Kate, our fearless, calm heavy horse logger, and Marit’s hands-on local power struggle, I felt my own agency and passion for advancing gender equality roar into life. Having spent the past five years living an inquiry into power and g e n d e r, t h i s s p a c e f e l t e x p a n s i v e , g e n e ro u s a n d evocative of the free-flowing feminine archetype I’d explored as part of my doctoral research. This space is characterised by power as a relational, reciprocal and social practice, a collective game supported by connection, engagement and influence to change in service of the whole. It’s an opposing stance from the grounded masculine space of individual power as a possession, a zero-sum game about control and direction, often in service of the status quo. We physically mapped out our current positions relative to the gendered contexts of our work, based on Hill’s model of masculine and feminine archetypes, moving around a chalked-out matrix the dusty barn floor. The very space we occupied framed our experience—gender taking place in and through the physical space of an organic farm—a holistic environment provoking all archetypes. Our own female bodies, themselves maps of power and identity, revealed the many ways we ‘do gender’ at work. For most of us, the space of the grounded masculine, indeed any masculine archetype, was tip-toed into and around gently and hesitantly. I sensed my own clear conviction to stand firmly in the space of the free-flowing feminine, my resistance to moving elsewhere palpable. After spending my career in decidedly masculine organisations, I ‘felt’ how ready I
Making Shi(f)t Happen
am to leave that space and move instead into a dynamic place, reliant on difference, ambiguity and creativity.
As I was joined by my peers in this feminine space, I wondered then, if we are all edging away from the grounded masculine space, what this says about advancing gender equality. If, as women, we decline to remain in these traditional spaces, how will change happen? Are we giving up on finding balance in all spaces? Can we drive change from outside of the system better than from inside it? Whose work is it to help organisational structures and cultures out of the shadow sides of masculine space and into the lighter sides--when it seems as if they do not want to shift? Do we need to do this for equality? As most of the leading global organisations are still largely functioning on grounded masculine principles (both the light and shadow aspects), can we drive change in society without engaging or changing these entities? I don't think we can. As women claiming this different feminine space, we must still find ways to embrace and honour the more traditional spaces, to preserve what is good and transform or disrupt the macro a n d m i c ro p r a c t i c e s t h a t perpetuate inequality in all spheres. If it is our desire to find new structures, alternative places and ways of working where we can ‘do gender’ in ways that are congruent with our individual sense of being a woman, then how do we bring men, and women, with us? If we want to honour any inherent femininity we may sense, can we also honour that masculinity, both in others and in ourselves? If we abandon the grounded masculine space, what happens? What is our role in both preserving constructive masculine practices and disrupting the sticky spaces that persist in unhealthy, destructive patterns that keeps power at a zero-sum game? Whose work it is to continue unmask the presumed neutrality of organisations and reveal their heavily gendered (aka masculine) tendencies in the service of creating more inclusive spaces? When it comes to advancing careers, many women still report they feel invisible, that they continue to watch their male counterparts accelerate to the top jobs, despite protestations of gender blindness in leadership. If we assume such blindness, how do we change what we cannot admit we see? How do those of us in that barn make ourselves visible as a collective, to help shift the conversation to invite men and women into reshaping the ways we organise, the ways we work and lead?
Sue Pritchard, Carole Elliott, Karen Ward
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1 June 2017
Next in the ‘different spaces : different conversations’ series 15-17th September, Llananant Farm, Monmouthshire Exploring Gender, Leadership & Organisation - women and men working together in a collaborative inquiry We want to extend our invitation to men who are also interested in “critically and creatively examining, rethinking and reframing the theory and practice of gender, leadership, learning and organisation”.
This is such fertile ground at present. There are so many questions prompted by the conditions of our times. Has there ever been a more important time, to find and sustain the spaces where we can have creative, generative and purposeful conversations across conventional boundaries, to support new ways of leading and organising?
In Sue’s book, Leading Change (Attwood, Pedler, Pritchard, Wilkinson: 2003) we talk about the Five Keys for whole systems development: these include the importance of diversity or ‘requisite variety’, spaces for ‘public learning’: and new architectures for ’meeting differently’. It means that to be able to work together differently, we need to learn together differently, creating new, inclusive meeting practices to build fresh possibilities for creative dialogue.
We’ll start on Friday evening, arriving, meeting, connecting, sharing experiences, interests, questions and challenges. On Saturday, men and women will work together separately to explore issues of gender and leadership in their own ways, in spaces around the farm, interspersing the theoretical with the experiential. We will include activities possible in this space - working in the woodland, fields and gardens; with the horses, sheep, pigs, goats and other animals. Saturday night will be a time for reconnecting, with poetry, music, dancing. Sunday will be a joint exploration of the issues emerging and the possibilities for actions. We invite contributions and proposals in this spirit.
For those who are interested, this series has a Special Issue of the journal Gender in Management, an international journal published by Emerald. Academic papers will be considered for publication in this peerreviewed journal. (deadline Oct 2017).
Conference costs £300 which includes all meals & materials. Bursaries may be available. Free (simple) camping is available on the farm for those who’d like a truly immersive experience. Alternatively, we are well served with local hotels, B&Bs and AirBnB accommodation.
For more information and to book your place: llananant.co.uk and click on the events tab
Making Shi(f)t Happen
Sue Pritchard, Carole Elliott, Karen Ward
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