Practices: Women Leaders Providing and Receiving Support and Challenge

• In Event: Interactive Roundtable Discussion Session

Short Description

Two aspects of love are support and challenge, and both start from within. Women's leadership challenges are real, and they require support to sustain and cultivate resilience and agility for themselves and others. Making self-care and deliberate practice conscious and transparent supports and challenges women leaders and their communities and followers. This discussion will draw upon positive psychology, self-psychology, and leadership practice theories to consider how the strengths of women’s leadership may benefit themselves and the world through conscious practices.

Detailed Abstract

Women face particular challenges as leaders, as “the responsibilities of unpaid care and domestic work, combined with paid work, means greater work effort for women and girls and less energy and opportunity for renewal (Sustainable Development Goals). Yet women also have collective and individual strengths that have the potential to bring vital balance to the groups,organizations, and communities we influence. We can enhance these strengths via practice (Ericsson, Krampe & Tesch-Römer, 1993). Some deliberate practices use incremental overload to build capacity, others provide soothing and self-care (Hanson, 2011; Hanson & Mendius, 2009; Raelin, 2007; Symon & Cassell, 2012). Using these in tandem provides reinforcement for efforts that increase capacity and results in the intrinsic rewards of satisfaction and well-being, as well as extrinsic reward of external accomplishment. This brings a new and satisfying way of looking at "work-life balance" as harmonizing effort and ease, promoting resilience and agility (Harvey, Pasmore & Oshe, 2010; Joiner &Josephs, 2017; Yeager & Dweck, 2012). Moreover, deliberately role-modeling these practices benefits others, harmonizing concern for the collective with concern for the self (Kantur & Iser-Say, 2012). This session will inquire into the various practices women leaders deploy to take take care of themselves and others, as well as those they use to challenge themselves and others.

Presenters

• Julie E. Benesh, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

• Desiree Marie Oden, UnSeen RayDe'Ance LLC

• Xiomara Y Smith-Romain, 4Impact Consulting

• LaChele Jenkins, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology