Although there has been substantial research into the experiences and practices of inclusivity and its links to leadership, much of what we know so far is based on traditional research carried out and published mainly in the English language. We argue that a much more contextually sensitive perspective is needed to unpack what inclusivity looks like in contemporary organisations.
We have now completed the first stage of our data collection and analysis process; conducting interviews with participants employed by a partner organisation in Italy and the UK, interviewing 29 participants using a technique called photo-elicitation. Participants provided photographs they felt represented their experiences of inclusion and exclusion and discussed these with a researcher from the research team in their first language. Through creating a safe and non-judgmental space we were able to have very thoughtful and reflective conversations with all participants about their experiences. Having translated and anonymised the transcripts into UK English and completed a detailed analysis of the photographs and interview discussions we have now reached a stage where we can share some of our findings and reflect upon why these might be relevant for multi-national corporations wanting to build inclusion across their organisations. Given the current global climate and discourse around the benefits and challenges of investment in Diversity, Equality and Inclusion policies- issues of interlingual translation and different cultural contexts seems particularly relevant and applicable. We want to join the debate by highlighting the complexities of promoting and embedding inclusivity agendas and their influence on the everyday practices and lives of employees.
More specifically we wanted to explore:
How is inclusion and exclusion experienced by staff in different roles and work contexts in a leading global contemporary organisation?
• What do meaningful inclusion and exclusion practices look like in daily interactions between individuals and in teams?
• What are the barriers and enables of inclusion for individuals, teams and the organisation as a whole?
What did we find?
We refer to findings in general terms here because our study is still in progress, and we want to ensure that we don’t come to premature conclusions as well as for confidentiality.
Context influences both experiences and practices of inclusion.
Our data shows that experiences of inclusion and exclusion are inherently linguistically and culturally situated. Influence occurs in different ways; national and international values; organisational values and values linked to different sites, e.g. HQ and international host sites. We found that cultural values and norms travel in different ways; a) from outside to inside organisation sites; influencing the desire to change organisational culture and climate to reflect its wider context; b) from inside to outside; organisational approaches were at times used to challenge taboos in a wider societal context and c) between sites, where one site was regarded as a centre of excellence; practices were ‘translated’ across to host sites differently. These contexts encompassed a wide range of different diversity and inclusion challenges moving well beyond notions of protected characteristics and were entangled with different power relationships.
Inclusion experiences are not universal.
Given our reflections upon the complexity of context; it is perhaps unsurprising that inclusion and exclusion experiences are also complex. However, aside from the differences in context influencing the physical, spatial and emotional experiences of the includee (the person being excluded or included), we have noticed another difference. There were contrasts between the ways in which participants used language to describe their experiences. When scripts were translated there were self-referential accounts and more abstract responses. Some participants were more self-referential; placing themselves at the centre of their narratives, describing experiences happening to them and their sense of agency in acting in a particular way. Others described narratives in more abstract ways; accounts were less about ‘something happening to me’ and were more general, describing how exclusion or inclusion could happen in more general terms or referring to others. Combining these translated narratives with analyses of the pictures provided showed us that there were more similarities than might be deduced from listening to narratives alone. Paying attention to the interlingual differences allowed us to challenge assumptions about similarities or differences in experience and take a more nuanced view so that voices were not simply ‘lost in translation’.
How language matters
The translation process of this research has been fascinating; and we have had meetings and discussions with the translation team throughout. This has highlighted a number of very subtle differences in the ways in which roles, people and practices in the organisation are referred to; for example using gendered nouns in ways that are different to the cultural norm; or borrowing words from UK English to make certain points clear, or where a literal translation would not convey the same meaning intended. This adds additional layers of meaning to participants’ accounts which provides additional insights into assumptions and values in organisations and how participants make sense of their experiences.
There is a shifting dynamic between these three areas (context, experience and language) which adds a nuance to our findings; both in terms of intersemiotic meanings (words to pictures) and interlingual understanding (language to language). This has potential implications in terms of how organisations translate and practice EDI in global contexts.
What next?
We are in the process of drafting journal articles for review from translation studies, methods and management journals. We are also planning two series’ of podcasts where researchers will discuss the research process in detail and then reflect upon these findings with organisational practitioners to consider the pragmatic implications of these discoveries for organisations. This will also provide a useful resource for students and teaching purposes.
Further research dissemination activities are planned to reach as wide an audience as possible with the explicit aim of ensuring that our findings are accessible and practical. We have a LinkedIn page entitled ‘Leadership Language and Visualisation’ which will act as a repository for all our work, including resources from conference presentations and knowledge and learning created during the research process as well as academic papers when published. A practitioner event is also planned in early July to share knowledge in more detail and to give practitioners an opportunity to ask questions and to network and discuss these issues further.
We are now keen to continue collecting data from other countries so that we can begin to consider further the nuances across other cultural contexts for inclusion practices. We are working with our partner organisation to recruit the next stage of participants.
If you’re working in our partnering organisation and would like to find out more or take part in our study please reach out to us as we’d really like to hear from you.
You can contact Gareth on gareth3.edwards@uwe.ac.uk who will put you in touch with one of our researchers responsible for data collection in your division’s respective language.
If you would like to follow our progress or find out more about the project in its entirety, look out for future blog articles and social media updates.
Professor Peter Case has been active in global health for the past twelve years, collaborating with partners such as the Malaria Elimination Initiative (University of California, San Francisco), Centre for Innovation in Global Health (Stanford University), HEALTHQUAL, and the Department of Disease Control (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine). The LEAD work focuses on improving the management and leadership of healthcare programs in Africa through Organization Development change interventions and Quality Assurance techniques. Peter is one of the main architects of the LEAD methodology, which has been field-tested on projects funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and other sponsors from 2014 to 2025. These projects aim to enhance service delivery for malaria and HIV/AIDS healthcare in Africa. LEAD interventions also include healthcare staff capacity-building and training elements accredited by the UWE PG Cert in Professional Practice in Change Leadership. The methodology has achieved significant health impacts in Zimbabwe, Eswatini, and Namibia, as documented in journals such as BMC Public Health,Malaria Journal, and the American Journal of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene.
Currently, the LEAD team is preparing for a three-year MRC/UKRI-funded project to study the impact of malaria vaccine rollouts and other preventative measures in West Africa. In collaboration with Population Services International, the team is also developing a malaria elimination initiative funded by BMGF for the Zanzibar National Malaria Control Programme.
The workshop began with a welcome address by Professor Gareth Edwards, Associate Dean for Research and Knowledge Exchange. Professor Paschal Anisoke, Director of UWE’s Centre for African Social and Economic Transformation, and Jimi Ogunnusi, who leads UWE’s Africa Strategy, also met with the LEAD team.
HEALTHQUAL’s Dr. Joseph Murungu highlighted the challenges faced by the African continent due to recent drastic reductions in healthcare funding announced by the US Administration. The discussions focused on how LEAD will need to adapt to and accommodate these changes as it moves forward with malaria research and service delivery interventions.
Additionally, the team is in the process of establishing a new international NGO, the LEAD Ubuntu Global Foundation, which will support future health system improvement interventions and foster resilience. Part of the workshop was dedicated to discussing the practicalities of setting up this Foundation.
Despite the difficulties faced by health systems in Africa, Professor Roly Gosling from LSHTM was optimistic about LEAD’s prospects and strongly endorsed the team’s efforts. He praised the impactful outcomes of their healthcare research and emphasized the need to scale up activities while reducing implementation costs.
Team members left the intensive two-day workshop with a renewed sense of purpose and vigour.
Thanks go to Ripley Williamson King for her logistical support and ensuring the smooth running of this event.
This paper provides an extensive review of the literature examining the role of communication in social organization and organizing processes across multiple academic disciplines over the past several decades.
Through an analysis of research publications in SCOPUS from 1980-2022, the authors identified five major perspectives that have shaped organizational communication studies:
Communication as transfer
Communication as discourse
Communication as conversation/conversation analysis
Communication as narrative
The Communicative Constitution of Organizations (CCO) perspective
In addition to synthesizing these key theoretical lenses, the article highlights notable gaps in current research. This includes calling for more study on the paralinguistic aspects of communication, analysing communication in relation to actual workplace practices, examining one-way/monologic organizational communication, and expanding research on communication dynamics in non-Western cultural contexts.
The open access paper is an excellent resource for students taking courses that cover organizational communication components. It also provides a valuable overview for scholars and practitioners researching communication processes within organizational settings.
Congratulations to Professor Case on this publication synthesizing and advancing the field of organizational communication research!
The role that communication plays in social organization and processes of organizing has received considerable scholarly attention from multiple disciplines over several decades. This paper provides a review of the diverse literature that has sought to contribute to the understanding of communication and its implication for management and organization studies. An analysis of the SCOPUS database for the period 1980–2022 enabled us to cluster reference material and identify five perspectives which emerge from a review of the literature: communication as transfer, discourse, conversation (analysis), narrative, and Communicative Constitution of Organizations. These categories are not intended to be exhaustive, but they do provide a useful critical heuristic for navigating a field of study that might otherwise appear overwhelming. To map the terrain’s theoretical underpinnings, our study also adopted a problematizing approach to the review which revealed various conspicuous conceptual and empirical absences at a ‘field level’ which merit further attention. The paper offers provocations and suggestions that we expect will inform future studies of organizational communication. Possibilities for developing the field include paying attention to: (a) paralinguistic dimensions of communication; (b) communication in relation to actual work practices; (c) monologic communication and (d) organizational communication in non-Western contexts.
Bristol Leadership and Change Centre (BLCC) at Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, is incredibly proud to congratulate our very own Dr. Harriet Shortt on being named a 2024 Woman of Influence by The Planner.
Harriet has been named one of 54 Women of Influence in 2024 for her pioneering work in developing innovative methods for inclusive and participatory engagement within the urban planning and placemaking process.
As an active member of BLCC, Harriet’s research has focused on bridging the gap between academia and industry practice. Her ground-breaking “Picturing Places” project, shortlisted for a 2023 Planning Award, exemplifies this approach. Using visual arts-based methods, Harriet engaged local communities and stakeholders, translating their values and experiences into a series of key performance indicators to embed within a masterplan from conception through to implementation.
Harriet’s research has explored vital issues like the design of workplaces for hybrid environments and how the creation of inclusive spaces can foster cultural change within organizations. She has collaborated with organisations such as Stride Treglown, ISG, Argent LLP, Aster Housing Group, and the RFU on supporting this type of organizational transformation through authentic public engagement.
At BLCC, we have greatly benefited from Harriet’s dual roles as an academic researcher and industry practitioner. As head of visual engagement at BiBO Studio and founder/director of SHORTt CONSULTING, she continually tests and implements her research findings within real-world planning and design projects. This integrated approach ensures her work generates tangible social impact.
In response to receiving this award Harriet said:
“I’m delighted to have been listed as a Woman of Influence 2024 by those working in the placemaking industry. Not only is it great to be recognised for the work I’m doing, but I think this demonstrates how public engagement and knowledge exchange – where we as researchers working with industry and wider communities – can really add social value. It highlights the value of working at the nexus between academia and industry, and that impact beyond academia is fundamental to research success”.
We are immensely proud to have Harriet as a core member of the BLCC team. Her passion, creativity, and commitment to inclusive placemaking embody the highest values of our research group. Congratulations, Harriet, on this well-deserved recognition! We look forward to your continued groundbreaking work and impact for years to come.
We are incredibly lucky here at BLCC to have so many talented researchers within our group. With that in mind we have not one, nor two but three books recently published by members of our team.
Join us to celebrate their achievements and learn about their books at the BLCC Triple book launch this month. This launch will give you the opportunity to discuss the books with the authors and find out more on their wider work.
Volume 6 in the series De Gruyter Transformative Thinking and Practice of Leadership and Its Development
Leaderly acts and practices from unexpected places are often overlooked and yet have remarkable power. These spontaneous acts are in sharp contrast to those of formal leaders in governments and leading corporations. Global events like the Covid-19 pandemic and the climate crisis light up these differences. This book delves deeper, exploring these leaderly acts and practices more fully and beyond extraordinary events. The authors describe these as “unleadership”, a term defined in this book as a set of acts and practices that are undertaken in a spirit of spontaneity and generosity for social good.
Four dimensions of unleadership are identified in this book: paying it forward, living with the unknown, catching the wave, and confident connecting and collaborating. Unleadership exposes the potential that is unleashed when members of the community discover their own power to act and reclaim what they have delegated to their leaders.
Based on extensive research, the authors highlight the flourishing of alternative forms of leading that encourage rethinking ideas of leadership and followership. They provide practical guidance to organisations and practitioners for enriching their leaderly capacity and cultivating unleadership practices to co-exist with and complement leadership practices.
Unleadership is an invaluable resource for leaders and managers in public and private organisations as well as students of leadership and organisational development.
Innovation leadership is essential to survive in today’s turbulent landscape. For many organisations, their environment is characterized by internationalization, customer centricity, digitalization, sustainability, and a call for greater diversity. In these volatile, uncertain, ambiguous, and complex (VUCA) settings, there is also the need to create new and sustainable sources of value.
How are current-day leaders helping to turn ideas into value, whether that be through new products, services, markets, experiences, partnerships, processes, or business models? What are the new competencies and skills required in order to respond and effectively innovate in a changing environment?
Innovation Leadership in Practice provides a unique source of new insights on the role of innovation leadership and effective practices through conceptual models, empirical case studies, development interventions, and tools.
A social history of Greenhill, Swansea which used to be a thriving urban place where Welsh and Irish people lived, worked and loved together. All of which was lost in one generation.
Shops, churches, pubs, social clubs, libraries, parks, schools, streets, windowsills, gardens, pavements… These public spaces can have an extraordinary effect on well-being in a community. They bring people together and form the bonds that lead to people supporting each other.
With vivid descriptions and heartfelt anecdotes, Pieces of Us is a moving tribute to the people who made up this distinct part of Wales. The author, Rob Sheffield, shares first-person accounts of how the area formed then lost the strong bonds that held the neighbourhood together. And he describes growing up here, leaving for university, and the effect of this on identity and family.
From this story of Greenhill arise implications for community development everywhere, including the importance of collaboration between local residents and government.
In Pieces of Us, our co-author discusses the mixed fortunes of Greenhill, a distinctive Swansea inner-city neighbourhood, created through the successful integration of Welsh and Irish people, who’d moved there to provide labour for Swansea’s industries. The story has particular insights for our current health and care systems landscape, and some historical ‘scene-setting’ will give a useful context.
The process of ethnic integration was relatively trouble-free, though with several critical leadership interventions. When cholera struck in 1849, the newcomer Catholic priest, Father Kavanagh, worked with Dr William Long, tending the sick, washing them, combing their hair and administering last rites. This demonstration of compassionate leadership and community-cohesion helped enmesh separate parts of the community in a single survival story.
As the area grew in both size and political power, infrastructure increased: Swansea’s only cathedral, a school and a church social club. This triad of formal institutions balanced educational, spiritual and pleasure needs, offering an elevating sense of purpose and belonging to Greenhill’s residents. Roads, shops and pubs followed, establishing both formal and informal meeting places – school gates, the church, pavements, doorways and windowsills – resulting in thousands of ‘chance conversations’. These exchanges developed social capital and established a shared sense of identity and mutuality between community members; finding form in neighbourly acts of practical and moral support. Thousands of people engaged in a continuous rich exchange, crossing generational, ethnic and faith boundaries.
Neighbourhoods are complex systems where an unpredictable order emerges from many disordered interactions. Over a period of 100 years, Greenhill evolved an extremely cohesive community, exhibiting strong civic engagement and social connection. However, from the 1970s onwards, the area entered into gradual decline, as the infrastructure and social fabric of this community was dismantled in a series of naïve social development projects.
Technocrats from outside the community intervened to raise housing standards, reduce air pollution and improve traffic flow in the area. This was done with little regard for the impact on Greenhill’s entangled lives and intangible community assets. ‘Sub-standard’ dwellings were demolished, displacing residents from inter-generational neighbourhoods. A major road was widened, removing shops along with the opportunity for neighbours to cross paths and exchange news and points-of-view.
In the vacuum of absent conversations, social capital depleted, urban blight spread and crime rose. Since then, significant sums have been invested on a series of social and economic regeneration projects aimed at reversing the decline caused, in part, by these well-intended ‘outsider interventions’.
While this is a particular case, spanning some 170 years, (and focuses on just one aspect of Greenhill’s decline), we believe these insights offer lessons for leadership effectiveness in today’s health and care systems.
Firstly, system leadership must be a collective effort.
There are lots of ways to describe our health and care systems and each has its merits. Acknowledging the lens we see through is therefore vital. Incorporating the alternatives, even better!
Given current political, regulatory and management pressures – the demand for “more grip” – it’s perhaps understandable if leaders privilege a mechanical view of their system. However, this perspective tends to reduce participation; hoarding control ‘at the top’. And – because it denies the distributed nature of ‘system knowledge’ – its solutions are likely based on only partial understanding. Accordingly, leadership development must focus on enabling leaders to work in partnership and to draw out the knowledge and histories stored-up in diverse pockets of the system.
Secondly, leaders need to be more curious about the emergent phenomena of the socio-technical systems within which they operate.
Where social is the time-woven tapestry of local stories, rituals, symbols and language; and technical is about structure, organisation, policy, etc. And – crucially – where small-scale localised events may result in large-scale whole system changes! We recommend that leadership development focuses on a collaborative enquiry into a system’s inherent dualities and non-linear system dynamics.
Greenhill’s civil re-engineering scheme was – no doubt – undertaken in good faith. However, it lacked an understanding of the social-technical system as a whole. This resulted in negative unintended consequences that have since proven extremely difficult and costly to remedy.
Thirdly, senior sponsors and boards have a responsibility to develop board assurance approaches that are fit for complex health and care systems.
Traditional board assurance ensures that the risks to achieving key strategic goals are properly understood and controlled. However, complexity necessarily involves ambiguity and uncertainty, which cannot be controlled because causality is both unclear and unpredictable. Senior sponsors and boards must seek reassurance that staff are cognisant of the complexity of the system – that proposed interventions are “built to learn” and can be contained if they go awry. Moreover, do ensure that feedback mechanisms provide robust, short, medium and long-term data on system impacts and emerging risks.
Lastly, system leaders must design for greater connection.
In the case of Greenhill, much of what was most valuable was the unintended – yet deeply desirable – fruits of people coming together to ‘work things out’: a more diffuse form of leadership than we generally envisage when addressing organisation challenges. Thus, system leaders must foster the skills of convening and containing – inviting people to take a seat at the metaphorical table (striving for representation and diversity) and then making it safe for people to ‘bring their difference’ in open, honest and collaborative ways – especially when this involves conflict. Difference, after all, can be a source of learning and innovation, if supported by social bonds that are strong enough to resist the urge to fragment.
Too much of leadership development (as with how we select, evaluate and incentivise our leaders), still focuses on the heroic individual’s abstract knowledge, skills, behaviours and personality. Perhaps however leadership is better understood as an emergent phenomenon – a product of the live system! Accordingly, relationships and relatedness ought to be the primary focus of our change-methodology. Whilst they may be capable of affecting localised change, leaders certainly cannot control or predict the wider or longitudinal responses to it, and making sense is generally only possible in retrospect.
It’s been said many times: system leadership is a collective endeavour. In practice however, this never involves marching in regular fashion to a single tune. Accordingly, a greater maturity is called for in how we ‘lead’ health systems, in all of their diversity, disorder and discordance. Indeed, it may very well be that the parts we least control represent our best hopes for the future.
Jem Peel is a leadership and organisational development practitioner, working across a variety of sectors and industry; supporting leaders, boards and teams to make a positive and sustainable difference to staff, service users and the wider system. (See more: http://www.everythingisconnected.co.uk/)
Rob Sheffield
Rob Sheffield is a leadership and innovation facilitator, working in healthcare, energy and education. He helps groups break from current habits and develop creative approaches that bring sustainable value to their stakeholders. (See more: https://bluegreenlearning.com/)
This is a re-blog from Richard Bolden on the ILA blog in which he discusses the challenges facing higher education leadership and asks those of us working in HE to reflect on what we can do to reclaim our role(s) and responsibilities as leaders in our organizations.
I have spent the past two and a half decades working as a leadership researcher and educator in UK universities. Throughout much of this time I have studied leadership in higher education (HE) as well as experiencing it first-hand. I have taken on leadership roles — both formal and informal — and have witnessed the trials and tribulations of colleagues as they have endeavoured to navigate the complexities of this context. In this article I share reflections on what I have learnt, why it matters, and what we can (all) do to enhance the quality and inclusiveness of leadership in this important sector.
Why Higher Education Leadership Matters
To begin it’s worth considering why HE matters for leadership theory, practice, and development. My own interest in researching leadership in this context was sparked by early work on distributed leadership in schools (e.g., Gronn, 2003; Spillane et al., 2004). HE provided an obvious testbed for exploring how such ideas might apply to other educational settings — particularly those with more complex structures, cultures, identities, and performance outcomes. Although there is fairly widespread agreement that the key purpose of effective school leadership is to improve pupil outcomes (Leithwood et al., 2006), the same does not apply to universities. Whilst student outcomes are undoubtably important metrics — and if you are a student, parent, or potential employer, perhaps the ones that concerns you most — this is not the only criterion by which HE institutions (and their staff) are evaluated. Another essential area of activity for universities is research — typically assessed in terms of “high quality” publications as well as by the volume of funding secured. Alongside this are agendas for external engagement and impact, not to mention the very real concerns of keeping universities running as viable businesses. Together, the diversity of stakeholders and priorities in HE produces a complex and contested environment where people and organizations may feel pulled in different directions. Such issues are not unique to HE but do make it an interesting context in which to study leadership, with important insights for emerging areas of scholarship, including complexity leadership (Uhl Bien, 2021), paradoxical leadership (Smith, et al., 2016) and collective leadership (Ospina et al., 2020).
At the center of any analysis of leadership is the interconnection between purpose, values, and identity, yet the somewhat schizophrenic nature of academia disrupts these dynamics in ways that can produce a sense of disenchantment, disengagement, and alienation. The HE system (in the UK and elsewhere) is founded on competing values systems — emphasizing both normative aspects (such as public service, professional autonomy, collegial practice, and traditions) and utilitarian principles (such as profit-making, corporate management, customer service, and change), such that a university “considers itself (and others consider it), alternatively, or even simultaneously, to be different types of organisations” (Albert & Whetten, 1985, p. 270).
The hybrid nature of HE poses particular challenges for leaders trying to establish credibility and legitimacy in the eyes of those they seek to influence, as different stakeholders identify “more with members of their own subcultures rather than as members of the university” (Winter & O’Donohue, 2012, p. 566). This is particularly true of academics who, as knowledge workers, carry professional identities and affiliations that extend well beyond their immediate employer. Whilst these, and other factors, make HE a particularly rich and rewarding context in which to study leadership there remains surprisingly little robust empirical research in this area and the HE leadership literature tends to be fragmented according to the perspectives and ideologies of different groups (Macfalane, et al., 2024).
Crisis, What Crisis?
The conceptual complexities of leadership in HE may, in part, help explain some of the difficulties facing the sector. Universities were particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic (PWC, 2021) and whilst the immediate crisis may have passed, it has exposed deep-seated issues that have (by and large) remained below the surface for many years. In particular, accounts of “toxic” management are linked to widescale dissatisfaction, industrial action, and recruitment challenges in the sector (Watermeyer et al., 2021).
In a series of focus groups conducted as part of a project for Advance HE in Sept-Dec 2021 colleagues and I asked participants about the shifting context of global higher education (Watermeyer et al., 2022). Five key areas — policy, society, funding, students, and staff — were highlighted as impacting perceptions, experiences, and practices of leadership in contemporary HE. While the specifics of contextual issues varied between institutions and countries, there was strong agreement across the groups that current changes are producing tensions and challenges that are hard to resolve, as outlined in the following quote from a participant in Roundtable 1 with Heads of Departments and Deans.
“What we’ve seen… is this need [to]be agile and really responding to what is happening, straight now, but at the same time be someone who is looking ahead, at the same time as somebody who has that emotional intelligence to deal with not only their student population who is changing dramatically, but the needs of our staff and our whole pedagogy is changing? What do leaders need to do? How do they need to act? How do they need to be?” (p. 27).
In Britain, declining numbers of international students are putting huge pressures on a funding system dictated by government such that a third of universities are estimated to be trading at a deficit (Jenkins, 2023). In such circumstances it is hardly surprising that “bottom-line” financial performance metrics are of primary concern to senior institutional leaders, as are ranking schemes that determine the relative attractiveness of institutions to potential students.
Such measures, however, tend to be of far less significance to academics themselves in terms of what motivates and inspires them to work in HE. The growing divide between academics and managers is reported to be fueling extensive discontent within the sector, as indicated by unprecedented levels of industrial action across the UK (and elsewhere) throughout 2023 and reports of a “great resignation” (Ross, 2022).
Follower Perspectives on Leadership in Higher Education
Within the Advance HE scoping study mentioned earlier, participants were asked to identify “what new or future leadership skills/competencies/behaviours are required within your organisation, professional area and/or wider sector?” Thematic coding identified 11 categories, which were incorporated into a subsequent survey completed by 553 respondents from around the World (Neves & Parkin, 2023). Figure 1 shows the proportion of respondents who strongly agreed that these qualities were important for good leaders within HE, as well as the extent to which they felt they demonstrated these qualities themselves (when leading) or observed these qualities within the people they were expected to follow (being led).
Figure 1 – Chart based on those who “agree strongly” with each statement — the top point on a five-point agreement scale. Ranked in order of whether a good leader should have these qualities (Neves & Parkin, 2023: 9) [Reproduced with permission from Advance HE]
There is a clear pattern within the data, whereby good HE leaders are expected to be adaptable, collaborative, credible, authentic, inclusive, and self-reflective (with compassion also ranked highly). Participants rated their own capacity moderately highly on each of these qualities (albeit it consistently lower than the ideal). The most striking finding from this graph, however, is the huge gap between each of these rankings and perceptions of those people currently in leadership roles.
Follower perspectives (“being led”) suggest a gulf in expectations and experiences of leadership. Whilst it should be noted that there is no evidence to suggest that these negative assessments are reflective of the actual skills/qualities of senior leaders (indeed it is quite possible that many of these people are amongst those who rated their own capacity moderately highly) it highlights a significant issue to which senior leaders would be advised to pay attention.
Reclaiming Leadership in Higher Education
Follower-centric perspectives on leadership stress the importance of building strong relationships between leaders and followers that are founded on trust, respect, and a shared sense of purpose. The evidence outlined above suggests that this is not the experience of many people currently working in HE — a situation that has significant implications for the sector.
If we continue along the current trajectory the chances are that HE may slip into terminal decline (Fleming, 2021). A chasm between the values and priorities of those in formal leadership and management roles and those of academics involved in teaching, research, and/or external engagement will lead to further disillusionment with the academic profession and a corresponding deterioration in the quality and significance of academic work. This is a trend that has been well documented in critiques of neoliberalism and new public management in universities. So, what might we as academics (with or without management responsibilities) do to improve the situation?
First, we should acknowledge our rights and responsibilities as “citizens of the academic community” (Bolden et al., 2014) to play an active role in the governance of our HE institutions and the wider sector. Disengagement, whilst understandable, leaves space and opportunities for toxic management to thrive and may render us complicit in the process.
Second, as part of this we would do well to create and sustain spaces for critical and constructive debate around the nature and purpose(s) of HE in contemporary society. Whilst this should allude to and promote core values (such as academic freedom) it should also engage with the very real challenges facing many universities around financial sustainability and market position. Only through an honest and open dialogue can we hope to transcend the current fractures that characterize the sector.
Third, we need to ensure that a plurality of voices, perspectives, and lived experience infuse HE policy and practice. Genuine inclusion needs to be put at the heart of the educational mission of universities and used as a driver for continuity and/or change within the sector (see Bolden et al., 2019 for a similar argument about healthcare).
Fourth, we should rebuild our sense of community — to develop human relationships that have been fractured during the COVID pandemic, to mentor and support one another, and to celebrate collegiality and collective endeavour.
And fifth, we should find ways of (re)energizing and (re)inspiring current and future academics to embrace the privilege and opportunities of working in a sector that has such a huge impact on the lives of so many. Education and research are vehicles for individual and collective transformation and change and are the primary mechanisms through which we are likely to address global challenges such as climate change.
In relation to the last of these I was inspired by a recent LinkedIn post by colleague that reiterated his passion for the job (see below). As we reflect on the year that’s passed and consider the year ahead, I urge each of us to think on what WE can do and how, in our own (small) way, we can reclaim our role(s) and responsibilities as leaders in higher education.
Another term draws to a close 🌱
Each year, as September rolls around I always find myself thinking “I hope that I still love teaching and learning as much this year”. The sign that I finish off the term being simultaneously proud of students; grateful for the opportunity to be a small part of their journey; inspired by conversations; excited by the content; and sad for it to be over is a good one.
It’s no doubt that our world faces multiple crises, and that will continue, but being in this environment fills me with hope that generations want to understand what is happening in our landscape and want to put good into the world. Spending the time to delve into the human condition and understand new possibilities is what university is all about, and why I love this job.
So – here’s to accepting the feeling of sadness as a term draws to a close, but hope for what comes next 🌱
Albert, S., & Whetten, D.A. (1985). Organizational Identity. In L.L. Cummings & M.M. Staw (Eds), Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 7 (pp. 263‒295). JAI Press.
Bolden, R., Gosling, J., & O’Brien, A. (2014). Citizens of the Academic Community: A Societal Perspective on Leadership in UK Higher Education. Studies in Higher Education, 39(5), 754-770. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2012.754855
Macfalane, B., Bolden, R., & Watermeyer, R. (2024) [Forthcoming]. Three Perspectives on Leadership in Higher Education: Traditionalist, Reformist and Pragmatist. Higher Education. https://link.springer.com/journal/10734
Ospina, S.M., Foldy, E.G., Fairhurst, G.T., & Jackson, B. (2020). Collective Dimensions of Leadership: Connecting Theory and Method. Human Relations, 73(4), 442-463. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726719899714
Spillane, J.P., Halverson, R., & Diamond, J.B. (2004). Towards a Theory of Leadership Practice: A Distributed Perspective. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 36(1), 3-34. https://doi.org/10.1080/0022027032000106726
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Watermeyer, R., Shankar, K., Crick, T., Knight, C., McGaughey, F., Hardman, J., Suri, V., Chung, R., & Phelan, D. (2021). ‘Pandemia’: A Reckoning of UK Universities’ Corporate Response to COVID-19 and Its Academic Fallout. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 42(5-6), 651-666. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2021.1937058
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Dr Selen Kars is a valued member of BLCC, an Associate Professor in Organisation Studies. Her research seeks to understand how entrepreneurs, leaders and organisations develop their capabilities for sustainable futures. Some of her notable research includes her work on ‘Unleadership’ developing leaderly capacity of people that are not in formal leadership roles.
The Creative Dilemma
The shift from physical to digital media has reshaped how creative work is produced and consumed. It has opened up unparalleled opportunities for creative practitioners to connect directly with their audience and sell their creations, bypassing traditional intermediaries.
In this evolving landscape, careers in creative industries are now largely individually navigated. Creative practitioners are often self-employed or freelancing, even running their own businesses. In the UK, for example, creative practitioners are three times more likely to be self-employed than people in other fields. This change means that artists now need to embrace a more entrepreneurial approach to building and sustaining their careers.
To stay afloat and thrive, creative practitioners must actively seek, create and exploit opportunities. This involves everything from branding themselves and their creations, coming up with new creations to sell, finding ways to market and sell their creations, networking, strategizing for and securing revenue, and navigating negotiations with various stakeholders, such as agents, funders, commissioners, lawyers.
However, entrepreneurship continues to be a significant source of confusion and controversy among creative practitioners who may feel that embracing entrepreneurship might compromise their artistic integrity. Previous research identified an ongoing tension between routinely engaging in seemingly entrepreneurial activities while, on the other, being resistant to seeing these activities, or themselves, in any way entrepreneurial, because the figure of an entrepreneur is often linked to ultra-capitalist creed.
The Research
Considering the intensifying discourse of entrepreneurship in the UK economy, popular culture, as well as in the higher education, how young creative practitioners perceive their work and roles? Do they consider themselves entrepreneurial? How do they reconcile their identities as artists, freelancers, and business owners?
. . . How (do) young creative practitioners perceive their work and roles? . . . How do they reconcile their identities as artists, freelancers, and business owners?
They used a creative research method called reflexive audio-visual ethnography (RAVE). RAVE uses film to prompt discussions that help participants reveal their experiences and worldviews.
For this research, Selen and Adrienne worked with filmmaker Matty Feurtado who produced a short ethnographic film, titled Liminal Artists, for which he interviewed and captured the work of freelance artists. The film was then screened to UWE students in a focus group setting. Their reactions and responses were, in turn, recorded and incorporated into the film.
The Film
The film breaks down the romanticised image of the artist as a bohemian character. It acknowledges the internal struggle between artistic passion and entrepreneurial drive, highlighting the complex relationship between being an artist and an entrepreneur. While the film shows that these young creatives recognise the business and commercial aspects of their work, they’re still hesitant to label themselves as entrepreneurs. They perceive entrepreneurship as a necessary evil, an imposition, something they were ‘pushed’ to sustain their independence and to fulfil their creative urgency of producing art.
This reluctance also stems from the lack of entrepreneurial training in their education, leading to a resistance towards the world of business, its language, and all the related activities. Selen and Adrienne’s research underscores the need for educators to equip creative students with essential entrepreneurial skills, acknowledging that these capabilities are crucial in today’s creative landscape.
In a world where creativity and commerce intertwine, this research emphasises that framing creative work as entrepreneurial misrepresents their activities through an overemphasis on the economic dimensions of their work at the expense of the cultural. The film brings to light the delicate balance between economic and cultural dimensions of their work, urging us to rethink how we perceive and support young creative practitioners.
Future Projects
Future Projects
Selen works with organisations of all scales across many sectors delivering leadership development programmes and facilitating organisational interventions, with a specific focus on instilling climates for learning and innovation and identifying practices for effectively engaging and empowering communities to enable change. She is also currently the principal investigator on a research project funded by British Academy Leverhulme trust exploring digital capability development. If you want to discuss organisation development interventions, please get in touch with Selen.
Richard Longman joined The Open University in 2023 after four years at UWE Bristol. His interests emerge from alternative theories and practices of organising, particularly those which enable more equitable, diverse, and inclusive organisations. He currently serves as Chair of the CMS Division of the Academy of Management. In this article he reviews the launch of Doing Academic Careers Differently: Portraits of Academic Life, edited by Sarah Robinson, Alexandra Bristow, and BLCC’s Olivier Ratle.
There are numerous reasons one might choose not to attend a book launch. It could be due to a lack of interest in books, indifference toward the authors, or even ambivalence regarding the topic. Yet, it’s difficult to associate any of these reasons with the launch event of Doing Academic Careers Differently: Portraits of Academic Life, edited by Sarah Robinson, Alexandra Bristow, and BLCC’s Olivier Ratle. The event, jointly hosted by CMS InTouch and the Critical Careers Network, went beyond the ordinary, unveiling the story behind this unique collaboration. Just as the book reimagines academic careers, the launch itself was a departure from the conventional.
“When UK academia and the academic profession is in crisis, the reflections and testimonies in this book are and should be an inspiration to many.”
The book, born out of a decade’s worth of research into contemporary academia, aimed to provide a platform for diverse visions of ‘an alternative, more nurturing, diverse, and inclusive academia’ (p.1). The editors were pleasantly overwhelmed by the response to their open call for contributions, receiving an abundance of submissions from academics around the world, spanning from those pursuing their PhDs to those well into their post-retirement years. The result is a collection of 46 individual and group self-portraits, offering glimpses into the careers of 82 academics. Departing from the traditional chapter structure, the book employs a captivating “gallery” metaphor, arranging the portraits like an art exhibit, where diverse narratives of meandering, transgressing, nurturing, and belonging find a space alongside stories of haunting, precarity, and inclusivity. Readers are guided through this journey with the aid of a beautiful gallery map by artist Joe Latham.
About academic careers done differently.
The portraits within the book are a rich source of insight for individuals exploring, initiating, or advancing in their academic careers. They boldly challenge the neoliberal expectations imposed on academia, advocating for a range of approaches: rejecting the pressure to focus solely on one major pursuit, emphasising the value of nurturing and care, transcending traditional disciplinary boundaries, reshaping daily routines, engaging with communities, and adopting academic roles that extend beyond formal academia. These portraits diverge from the polished public personas often presented, revealing the messy tensions and conflicts inherent in power dynamics, notions of virtue, beauty, wealth, and other qualities attributed to the subjects. As I reflect on the self-portrait I might have offered, I find resonance in the experiences shared by others: entering academia later in life, resisting abusive management, forging unconventional paths, managing hidden physical challenges, and maintaining hope for a brighter future.
Launched differently.
The launch event itself was a departure from the norm. In creating space for academics to candidly reveal their professional highs and lows, the launch moved away from the typical “heroic exegesis” model. The editors adopted a curatorial approach, inviting attendees to explore the gallery freely, replicating the experience of walking through an art exhibition. Like traditional curators, the editors provided context, interpretation, and critical insights into the exhibited works. This was not a moment for editorial self-promotion; many contributors were given a voice through written quotes or videos. The passion invested in the project was palpable, extending to the publisher, Terry Clague from Routledge. While many academics speak about deviating from the norm, this book launch turned those words into action, showcasing the transformational power of embracing new approaches.
“I find each portrait pairs well with a double shot of espresso. We often misjudge a text’s potential to inform and inspire based on its length – yet I find many of the portraits to be precious jewels…”
In a departure from the norm for academic texts, Doing Academic Careers Differently: Portraits of Academic Life sits on my coffee table. I find each portrait pairs well with a double shot of espresso. We often misjudge a text’s potential to inform and inspire based on its length – yet I find many of the portraits to be precious jewels. Unsurprisingly, the book has received widespread acclaim, being described as “courageous” (Ghazal Zulfiqar, LUMS, Pakistan), “enthralling” (Alessia Contu, UMass Boston, USA), and “a must-read book for new and experienced academics” (Rafael Alcadipani, FGV-EAESP, Brazil).
This book has spurred a special issue in Management Learning, aiming for more critical, empowering, inclusive, and creative approaches to careers. The book showcases an alternative, demonstrating that despite attempts by managerial aspects of academia to dominate, we can resist the demands for conformity, functionalism, and individualism. Instead, we can engage in the meaningful practice of crafting academic careers in ways that resonate with our unique identities and aspirations.
Olivier Ratleis a dedicated academic known for advocating and promoting pluralism within the realm of management studies. His research focuses on the importance of nurturing and safeguarding diverse philosophical, methodological, and theoretical approaches in academia. He actively investigates the politics of methodology in management research, shedding light on the cultural authority of certain research methods and their impact on society. Olivier also explores the challenges faced by early-career academics in the current academic landscape, emphasizing their potential for positive change within organizations. Additionally, his work contributes to the emerging field of critical career studies, challenging traditional career paradigms. Olivier Ratle’s co-edited book, “Doing Academic Careers Differently: Portraits of Academic Life” is a significant milestone in this endeavour.
You can purchase a copy of Doing Academic Careers Differently: Portraits of Academic Life through the publishers site or get in touch with him directly for more information or potential collaboration queries
A member of BLCC with an impressive portfolio of experience Dr. Arthur Turner is well renowned both in research and industry circles. This wealth of experience and knowledge has lead him to writing The Theory and Practice of Creative Coaching; a book for practitioners and researchers alike.
In this blog Arthur sits down to discuss the inspiration behind his recent book, and, more generally, his coaching practices. In his book, he discusses how to break free from routine coaching, embrace creativity, connectivity, and the use of nature as a powerful tool for development.
What motivated you to write this book on creative coaching and to explore new approaches in coaching individuals in organizations and communities?
I would often get approached by colleagues to discuss the topic of coaching in a professional environment, and as researchers and academics, they would ask for books or sources that they could refer to, read and, ultimately reference. As things were, although there was some research available the information was sporadic and dispersed and not held together in one place. There wasn’t a source that collated this information. I was encouraged by colleagues to write something that could be used by researchers and practitioners alike, and so I decided that I should write a book that would meet that need.
I could articulate many starting points began the development content of this book to a lot of different things, but I like to say that it all started with a finger puppet. My son had left a Dr. Che Guevara finger puppet (The Cuban revolutionary) the fridge at home. It had been gifted to him by a company he worked for at the time. I thought how novel this little puppet was and how something so simple can give a strong likeness to a historic figure and provoke so many disparate thoughts and ideas.
. . . I realized that there was immense value in allowing people to use such imaginative tools to rephrase their situations or circumstances in voices that aren’t their own . . .
I looked up the company that made the puppet and saw they made hundreds of these historical figure finger puppets. From that, I wondered what could be accomplished with objects such as this puppet ( I later started to call them mediating objects See Martha Brauer’s work in 2016) and began to explore the possibilities. This simple finger puppet sparked an idea about the power of creative techniques in coaching. I realized that there was immense value in allowing people to use such imaginative tools to rephrase their situations or circumstances in voices that aren’t their own. Allowing the mentee to use Frieda Kahlo, for example, to explain a concept to Barack Obama expanded their own understanding and opened them up to alternative thinking.
This approach taps into different perspectives, fostering a deeper understanding of topics and developing creative problem-solving skills that might not have been accessible otherwise. The finger puppet served as a catalyst for exploring innovative coaching methods that draw on creativity, imagination, and diverse viewpoints to enhance the coaching experience for both coaches and their clients.
You have mentioned that sources of inspiration you drew from, spanned from philosophy and the joys of nature, are you able to elaborate on these and how they influenced the development of the book’s content?
A lot of the book was written during pandemic and during lockdown, one of the few positive things that came out if the pandemic, for me, was the realisation on how much nature healed, being within and part of a natural environment was to enhance wellbeing.
In coaching, for example, I noticed how quickly someone would make connections between their environment and their situation.
I have found if you walk through an environment with somebody you begin to find that the environment around you leads the conversation, asks the questions – for example, a client and I walked along the river in Newport as the tide was coming out, we were walking past ancient castles, along an old Bridge, past a new housing estate and all the time the river was going in and out. Then the person I was coaching started talking about the ebb and flow of work; he began comparing it to the turbulence around pillars of the bridge which opened into a conversation reflecting on his situation using the nature as a tool to navigate his thoughts. Nature gave him a way to see beyond the turbulence of now and reframe his situation as an ebb to the flow to come.
This is an example of nature demonstrating the ways of how things are connected. When walking through nature you start to feel the connections around you, offering a tangible link leading to a true sense of the value of the connectiveness between each other. Knowing this value, feeling this connection can help you reframe an issue, challenge a status quo or develop a fuller opinion.
How does the book shed light on the use of creative techniques, and how do these techniques extend the possibilities for coaches and their clients?
The creative techniques I use on a day-to-day basis look at, how we can reflect on our surroundings and learn from what is around us, how we can use our all our senses to connect to an issue such as a lack of confidence, a challenge at work or a life challenge or event.
These creative techniques are in constant flow, of the ones discussed in this book I probably have 10 or so more that I use now. I have included them as a jumping-off point for coaches to build and develop their own toolkit of techniques that they can add to and archive as their own journey develops.
I believe, as in nature, we should be in positions of flex and flux, constantly in the position of bending or reflecting on what was before, what worked, what didn’t and why? We should be adaptive and listen to the needs of our client using the experience of our past techniques to build what is needed for the situation in front of us. So, the creative techniques are a reference point but not as a routine.
Lastly, what do you hope readers will take away from your book, and how do you envision it contributing to a stronger learning environment and increased diversity of coaching practices and understanding?
My vision for this book is to provide readers with the inspiration and tools they need to transform their coaching practice and approach their work differently. I want readers to build the courage and confidence to experiment with creative techniques and embrace their adaptive abilities within any given coaching situation. By making links to ways in which people engage with the world, such as art, poetry, music, and transformational objects, coaching practice can rapidly move away from rigid structures and rudimentary models.
By embracing our links with nature and the world around us through the power of creative coaching techniques this book aims to open doors for readers, empowering them to develop a diverse toolkit of techniques that can be adaptable and tailored to their clients’ unique needs. Through constant growth and reflection on past experiences, these coaching approaches will empower readers to break routine and tap into the flex and flux of the world around them. In addition, creative techniques help in group facilitation, leadership issues and team management.
As a result, I envision this book contributing to a stronger learning environment and fostering increased diversity in coaching practices. Coaches and their clients alike will benefit from this approach, enhancing their problem-solving skills, reframing issues, and ultimately achieving more meaningful and transformative coaching experiences.
More about Dr. Arthur Turner
Arthur was a Visiting Fellow at the University of South Wales (2014 – 2019) and is a Senior Lecturer at the University of the West of England. He has, in the past, been an Executive Board Member of the International Foundation for Action Research and a Recognized Teacher for the University of Ulster.
He completed his Doctorate in Business Administration in 2013, focusing on middle manager leadership development. He is an ILM Level 7 qualified coach and mentor since 2008. Since 2017 Arthur has been the programme manager for the ILM Coaching and Mentoring qualifications at Level 5 & 7.
His expertise lies in leadership development, with a focus on space, place, pace, the role of artefacts and mediating objects, and the use of the outdoors in adult learning. Dr. Turner has worked extensively with local councils and Health Boards in Wales and England, contributing to coaching, mentoring, and facilitative learning. His research interests have led to regular conference presentations and collaboration with practitioners from various fields. He co-directed the Professional Development Centre Limited between 2010 and 2021 and now works with the same company as a Senior Advisor, dedicated to improving leadership development through coaching and action learning approaches. As further development in his interests Arthur now works in voluntary basis with Newport City Council / Cyngor Dinas Casnewydd-ar-Wysg preparing a piece of City Centre land for Local Nature Reserve status.
Turner A.F. & Norris L. (2023) Playfulness and humour in executive coaching. UWE Spotlight series. Can be accessed at: Podcast 05.01.23 Edited.mp3
Turner A.F. (2023) Two contributions in: Forbes L. & Thomas D. Professors at play playbook. Carnegie Mellon University: ETC Press
Turner A.F. (2022) Space, Place and Time. Chapter in: Developing Leaders for Real – Proven approaches that deliver impact. Edited by Gray, Gilson and Cunningham (2022) Emerald Publishing Limited
Turner A.F. (2020) Chapter 13. Silence in Coaching in The Coaching Handbook – The Complete Practitioner Guide for Professional Coaches. Editor Jonathan Passmore. Routledge, October 2020
Turner A.F (2018) Chapter 11 Use of multi-ethnic, contemporary and historical finger puppets. In: Field Guide to Leadership Development edited by Steve Kempster, Arthur F. Turner, and Gareth Edwards http://www.e-elgar.com/shop/field-guide-to-leadership-development
Turner A.F. & Norris L. (2022) Humour and playfulness and their potential use in the advancement of coaching psychology and practice. The Coaching Psychologist Vol 18 No 2 pages 30 – 41
Turner A.F. (2020) All that jazz – a paper looking at the role of music in coaching practice. The Coaching psychologist Vol. 16 No 1
Turner A.F. (2019): Silence and its role in coaching. The Coaching Psychologist Vol 15 No 1
Heneberry, P., Turner, A.F. & Pardey D. (2019) A Practitioners’ Guide to Critical Leadership. Heneberry, Turner & Pardey
