We wanted to develop this Gippsland Women and Leadership project to give women in our region an opportunity to talk about leadership and develop skills in a safe and supportive environment.

Leadership is a concept with which some women may feel uncomfortable. Perhaps this is because the media and our society in general portray leaders as successful men who dominate the realms of business and politics. We recognise, however, that women are also leaders who can often offer variety in leadership styles and skills which can be used in our society - in business, education, politics and the community.

We have developed this Gippsland Women and Leadership program to bring together groups of women who are interested in exploring leadership concepts and so that we can develop networks to support each other. We hope that by appreciating the leadership skills which are inherent in all of us and which can be developed through learning and support, we can provide leadership in our family, work and community lives.

When we think about leaders and describe their behaviour, we often end up talking about men and ‘strong’ leaders. This type of behaviour (often found amongst politicians) typifies a leader as a person who wins or sets up ‘win-lose’ situations. Leadership is most commonly referred to in terms of a person having ‘power over’ others, and with this power create situations in which he/she does what they consider is best for everyone, regardless of what they actually want!

This sort of power often excludes women, and does not necessarily provide the best leadership for all situations. In this program, we will introduce other models of leadership and explore situations in which alternative ways of working with people may be more useful.

Why women and leadership? Mainly because we believe that leaders are made, not born. As a society we often ignore the leadership potential and talents of 51% of the population. Through training and support we hope to encourage the development of new talent.

Women and Leadership Philosophy

The leadership referred to in this manual is about inclusive, empowering leadership. We believe that creative leadership motivates people to do their best and work together to achieve common goals.

Women have traditionally been at the forefront of this sort of leadership. As community members, we have often worked together to establish services and resources for our communities, motivating ourselves and each other to achieve common goals.

Balbo (1988) describes women’s participatory leadership as follows:

"Women bring a variety of skills to their servicing work: independence of decision-making, a vision of the overall purpose, responsibility for the final outcome and for all the decisions to be made along the way." (p55)

Neighbourhood houses, kindergartens, child care, toy libraries, etc. have been established by groups of women working together and exhibiting this type of leadership behaviour.

Women are now demonstrating that their leadership abilities and style can be used in small business (in fact recent media reports indicate that the majority of successful small businesses are owned and managed by women). It seems that an approach which is democratic and person-centred is creating businesses which have excellent customer-service orientation.

A Leadership Philosophy

In this program we are going to consider (and promote!) four major components of leadership which we believe form the basis of a woman-centred leadership philosophy. These components (or leadership themes) were identified by Bargal & Schmid (1989), as follows:

• The leader is a creator of vision and a strategic architect.

• The leader is a creator and changer of organisational culture.

• The leader-follower relationship is reciprocal, therefore the leadership style is democratic and participative.

• Leadership leads to transformation or change in people. Therefore, group members’ capacities are increased; individual growth is encouraged and nurtured; and trust and confidence in the group is promoted and valued.

The following chapters of this manual will provide ideas about how to achieve these ideal leadership characteristics. We believe that leadership, like any other skill, is able to be learned and that basic knowledge and skill development will provide us with ways in which we can become effective leaders.

References and Further Reading:

Balbo, Laura (1988) "Crazy Quilts: Rethinking The Welfare State Debate From A Woman’s Point Of View", In Women And The State, Anne Showstack Sassoon (Ed), Hutchinson, London. Pp45-71.

Burgal, D. & Schmid, H (1989) "Recent Themes In Theory And Research On Leadership And Their Implications For Management Of The Human Services", Administration In Social Work, Vol 13, Nos 3/4, Pp37-54