Volume 4, Issue 3 – July 2003
Institute for Women’s Leadership eNews
Welcome to IWL’s eNews designed to inform and inspire you about the progress of our global leadership community and commitments.
1) Alumni Profile
Barbara Martin, National Managers’ Community Secretariat
WLC 05/02
1) Who am I?
My name is Barbara Martin. I am the Manager of the National Managers’ Community Secretariat. The Secretariat was established to provide support, networking and learning opportunities to managers in the Canadian federal public service. I manage the Secretariat’s operations, provide leadership to the development and implementation of our business plan and create and nurture partnerships with our stakeholders.
2) When and why did I attend Women Leading Change?
I participated in WLC in May 2002. I was encouraged to attend by two colleagues who had attended WLC the year before. I observed in them a generosity and confidence when working with our stakeholders. Both of these women emulated a quiet yet powerful approach to leadership that I wanted to learn more about.
3) What skills have I used the most since participating in the program?
I have learned the value of taking the time to have conversations that build on relationships and explore possibilities. In the past, I tended to jump immediately to action conversations and missed all sorts of opportunities to build creativity, innovation, trust and fun into my work.
I use generous listening more and more. It takes humility. And it definitely takes practice, but I am learning to stop myself from listening only to what I believe is right or wrong and to listen to others for possibilities, commitment and opportunities for action. I am paying attention to being more present in conversations – to listen to what people are saying with curiosity.
And I am being more generous with myself. I understand better the need to serve myself in order to serve others with courage, intelligence and joy.
I have further developed the ability to speak about my work in a way that provides clear context with the goal of finding ‘shared purpose’ with team members, colleagues, partners and bosses. By listening carefully and speaking with courage and conviction, I am better able to generate the ideas, possibilities and action with others that lead to groundbreaking results.
4) What results am I the most proud of?
We have achieved the ground breaking result I planned for while at WLC last year. It seemed overwhelming at the time, but we did it! We have new, committed partners. We have created credibility with senior decision makers which is measurable. We have funding. We have increased opportunities for our community of federal public servant managers to learn, develop and build communities of practice. People are passionate and excited about what we offer.
I am also proud of my relationships with my family. While strong when I went into WLC, I learned new ways of listening and being present that have made them even stronger.
I have a new and very exciting challenge waiting for me around the corner. I have accepted an assignment in Washington, DC where I will be working for the Canadian government to build learning partnerships and opportunities for collaboration in the area of common government services. I am counting on the skills that I learned through the IWL to get me through the thrills and terrors of this new phase in the lives of my family and me.
5) What resources do I want from and can I offer the IWL as I continue my leadership journey?
My offer: I attest to the power of the methods and practices used in this program, and I am committed to bringing this experience to others working in public service. I am also committed to maintaining the network and relationships that I started through participating in WLC.
My request: To have continued access to the wonderful support, coaching and wisdom that Rayona and other IWL alumni have to offer.
2) Coach’s Column – Creating the Value of Taking Care of Yourself
3) Resources
A) IWL Alumni Authors
Two of our IWL alumni are recently (or soon to be) published authors! Congratulations to Margot and Cheryl for making your visions realities!
A Short Course in Kindness by Margot Silk Forrest (IWL alumna). Foreword by Catherine Ryan Hyde
More than simply thought-provoking, “A Short Course in Kindnes” challenges and inspires us to effect change through kindness. In warm and engaging prose, this book explains true kindness as opposed to mere niceness and explores its power and benefits. It motivates individuals to exhibit and practice kindness, describing in clear and simple terms ways to integrate kindness as the response of choice. Included are techniques for developing the ability to empathize with others and strategies for being kind to oneself.
Author, Margot Silk Forrest, IWL alumna, credits IWL, Rayona and what she learned in Women Leading Change as helpful forces in writing and publishing this book.
No Horizon is So Far by Cheryl Dahle (IWL alumna), Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen
From Cheryl: The book is a non-fiction account of the first two women in history to cross Antarctica on foot. It will be in bookstores by the end of September. I was drawn to write this story not because of the expedition itself, but for the ideals behind it. The two women used their journey (undertaken in their mid-forties) as a way to inspire other women and girls to pursue their dreams.
The publisher is funding a 10-city book tour for my subjects/co-authors Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen. The word so far is that we have pre-orders for 25,000 copies, which is pretty darn healthy for the book world these days! It’s already available for order from Amazon!
B) Association for Women in Science
AWIS was founded in 1971 to improve education, employment, and advancement opportunities for women in all fields of science. The national office in Washington, D.C. influences national policy by testimony before Congress and federal agencies. However, each local chapter has individual programs tailored to the needs of its members. All chapters share common goals of professional development, networking, mentoring, community outreach and scientific literacy.
C) Great Links at Women’s International Center
The Women’s International Center (WIC) mission is to acknowledge, honor and encourage women; to celebrate women and their positive, enduring contributions to humanity through the Living Legacy Awards; to inform and educate through WIC’s force on the pervasive outreach of the Internet.
4) Glass Ceiling Survey – We have a winner!
Dr. Lydia Johnson thanks the 87 of you who responded to her request by completing her survey about women, leadership and the glass ceiling (April 2003 Alumni Newsletter). The lucky winner of the $100 Staples gift certificate was Ilene Conway! The results of the survey will be published in a future issue.
