As a Laidlaw Scholar, I have been exposed to ethical leadership and global citizenship concepts. First and perhaps most importantly, I have realised that I genuinely appreciate working with people and being the lead of a project. I have found that I enjoy finding ways for people to collaborate with each other to produce an output. I particularly enjoyed the creative aspects of my Leadership in Action project working with artist Maria Sjöö, as I have not been exposed to this side of science/research before. It has also broadened my outlook regarding different interpretations of research and how people's lived experience impacts their interpretations.
Throughout the project, I started to appreciate the importance and efficiency of delegation. For example, my project aimed to launch an exhibition that would reflect the science of depression. To do this, I wanted to visualize real-life data in a manner that would be interesting and engaging for the public. Therefore, I looked to work with an experienced graphic designer to bring my vision to life; I reached out to a colleague of mine – Erin Mangan – who I worked with (similar to how Maria worked with me) to develop my ideas and implement them on a website. By delegating this task, I was able to focus my time on aspects that were more pressing and needed greater attention, such as analyzing the data.
Working with CREATE-REACT, it became clear from the first meeting that funding would be a big issue for my project. This was primarily because of ethical considerations, which should be paid for being involved in the project, and how much should be. This was particularly challenging regarding Maria and Erin; is it ethical to ask someone to collaborate when you are not in a position to pay them? Both should be compensated for their time and effort, but given budget constraints, it was not possible to do this in what I think would be the fairest way. In regards to Erin, to solve this issue, I set up a meeting and clearly outlined that (i) I could not pay her and (ii) said she was more than welcome to work with me but only if she genuinely found it exciting and not as a favor to a friend. To somewhat address the lack of compensation, I gave Erin creative freedom, leading to a good end product. Even though I did pay Maria, I don't think my collaboration with her was as ethical as I and CREATE-REACT wanted, but through this process have realised that honest conversations are vital to working around issues such as this.
A key aspect of my skills that I have become more aware of as the Laidlaw program has progressed is my values and leadership style. I highly value integrity, fairness, and trust and try to implement these as core principles of my leadership style. For example, I made sure that the artist was on board and agreed with considerations of the project, such as possible future collaborations and changes to the layout of the exhibition. However, this summer has also made me realize how a lack of experience in projects such as these and working with external partners can lead to unintended consequences. For example, I agreed with an external partner that I would create material for a marketing campaign they would deliver. However, the day before the exhibition, I found out that they had not initiated the marketing. Therefore, I should have checked on their progress well in advance. This issue taught me that it is necessary to ask for numbers when following up on progress.; in hindsight, I realized that I had been too vague when I asked for such updates. I also did not have an open conversation about their intentions regarding the collaboration. Consequentially, I often felt like I was not in a position to ask for clarifications as they were collaborating with me without anything in return. Going forward, for my leadership style to work better, I need to have clear conversations with collaborators early on, outlining their intentions.
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