18 Leading at a DistanceInsights and Practical Advice for Early Career Women in Higher Education Leadership
Connie (Levina) Yuen
What is leadership, and what does it mean to lead in distance education? To answer this question, I draw from other voices in higher education (e.g., Nicklin & Segool, 2022; Selzer & Robles, 2019) as well as my experiences as an early career academic and educational technologist. Although there is a range of effective leadership approaches in higher education (Dopson et al., 2019), leadership is fundamentally about serving others through guidance, knowledge sharing, and capacity building, with the primary aim of creating solidarity to achieve collective goals (Oreg & Berson, 2019). To lead means to be actively involved in communication, resource management, and organizational change (Oreg & Berson, 2019) while empowering individuals to be motivated, effective, and focused. Thus, leaders work best by making decisions with others by consulting with stakeholders and experts, coordinating resources, and inspiring their teams to act in line with shared priorities or approaches affecting organizational change at both the micro- and the macro-level. By making well-informed decisions, leaders can quickly address necessary changes or concerns.
This narrative is divided into three parts recounting my journey and lessons learned about the importance of leadership as an early career professor at a Canadian online university. In the first part, “Becoming a Great Leader,” I recount my experiences of cultivating leadership skills by establishing visibility, capacity, and credibility in the field. I reflect on my evolving identity as a young scholar in emerging technologies, traditionally male dominated. Then I elaborate how I developed effective communication skills and an intentional focus to empower myself and affect others. I next delve into insights into the optics, struggles, and considerations of women who pave the way in their respective research fields. In the second part, “On Climbing the Ivory Tower,” I detail the decisions, triumphs, and challenges of advancing my career as a minority moving up the ivory tower of higher education. These lessons address the planning process and internal conflicts that I encountered while pursuing a professional career and balancing other commitments or needs. This section also offers practical advice and solutions to women who aspire to develop leadership capacity or move into leadership roles. In the third part, “Leading the Way in Distance Education,” I reflect on the outlooks and implications of women who take on leadership roles in distance education. This section includes an examination of leadership strategies to mobilize others and effect change in an organization from a position of strength and sustainability.
Despite progress in women’s working conditions and an increase in equity practices in Canadian higher education, there is still a prevalence of bias against and resistance to women in leadership positions (O’Connor, 2020; Oleschuk, 2020). Although more women are studying and working in higher education, it is well known that they are under-represented in leadership positions (Momani et al., 2019). O’Connor (2020, p. 212) describes this paradox in higher education as a “hierarchical cul-de-sac … [in which men occupy] the majority of senior positions” because of persistent beliefs and evaluation practices that favour the employment of men as being more strategically important or skilled in the labour market. Exacerbating these inequitable leadership practices and beliefs are the expectations that both men and women hold regarding the career woman often because of traditional gender roles reflected in both media and history (e.g., Oleschuk, 2020; Tandrayen-Ragoobur & Gokulsing, 2022). This inequity is observed in the working-woman paradigm—particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic—in which women reported taking on the majority of domestic and caregiver responsibilities while working full time (Fisher & Ryan, 2021).
Academic women are often expected to commit to more internal service roles rather than their own research and career pursuits (Allen et al., 2021). Thus, they are perceived as supporters rather than individuals with their own goals. In addition, women are compensated less and often seen as less competent leaders regardless of their accomplishments (Malisch et al., 2020). For example, academic women are faced with limited advancement opportunities as well as unfavourable work policies, including those related to tenure and promotion (Oleschuk, 2020). I have encountered scenarios in which male and female leaders made the same decision but were spoken about differently by colleagues. In one instance, a male leader who implemented a new work policy was said to be setting clear expectations, whereas a female leader who did the same was described as micromanaging. Others have commented that women are less dedicated and hard-working, more likely to leave a job for personal reasons, or too easily influenced by external factors to be fair, competent, or representative leaders. These implicit biases are not only demoralizing to hear but also problematic in that they lead women to be overlooked as viable choices—both by others and by themselves—for leadership positions, particularly when there is no precedent or role model. This contributes to the disproportionately few women in leadership or administrative positions in higher education even though women make up the primary population of faculty members and learners. If a university aims to grow as an educational institution and serve a diversified student population, then it needs to demonstrate its ability to identify and provide equitable opportunities for growth for its own staff. I have found that, when assembling team members for a project, the more diversified the members, the more perspectives and values are considered when evaluating the needs and trajectories of research.
Becoming a Great Leader
It is never too early to begin cultivating leadership skills, even as an entry-level academic. All people possess skills or knowledge that they can impart to others based on their previous experiences with both competent and incompetent leadership. By stepping into leadership roles, women can become beacons of hope reflecting equitable treatment or opportunity, diverse representation, and contemporary vision. Below I describe my experiences while developing a leadership mindset and how I came to embrace my role in leading others in distance education.
You Are Your Best Advocate
In my early career as an analyst in the field of technology, I recall, I barely made ends meet financially, but I had not yet realized the importance of self-advocacy. It took several years before a senior colleague mentioned that an intern’s starting pay was higher and had been adjusted further to meet inflation, and I finally mustered the courage to ask the manager for a raise. My manager responded swiftly and favourably, telling me that I was the first woman there to ask for a raise and that she hoped to see more young women like me with the courage to negotiate their compensation as readily as our male counterparts. To this day, her words of wisdom resonate with me: you are your own best advocate. Each time you advocate for yourself, you also learn how to advocate for the well-being of others. As women, we need to recognize and value our self-worth and then have the courage to act.
Internalizing Self-Worth and Being Clear about Your Purpose
An important component of becoming a leader is building capacity and developing a focused mindset. Although I had the necessary experience and capabilities to carry out my responsibilities in research, teaching, and service, as a new faculty member I had to be strategic in managing all three areas to set myself up for success (and proactively prevent burnout). As academics and leaders, we need to internalize our self-worth and recognize the significance of actively promoting our work and ourselves. This is a necessary step in establishing our reputations as scholars and as advocates of change. Be clear and direct in asking questions and speak with conviction when you have ideas that could support the betterment of the organization.
One of the expectations of being a scholar is that you become an expert in the field, and for many scholars it also means being well read on many interdisciplinary topics. As a result, I have often observed other early career academics being overworked: they push themselves to understand every detail of a topic, yet when it comes time to write or publish they still feel insecure about having others review their work. With the plethora of information readily accessible, and with limited time, scholars realize that there is much more to learn, and there is a belief or doubt that can settle in about whether we truly deserve to be recognized as researchers equal to our senior colleagues. This kind of thinking seems to be especially true for those who transitioned quickly from graduate school to a tenure-track position or for colleagues who thought that they had fewer publications and research writing skills. This imposter syndrome, surprisingly, takes hold early in one’s career and remains throughout one’s career—even for well-established, tenured scholars as the field and expectations grow. This deconstructive mindset tends to linger because of the unspoken power relations that one perceives, and it is more prevalent in women, particularly women of colour (Manongsong & Ghosh, 2021). Perhaps a colleague seems to have a long-standing co-authorship relationship or seems to know a lot about the field in which one is supposedly an expert. However, this is a self-limiting perception that needs to be counteracted quickly. Being cognizant of self-doubt, we can then re-evaluate improvements or changes over which we have control to address them.
One way to accomplish this is by consolidating your beliefs about success and establishing a clear vision for the value that you contribute with your work. You must be clear on your purpose: why you are in academia, why your field or topic is important, and what you seek to change or improve. What is the higher-level aim and impact of what you seek to do? Who is your audience, and for whom do you advocate? For example, my goal is to challenge the status quo and find adaptive, meaningful ways to address problems affecting technology use in education and society. I work toward this goal by constantly reviewing and writing about the current state of technology implementation and research in education. I hope that by sharing my consolidated knowledge in accessible, innovative ways, I can inspire others to do the same. As long as we keep our personal mission in focus, we can push past self-doubts and comparisons.
On Climbing the Ivory Tower
Before accepting a faculty position at an online university, I worked for a decade as an educational technologist at several campus-based universities. Much of my work focused on developing and applying my technological and instructional design skills to help others carry out their projects. As I continued working in higher education, I became more interested in academic and research-based activities. Soon I began formulating my own research ideas and aspired to exercise my creative energy, thus transitioning into a faculty position.
Although taking on a faculty position was an exciting and new experience, it soon became apparent that leadership was a significant element of my work. As a course instructor, I led students on a constructive path to learning. As a researcher, I led teams of research assistants, instructional designers, and staff to carry out university initiatives. Developing leadership competence and enabling others to carry out their work effectively are essential factors of the institution’s success as well as my own. I am fortunate to have observed examples of great leadership at the university, and it became evident that leadership is a decisive factor in individual and collective success in higher education. Following are a few lessons that I learned about developing leadership capacity as an early career academic.
Be Discerning and Intentional about Your Work
Although faculty citizenship is important, remember to protect your time and energy from extra research, teaching, or service commitments beyond your manageable workload. As an early career academic, you will have ongoing opportunities to contribute to the university community, and it is important to delegate tasks appropriately. Being a leader does not mean micromanaging or being involved with every task; rather, it means recognizing the expertise of others and enabling them to work better.
Manage Time and Well-Being for Active Online Engagement
In distance education, it is vital to learn how to develop online connections with limited to no face-to-face opportunities. This meant changing my conception of how to initiate and nurture collegial relationships, knowing that I might have few opportunities to meet informally or socialize virtually with colleagues depending on the university’s existing practices and sometimes because of actual physical or time barriers. Also, because a typical workday for an academic in distance education includes numerous activities and conference calls conducted while sitting in an office chair, amplified by a reduced presence online, it requires capable management of the workload, timelines, and well-being. For example, be cognizant of screen fatigue, the pressure to be online all the time (i.e., colleagues and learners have access to you through email 24/7) and added responsibilities such as learning to set up a home office or technologies conducive to a distraction-free, quiet, and ergonomic space. Safeguard your personal time from your work obligations beyond virtual office hours to prevent burnout.
Support Others’ Work and Success Often
Partake in your colleagues’ lectures or workshops at conferences, co-teach in different courses, and promote their successes at meetings and public forums. Their successes are intertwined with your success.
Be Realistic about Your Progression and Timelines
Sometimes unexpected delays or challenges occur, and you need to be flexible and revise your schedule to adapt to these changes. Also understand that occupational ambitions can align with or support your personal goals and that you do not necessarily need to choose between one or the other. This idea is supported by Nicklin and Segool (2022), who discuss the application of self-determination theory and work-family balance for women in higher education. I frequently reviewed my career and personal goals and broke them down into the smaller steps needed to accomplish them. At other times, research commitments or grant application deadlines were at odds with the timing of personal priorities, such as starting a family. Current statistics reveal that most permanent academic positions are appointed to people around 34 years of age (O’Connor, 2020), which can coincide with women’s timelines for child-bearing and -rearing. In fact, this was my case as I found myself embracing the role of a new parent and primary caregiver to two young children over the course of my pre-tenure. A day in my life included a combination of holding academic interviews, undertaking research projects, teaching courses, feeding babies, and changing diapers. During this time, I honed my productivity and time management skills and discovered the positive impact of spending just 10 minutes at various intervals throughout the day to do research. It also helps to be surrounded by understanding colleagues and continually to build your support network so that you can delegate tasks to others and remind yourself to practise self-compassion.
Co-Shape Work Practices
Part of being a good leader is understanding the “bigger picture” and co-shaping practices through collective action (By, 2021). This means being cognizant of the group dynamics among people, seeking perspectives from diverse members, and always learning with others. Seek mentors for advice and become a mentor for others. By doing so, you will be more attuned to the available resources, processes, and creative solutions to address future challenges. For example, if you are planning to go on parental leave, check for published documentation and work with human resources to clarify policies that support you while away on leave (e.g., coverage, benefits, the tenure clock).
Understand the “Business” of Education
Take time to learn your organization’s distinct characteristics and strategic plan and then align your activities with your role and responsibilities as an academic within the university. Reflecting on these processes and reviewing university policies will enable you to identify gaps in your own workflow and uncover solutions to recurring barriers. Over time, you will become more adept at working with other teams, managing resources, delegating tasks, evaluating proposals, and handling the complexities of university bureaucracy and politics—all of the elements that contribute to informed decision making and the making of a great leader.
Leading the Way in Distance Education
Leaders are emblematic of an organization’s vision, priorities, policies, future trajectory, and most of all how the organization treats and values people. As such, leaders need to have reach and impact when it comes to motivating or influencing others. Women can lead in distance education by promoting gender and diversity awareness and serving as role models for young women or marginalized persons—particularly visible minorities who might not feel represented or well understood in their careers. In this way, women can amplify an organization’s capacity to create supportive, inclusive environments in which others feel comfortable expressing their ideas, which in turn can prevent rapid employee turnover and career burnout (Thomas et al., 2020).
Leadership in distance education is unique in that it is situated predominantly—and often solely—in virtual settings. This context provides both unique opportunities and challenges that a leader must navigate in order to coordinate and sustain meaningful relationships with colleagues and students. One persistent challenge to leading at a distance involves reliance on online communication: nuances are lost through the written word (especially email), and other factors—such as eye contact, body language, and network latency—can affect one’s online presence. In my leadership work, I familiarized myself with the processes involved in facilitating virtual collaborative activities such as pacing content sharing in anticipation of technology latency issues, providing brief technology overviews at the beginnings of meetings, as well as implementing mindfulness health breaks throughout. The inherently blurred boundaries between work life and home life—particularly in post-pandemic times—necessitated an adjustment to my expectations regarding meaningful, online-based relationships and their effects on work productivity and time flexibility.
This understanding and expectation must also extend to leaders themselves. Leaders must be highly self-aware, open to new developments or solutions, and flexible with their time to address urgent but necessary organizational or human issues that occur (Herbst & Conradie, 2011). They lead by example, being courageous and earnest in sharing their perspectives (even when they are unpopular), seeking and applying feedback, spending time and energy to collaborate effectively with others, and always looking to facilitate growth or innovation. In this way, leaders act as strong advocates of change and continually evaluate individual and organizational activities to help meet diverse student needs (e.g., By, 2021; Samuelson et al., 2019).
Conclusion
Ultimately, being a leader means empowering others and ensuring access and equity for the betterment of the organization. The challenges described in this chapter are just some of the difficulties that women face given pervasive biases in society, such as those with which I am familiar. With consistent reflection and self-appraisal, women in early career academic positions can become more influential and valued leaders in their workplaces. As organizations adopt increasingly equitable policies (O’Connor, 2019), women are empowered to step into higher leadership roles and set new precedents for professional practice in distance education.
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