Sync

When people join Sync, we ask them what their take on disability and leadership is. Does being a disabled person or experiencing impairment make us a different ‘type’ of leader? Do we lead in a different way?

At Sync, we encourage different perspectives, so it's no surprise that some of us think there are differences whilst other believe leadership is unchanged by the experience of impairment.

This article aims to try and unpick some of the common recurring thoughts from our members and knit together the common threads.

If there is an impact, then it should come as no surprise that that impact varies. After all we are different people with a wide variety of experiences. As Sync member Liz Crow said:

‘The experience of exclusion and (lack of) involvement could go either way – it’s made some of our strongest and most belligerently effective leaders … but it’s held back many others who doubt themselves so deeply that their leadership potential is swallowed up.’

Our experiences as disabled people are part of our experiences as people, and so naturally we take that with us in our daily lives, and on our leadership journeys. Aidan Moesby, a member of Sync, put it well when he said:

‘We are a sum of our parts and we carry our psychological heritage with us. Internalisation of the external world is inevitable, it's how we come to terms with it when we can that counts.’

Many people interested in joining Sync find it hard to accept that they can be seen as a ‘leader’. They talk about feeling like a fraud; one described it as ‘imposter syndrome’:

'I have some days where I am sure I am going to get found out. I start to think I have no right to be here, no right to even start to think of myself as a leader.'

If we have a fixed idea of what a leader ‘is’, and we can’t fit that description, it can be hard to see ourselves in that role. Sarah Pickthall, joint founder of Sync, talks about not fitting the mould:

‘In order to get to something at 8 o'clock I have to wake up at 5 o’clock to wake my body up, so, for me, a breakfast meeting doesn't work. In the newspaper recently there was an article that said the best business gets done at breakfast, and it's like uh! Oh dear! I can’t do that ‘kind’ of leadership. Does that mean I can’t lead?’

Sync member Jeff Banks has the same question, and takes it further by looking at the impact this can have on others:

‘There are many leadership techniques and strategies that disabled people simply cannot employ. … long hours, stupidly tight deadlines; I can’t shmoose and network during breaks… but more than all this, in our society, disability pushes someone down the social and power structure and this really impacts on our image and credibility.’

So, if we don’t fit the pre-conceived idea some people have of a ‘leader’, the first thing we need to do is challenge and change that norm. There are many ways to lead and be a leader.

To do this we need the confidence to really believe in ourselves, and that’s not easy. One of our Sync members, Pauline Alexander, spoke up about this at the Open Space Disability and Leadership event, Lead On:

‘The objective reality is we are free to be who we are. There is no-one stopping us being who we are - except us. We may be confronted by barriers and attitudes, but that's out there… The negative experiences that I have, and have had, personally still impact on me and even though I know they're crap, even though I know that they are other people's problems, it tends to creeps in, and it is insidious. I have to fight that daily as I guess we all have to. So, I'm up against not only my own perceptions but the reality of life too - I'm free and I'm free to be the leader that I am. I have qualities and they may not be like someone else's who has got more experience, but they're mine, nobody else has got those and I have a right to offer those to the universe because nobody else can do that.’

Some of us find more confidence when we work in a disability-related environment. As Stephanie Fuller, Arts Council England, South East said:

‘Both disabled people themselves and other people seem to find it difficult to believe that they could be a successful part of the mainstream. Having an impairment seems to locate you within a particular part of the cultural sector (access, diversity, disability arts), which is hard to move beyond.’

A reminder then to check if the barriers mentioned here are located in ‘others’ or in ourselves. I can remember writing an article for Sync last year called "Swimming Out of My Depth" where I questioned why I chose to work predominantly in the disability arts field:

‘Is it passion, or fear? I’ve always believed that I work in my field because this is the arena I love, that I feel passionate about. That’s still true, but I’m also now questioning myself. Is it also because I fear that I’m ‘not good enough’ to get work outside of my niche?’

This from an article in the Guardian:

James Partridge greets me with a hello, a handshake and makes deliberate eye contact. Nothing unusual there - except that for someone with a severe facial disfigurement, this every day exchange can be an intimidating experience. ‘Staring, curiosity, anguish, recoil, embarrassment and dread - what he describes as "SCARED syndrome" - sums up the feeling of people meeting you and your face', says Partridge.

Sync South East, our separate programme in the South East region, recently met up with James Partridge, founder of Changing Faces, an organisation set up to promote greater acceptance of those with facial disfigurements. He was absolutely clear that he has about 5 seconds to establish a relationship with people, before their ‘fear factor’ kicks in. If he can grab their hand, make eye contact and engage them in conversation almost before they can react, then he can make them see a different side of him first – a far more effective starting place for him to build a different relationship with them for the future.

So as disabled people, we might have a greater insight into how we come over, compared to our non-disabled counterparts, and how we can consciously or unconsciously mitigate other people’s first opinions of us – what we look like, how we move, what we do or what our access requirements are.

Again it takes confidence, and it also takes skill. How do we get the balance right – enough ‘front’ to be assertive and positive, taking control, yet not too much – and risk being seeing as hard, aggressive, ‘always playing the disability card’ or pitiful.

Melissa Mostyn talked of this in her introductory information for Sync:

‘Someone once said that I project my deaf identity, which is why people react more strongly towards me than they would ordinarily. I’ve had to work hard for this identity, because I know it empowers me and enables me to address issues positively and with clarity of vision.’

So we have explored our personal impact, and how we can maximise that. What else might be different? Based on your responses, many people think disabled people are more empathetic and better at managing diversity of others. Some go further and think this means that disabled people are more inclined to push towards a consensual or democratic form of leadership.

Take a look at these quotes from Sync members:

• ‘Having a disability definitely changes the experience of leadership as it is a constant reminder of vulnerability and difference, especially when the 'issue' is not always visible.’ (Anonymous five)

• ‘I think with any form of impairment it enables the person to be a little more understanding and tolerant and enables them to have more empathy with the other people's perspective.’ (Deepa Shastri)

• ‘Possibly it makes for better leadership as it makes you stronger and more empathetic to others and the issues and barriers they face.’ (Catherine Beedell)

Given that dealing with diversity is one area where many so called ‘mainstream’ leaders struggle, perhaps we should start trading on this possible selling point? We know what it is like to be seen as ‘different’ and the myriad ways this can impact. If we bring this into our leadership behaviour we can make others more comfortable and confident around difference – any difference.

We can also stretch this skill down the supply chain. Getting into a leadership position, as a disabled person, takes hard work, commitment and self belief. Knowing how hard it is to climb up there should make us more inclined to help remove some of the barriers that hindered us and help others get there too. Again, this is another highly tradeable skill. I wonder if we acknowledge it enough?

How else might disabled people differ in their leadership style? Simon McKeown is a recent ‘subject’ for a Sync case study:

'I think if you do create work about who you really are it will make you happier in the long run. But it has to be engaging. If you just lecture people they will turn off. I think I have a moral point of view to put over and I want to reach people. All my experience in the commercial sector gives me a solid perspective on ‘what people want’ and what they would pay for. I then adapt my work to fit and stretch that. I ask myself: Will it give them a headache? Will it make them think? I make deliberate changes to reach an audience – with Motion Disabled it is deliberately softer than it could be. I have made angry work in the past and it's like scratching an itch – it's good for me in the short term, a release, but if no-one sees it in the long term, what’s the point?'

Simon describes himself as a chameleon – with the ability to change to fit in with what people need, adapt quickly to situations, and flex to fit in. It’s a great leadership quality to have.

Many disabled people have spent their lives adapting their behaviours to get the best out of others – behaving one way with teachers, another with parents, another with doctors and medical professionals.

In one working day I can often think of four or five ‘different’ people I have contact with for whom my behaviour is different - the Access to Work team, my bank, the people I work with, the people I work for and so on. The way I ‘am’ around my access needs may be different with each one. Take talking on the phone for instance. Even though I am hearing impaired, I can use the phone providing I’m in a place where I can control the background noise. That means I’m happy to talk on the phone to people I know and people who know me well. I would rarely choose to use the phone as a first way to contact someone, or to someone I was building a working relationship with as I am less confident when talking on the phone.

In a leadership context, the ability to change your leadership style to meet the needs of the situation is often called ‘Situational Leadership’.. There is a great deal written about this tool – including many videos on YouTube. The link below is to a quick powerpoint and voice over on YouTube that gives you an idea of the tool in case you want to find out more.

The video clip ends by saying that leaders may have to flex into areas where they are less comfortable. Again, as a disabled person, we may have the edge on flexibility. According to leadership theory, we each have a natural temperament (as either an artisan, guardian, rational or an idealist – see the Sync article on The Temperaments for more information). There is usually one or two places where we feel most comfortable and another one or two where we feel less confident.

As disabled people, we have often thought this one through in advance, just in a different context. Many of us can easily work out where we are comfortable and which environments, situations and circumstances put us on the edge or at a disadvantage. I suppose the challenge then is whether we simply avoid those situations or whether we work to find creative solutions to managing ourselves and our access to be able to flex the amount of spaces we can thrive in.

To be a successful leader, disabled or not, one must be authentic. It is not about putting on a ‘role’ of leadership, it's about being the leader you really are. As a disabled person, working out how to be true to yourself can be a more complex process, balancing access into the equation. You don’t have to tell the world everything about you and your impairment to be authentic, that’s not what it's about (check out the article on Johari’s Window for more information on balancing what you show and what you choose to hide).

Often, as disabled people, we have had more experience in looking at who we really are than many non disabled people. We have had to face up to our strengths and weaknesses, our own unique pros and cons. This, sometimes harsh, self assessment process can be used to our advantage. We may be more robust, have more developed survival mechanisms and be more in tune with what we need to work effectively than some non disabled people.

Disabled people can make great leaders. That doesn’t mean we all make great leaders, or that we are great leaders all of the time, but it does mean that there is nothing inherent in being a disabled person that stops any of us being or becoming leaders. At the core, leadership is about self belief. For many of us, our experiences as disabled people may have given us a head start here. Often we have had to practice huge amounts of self belief in order to get ourselves into a position where we can contemplate taking on the title of ‘leader’.