Asking for feedback was hard for me at
first. Being a perfectionist, I was worried
about how constructive feedback might
make me feel. But when I incorporated it as
a part of my leadership practice by sending
out mid-year and end-of-year surveys to my
team, I found that it helped to strengthen
trust with my team members while provid-
ing concrete ideas about what I should do
more of and what I could adjust in order to
better meet the needs of my team.
Develop a support network
I could not imagine going through leader-
ship challenges without the love and support
of my colleagues. In my first leadership role
at Partners in School Innovation, I was for-
tunate enough to have a mentor (the more
senior colleague mentioned previously) who
listened with empathy and provided sup-
port as I developed my own leadership style
grounded in my values and beliefs. She con-
tinued to see my potential despite the chal-
lenges I was facing and offered a safe and
confidential space to share frustrations, try
out different ideas, and get feedback. In ad-
dition, she constantly helped me celebrate
wins big and small, which helped to build
my confidence. In addition, I had a manager
who held high expectations for me while
supporting me with tools and resources to
meet those expectations. She believed in me
and that made all the difference.
Representation matters
Models of female leaders of color are not
common, and many of the leadership books
I read did not address the complexities of
identity and leadership. They often shared
examples of successful leaders who come
from the dominant culture and therefore
have less reason to question whether they
belong in leadership roles. I was fortunate
that my mentor was a woman of color who
had had experiences similar to mine. She
helped me explore the relationship between
my identity and my leadership. She coura-
geously shared her stories of finding her way
as a leader and related them to the challenges
I was facing. She made me feel seen, and
that validation gave me the strength to push
through challenges. Her support helped me
come into my own as a female leader of color.
Because I benefited greatly from having a
woman of color as a coach, I advise women
of color who aspire to be leaders to seek out
leadership role models whom they identify
with, or join leadership mentor groups that
will allow them the space to develop their
own authentic leadership style.
Being a woman of color in a leadership
role in our society is not easy, but it is im-
portant that we develop more of them as we
work to disrupt the status quo and create a
more equitable society. Representation mat-
ters, and when we can have more women of
color in leadership positions, it will provide
more opportunities for multiple perspectives
to be heard and leverage our diverse assets to
grow stronger together.
Cynthia Ho is Director of Program
Implementation & Success for Partners in
School Innovation.
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Leadership