Symposium: Key Concepts in Leadership and Organizational Health and the Context of Multi-Generational Organizations

Facilitator: Brenda Huber

Saturday, April 26
2:00pm - 4:00pm CST
Credits Available: 2 CE
Instructional Level: Intermediate and Advanced Psychologists

Three panelists (Fairley, Mendoza-Denton, and Grzanka) will each introduce a key concept of human centered leadership and organizational health that has emerged in their work, (i.e., authenticity, ambiguity, and power respectively), and describe how it has been relevant in the context of their populations of focus. After an opportunity for discussion with the panelists, we will reflect on the relevance of these and other concepts learned throughout the conference to multi-generational organizations.

Leading with Authenticity: Coaching the Unexpected Leader

Chamarlyn Fairley

Women of color in leadership often find themselves as "unexpected leaders," navigating stereotypes, biases, and the experience of being othered. The weight of external projections-how others perceive and expect them to behave-can create pressure to conform and ask themselves, rather than lead authentically. This session explores the psychological and organizational challenges of balancing self-perception with societal expectations, particularly in environments where leaders are subject to behavioral confirmation biases.

Using a human-centered design approach, we will examine how OD professionals can support leaders in reconciling external narratives with their true identity. The presentation will explore ways to help leaders resist conformity, define their leadership style, and cultivate resilience while allowing leaders to show up as their authentic selves-consistently and confidently-despite systemic and interpersonal challenges.

A Structured Approach to Human Centered Equity

Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton

In this talk, I will summarize how a human centered inquiry must also include attention to the social and institutional environment where humans interact. Human flourishing occurs when people feel a sense of psychological safety to be able to focus on shared group activities (e.g., learning, working). I will discuss here the role of clarity and structure in human-centered equity, where the criteria and standards for success are clear, transparent, and available to all. The role of administrators and group leaders will be discussed.

Intersectional Structural Competency: Organizational Health as/for/and Social Justice

Patrick Grzanka

Over the past decade, psychologists have begun to consider how the concept of “structural competency,” which emphasizes humility and sensitivity to power over the acquisition of specific knowledge about marginalized social groups, may inform psychological practice that aspires to be inclusive, affirming, and equitable. In this talk, I will introduce structural competency as an intersectional tool for promoting organizational health, with a focus on changing systems, structures, and policies so that leaders can achieve their often-stated but rarely achieved goals of inclusive organizational culture. I will argue that it is important to think about organizational health as a social justice project—that is, we cannot achieve healthy organizations without a sustained and well-resourced commitment to addressing systemic social inequalities, which shape both the broader society and the places we work.