'I Have Gained Insight, Direction, Affirmation, and a Network'. Examining the Impact of the UK's First LGBTQ+ Specific Leadership Development Programme in Higher Education
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| Title: | 'I Have Gained Insight, Direction, Affirmation, and a Network'. Examining the Impact of the UK's First LGBTQ+ Specific Leadership Development Programme in Higher Education |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Catherine Lee (ORCID |
| Source: | Educational Management Administration & Leadership. 2026 54(2):602-619. |
| Availability: | SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 18 |
| Publication Date: | 2026 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | LGBTQ People, Leadership Training, Mentors, Networks, Coaching (Performance), Program Effectiveness, Higher Education, College Administration, Foreign Countries, College Faculty, Self Efficacy, Leadership Qualities |
| Geographic Terms: | United Kingdom (England) |
| DOI: | 10.1177/17411432241260946 |
| ISSN: | 1741-1432 1741-1440 |
| Abstract: | This article explores the UK's first specific lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning (LGBTQ+) leadership development programme in higher education. It assesses the programme's value for the participants, who comprised of 12 colleagues in academic and professional services roles in one English Post 92 University. The year-long programme offered leadership training, mentoring and networking to LGBTQ+ staff in aspiring to leadership roles. It adopted Whitmore's GROW coaching model and promoted authenticity in the workplace and authentic leadership. The article contends that leadership development initiatives for those with protected characteristics are important in an evolving higher education landscape which is ever more complex. Despite tensions with the concept of authenticity, the article is rooted in a post-structuralist theoretical framework that rejects essentialist views of gender and sexuality. Instead, it aligns with a Butlerian paradigm, where gender and sexual identities are diverse, fragmented and perpetually evolving in relation to others and within systems of power and knowledge. The leadership programme did not assume that LGBTQ+ individuals are intrinsically different from their heterosexual and cisgender peers. However, it developed in its participants, the insight to see that their distinct life experiences as an LGBTQ+ person in a hetero- and cisnormative society had given them a distinct set of attributes conducive to effective and authentic leadership. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1499413 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | This article explores the UK's first specific lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning (LGBTQ+) leadership development programme in higher education. It assesses the programme's value for the participants, who comprised of 12 colleagues in academic and professional services roles in one English Post 92 University. The year-long programme offered leadership training, mentoring and networking to LGBTQ+ staff in aspiring to leadership roles. It adopted Whitmore's GROW coaching model and promoted authenticity in the workplace and authentic leadership. The article contends that leadership development initiatives for those with protected characteristics are important in an evolving higher education landscape which is ever more complex. Despite tensions with the concept of authenticity, the article is rooted in a post-structuralist theoretical framework that rejects essentialist views of gender and sexuality. Instead, it aligns with a Butlerian paradigm, where gender and sexual identities are diverse, fragmented and perpetually evolving in relation to others and within systems of power and knowledge. The leadership programme did not assume that LGBTQ+ individuals are intrinsically different from their heterosexual and cisgender peers. However, it developed in its participants, the insight to see that their distinct life experiences as an LGBTQ+ person in a hetero- and cisnormative society had given them a distinct set of attributes conducive to effective and authentic leadership. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1741-1432 1741-1440 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/17411432241260946 |
