A Time to Reflect on Contributions by Women
This year on March 8, we celebrated International Women’s Day (IWD). IWD was a day to recognize the contributions that women have made to make our world a better place.
As a woman and in particular, a first-generation Chinese-Canadian woman, I reflect on the sacrifices that my mother and all women in current and past generations have made in immigrating to Canada with their hopes and dreams. I think about how hard they worked so that I could enjoy the career and life I live today.
I also think about my colleagues and friends in our continued journey together towards gender equality.
Gender equality is when everyone experiences equal rights, opportunities and treatment regardless of their gender. This means that all individuals of all genders (and no matter what gender identity they have) are able to access the same resources, supports, benefits and opportunities without discrimination or bias.
At Yee Hong, 81% of our colleagues identify as women. Supporting women and gender equality is one aspect of creating an equitable, diverse and inclusive environment, but not the only one.
Diversity refers to the range of visible and invisible qualities, experiences and identities that shape who we are, how we think, and how we engage with each other. In addition to gender, other diverse qualities can include race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, abilities, socio-economic status, religious or spiritual beliefs, political ideologies, personality and perspectives.
That said, celebrating and empowering women is essential because despite some improvements, women are still underrepresented in the workplace and around the world – in voice and decision-making, in leadership positions, and in the way women are paid for equal work.
When we acknowledge, recognize and support women, we all benefit from their contributions to society.
Everyone benefits when there is respect and equal partnership between women, men and everyone with diverse gender identities and expressions, including people who identify as non-binary, transgender, agender, Two-Spirit and others.
Human-Centred Leadership
On IWD, I was honoured to participate in a panel discussion hosted by the York Region Public Health alongside three other incredible women leaders: Julia Roitenberg, Nicole Welch and Hamida Bhimani.
Our Public Health colleagues work tirelessly to improve the health of people and communities across our province and I have deep respect for their important work.
This panel discussion focused on women leaders’ experiences and Human-Centred Leadership. Participating in this panel allowed me to reflect on how I lead using the Human-Centred Leadership model:
As a leader, or in any role, it’s important to draw on an inner source of meaning, connect with the people around you, and manage your energy.
1. Finding Meaning:
One of the dimensions of Human-Centred Leadership as described in a McKinsey Quarterly article and a McLean Institute of Coaching article is meaning. As a leader, or in any role at Yee Hong, it is important to draw on a deep well of meaning.
What are you doing at Yee Hong? What contribution are you making? What gives you contentment even when you have challenges?
Finding and drawing on this inner source of meaning helps us to overcome fear and develop courage, it helps us focus on what’s important and manage our priorities and workload, and it helps us have self-compassion even when we are tired and facing challenges. Knowing why we are at Yee Hong inspires us to be progressive leaders, collaborative colleagues, and provide excellent care to our residents, clients and family members.
2. Connecting and Engaging:
Another dimension of Human-Centred Leadership is to connect and engage each person as an individual. While there are more than 1,300 people working at Yee Hong and I still have yet to meet many, I think about how special each person is. When I have a chance to meet and work with them, I strive to create a 1:1 connection – to understand our similarities and differences, to listen and learn how we can work together to make Yee Hong even stronger than it already is.
3. Managing Energy:
A final dimension of the Human-Centred Leadership Model I will mention is managing energy. We all know how challenging it is right now for not only Yee Hong, but the entire health and social services sector, to recruit qualified staff. The pandemic has and continues to impact the well-being our leaders and staff.
While Yee Hong has and continues to provide excellent care, it is still difficult to hire staff to ease the workload and overtime that our people have carried for so long. We also know that staff want to feel valued and be rewarded for their great work. It is my mission as CEO to continue working on these areas and to let our employees know that we are addressing these issues as best as we can.
In the meantime, managing energy is what will sustain each of us, the teams we manage and our entire organization. We need to actively practice self-care by staying physically active, taking care of our emotional and mental well-being, and embracing spirituality. Work-life flexibility means taking scheduled breaks and vacations, and taking proactive rest so that you have the energy to continue to do great work. We all need to recharge our batteries regularly.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Yee Hong
Underpinning our celebration of women and all our colleagues is Yee Hong’s commitment to advancing equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI).
An initial cross-divisional team at Yee Hong has done some great work in this area, including: what EDI means to us, why we should care about EDI, and how we each foster EDI at Yee Hong. For example, how do we interact with people who are different from ourselves, and even those who may disagree with us?
This spring we will be launching a group of “Yee Hong Ambassadors” from across all teams and levels of staff at Yee Hong who will help us permeate a culture of EDI and wellness at Yee Hong. Please stay tuned for how to get involved in this important initiative!
I’d like to conclude by reinforcing our Yee Hong values: “We Care – We Collaborate – We Commit.”
We live these values by caring for each other, no matter our gender, age, ability, ethnicity, and diversity of thoughts and opinions. We work together by embracing different ideas and opinions to inform decision-making. We commit to listening, learning and growing ourselves and our shared understanding of each other and those we support. Each of us maintaining these values builds the bedrock for diverse generations of “Yee Hongers” to come.