As I step into new leadership roles and my career advances, I’m striving to create positive social change and contribute meaningfully to my community. A course on planning and action supports my learning on how to analyze social issues, build partnerships, and mobilize resources. Gaining knowledge and skills necessary to develop strategic plans and create sustainable solutions will help equip me to tackle complex problems. In this reflective essay, I explore my fascination with course themes surrounding social mobilization, social learning, policy analysis, and social reform. I delve into why these topics resonate with me and how they intersect with my work in healthcare and activism.
As a neurophysiology technologist my top priority is patient care and I aim for optimal health outcomes by being professional, compassionate, and well informed. My lived experience as a frontline worker has given me insight into the challenges and disparities within the healthcare system. This motivated me to pursue a position on my union’s board of directors. Fortunately, I won the regional director election for the Health Sciences Association (HSA) to represent members at Vancouver Coastal Health Authority sites. As an HSA director, I recognize the importance of effective governance and collective action to reach goals consistent with the union’s values. Additionally, my involvement with HSA’s committee for equality and social action showed me the interconnectedness of healthcare with broader societal issues. In that role, I was inspired by the impact of grassroots organizations and the potential of community-driven initiatives. A core focus of the labour movement that I gravitated towards is occupational health and safety (OHS) because advocating for safer working conditions is vitally important to enhancing the quality of life of workers. Serving as the chairperson of HSA’s OHS committee and participating on the BC Federation of Labour’s (BCFED) OHS committee underscores my dedication to protecting the well-being and rights of workers. In particular, I’m passionate about pushing for legislative reforms and holding employers accountable for ensuring workplaces are free of physical and psychological hazards. Presumptive coverage for psychological injuries has been a campaign that I’ve been actively involved with, speaking to British Columbia’s Minister of Health, Minister of Labour, as well as multiple members of the legislative assembly regarding the pressing need for change.
My interest in health and safety also extends beyond workers and includes the community sphere. Obtaining my master’s degree with a dual focus in leadership and health promotion has been an enriching experience. The problems I’d like to help solve are related to the social determinants of health and accessibility of health services. My goal is to contribute to initiatives and policies that are relevant and responsive to create more equitable communities where everyone has a chance to thrive. To me, community development is a process of empowering and enhancing the capacity of actors and action groups. Collectively, a community can create positive social change and focus on actions related to healthcare, social services, education, infrastructure, and economic development to name a few. Effective community development requires active participation and consultation with relevant stakeholders. An inclusive approach is instrumental in building partnerships and implementing strategies that are in alignment with the community’s values, particularly with respect to social justice, cultural safety, and planetary health.
Successful community development occurs through organizing, coalition building, and democratic decision-making. My experience as a union activist at the local, provincial, and federal level has solidified my belief in the power of people. I’ve witnessed the force of collective mobilization and solidarity that creates agents of change. Large scale events such as the BCFED Convention and The Canadian Labour Congress are excellent examples of people coming together to explain their perspectives, identify shared goals, and leverage resources to address common issues. Participating in these events as an HSA delegate has instilled the importance of collaboration and communication. HSA is a component of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), which represents us at the federal level. I’ve had the privilege of receiving leadership training from NUPGE and expert instructors from the Harvard Trade Union Program alongside directors and executives in Canadian unions. This education helped me understand governance structure, policy analysis, labour laws, negotiation skills, and advocacy tactics. My growth has been significantly influenced by my experiences with labour leaders, as they have provided excellent mentorship and insights into navigating the intricacies of labour relations and advocacy.
My involvement in advocacy efforts stems from a commitment to ensuring everyone receives the care, understanding, and opportunities they deserve. In particular, I am passionate about de-stigmatizing mental health issues and calling for action on improved access to mental health services. My previous experience as a facilitator and board member for a non-profit mental health organization called the Kaleidoscope allowed me to identify priority areas for intervention and direct students to resources. Facilitating meetings involved creating a safe space for students to share about their lived experiences with a psychological injury, mental health diagnosis, or loved one with a psychiatric illness. I remember their stories and feel connected to my purpose when I envision my trajectory for impacting communities at a larger scale to become more accepting, resilient, and fair.
My approach to building change in communities is influenced by my past experiences and the themes and ideas taught in my master’s courses. Social learning is beneficial since it emphasizes the need for collaboration, knowledge sharing, and collective problem solving. Community engagement and activism can act as catalysts for positive social transformation and improve lateral thinking. Kestler (2023) describes self-efficacy and intentional control as the mental prerequisites for collective action. According to Bandura (1995), self-efficacy refers to “beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations” (p. 2). To cultivate the self-efficacy for collective action, individuals must alter how they see themselves and their positions within the group (Kestler, 2023). Self-awareness when extended to others creates a “plural self”, which Schmid (2014) explains as integral to social interactions and a sense of community. Plural self-awareness can be thought as unification of the social mind that creates a normative pressure for coherence between individuals’ attitudes (Schmid, 2014). Schmid (2014) argues that plural self-awareness explains the desire for consensus and the discomfort related to dissent. Desires, beliefs, hopes, and fears, are mental states that can serve as a motivational impetus for the engagement required to generate action (Kestler, 2023). Common ownership, shared perspective, and joint commitment are necessary components of plural self-awareness, which drives the formation and maintenance of a collective identity (Schmid, 2014).
Collective agents are socially integrated entities that share a common purpose and demonstrate a certain degree of consistency and coherence in pursuit of that purpose (Kestler, 2023). Commitments create shared responsibilities and obligations, which enhances motivation and strengthens trust in collaborative actions of fellow group members (Kestler, 2023). Poor social cohesion hinders collective action, especially in communities where there’s little familiarity, interaction, shared identity, reciprocity, and trust among members (Fariss et al., 2021). These conditions are particularly challenging and prevalent in larger, diverse, rapidly changing communities with a history of conflict, inequality, or marginalization (Fariss et al., 2021). These factors create barriers to effective collaboration and diminish the likelihood of successful collective endeavours (Fariss et al., 2021). Effectively mobilizing resources and people to support campaigns, movements, and initiatives are vital to success.
When leadership searches for short-term fixes and ignores long-term risks, it leads to increased disorder over time (Webb, 2020). Webb (2020) suggests using a “cone” approach instead of linear timelines when planning. As seen in figure 1, each section of the cone represents a strategic approach that encompasses the one before it (Webb, 2020). The cone approach involves focusing on near-certain events first, then gradually expanding outward to more uncertain future scenarios (Webb, 2020). Despite some uncertainty in tactics and strategies, leaders must articulate a clear vision for the distant future while remaining adaptable to changes along the way. New trends in technology, global events, social changes, and economic shifts influence strategic planning (Webb, 2020). By continually gathering data and adjusting tactics, organizations can become more flexible and responsive to external shifts (Webb, 2020).
Figure 1. A futurist’s framework for strategic planning (Webb, 2020).
Choosing appropriate actions requires logically approaching decisions. In policy analysis, the activities that guide decision-making include formulation of the problem (i.e., analyzing context, generating criteria, listing objectives, and creating hypotheses), searching for data and alternatives (i.e., examining facts, probabilities, alternatives, and costs), explanation (i.e., model building, approximations, computations, and results), and interpretation (i.e., revealing conclusions including uncertainties, incommensurables, and non-quantifiables) to ensure the suggested action is likely to advance strategic objectives (Friedmann, 1987, p. 157). Furthermore, wise decision-making should reflect community values. Being cognizant of how to weigh competing interests, use rational reasoning, and reflective judgement are necessary skills for policy analysis since it provides a critical lens to existing policies and new proposals. Cairney (2023) cautions that rationalist forms of policy analysis can contribute to the marginalization of social groups since it can restrict participation by favouring small groups of experts over larger groups of affected citizens (Cairney, 2023). Moreover, rationalists tend to prioritize scientific evidence and reason over values and emotion (Cairney, 2023). Therefore, other forms of relevant knowledge may be underappreciated. A rationalist approach often places higher importance on efficiency and productivity compared to equity, which can exacerbate social disparities (Cairney, 2023).
Studying social reform has unveiled both historical and contemporary factors that perpetuate disparities. Deepening my understanding of systemic barriers and inequities influencing healthcare access, workplace safety, and social justice will support my future goals in the realm of healthcare administration, occupational health and safety leadership, or politics.
References
Bandura, A. (1995). Exercise of Personal and Collective Efficacy in Changing Societies. In Self-
Efficacy in Changing Societies, (pp.1- 45). Cambridge University Press.
Cairney, P. (2023). The politics of policy analysis: theoretical insights on real world problems. Journal of European public policy, 30(9), 1820-1838. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2023.2221282
Fariss, B., DeMello, N., Powlen, K.A., Latimer, C.E., Masuda, Y. & Kennedy, C.M. (2021). Catalyzing success in community-based conservation. Conservation Biology, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.1973
Friedmann, J. (1987). Planning as policy analysis. In Planning in the public domain (pp. 137– 179). Princeton University Press.
Kestler, T. (2023). How imagination takes power: The motivational foundations of collective action in social movement mobilization. Historical social research, 48(3), 255-276. https://doi.org/10.127599/hsr.48.2023.33
Schmid, H.B. (2014). Plural self-awareness. Phenomenology and Cognitive Sciences, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-013-9317-z
Webb, A. (2020). How to do strategic planning like a futurist. Harvard Business Review, 58-61.
Comments