Edinburgh Napier Women’s Network tackled the somewhat thorny issue of constructive criticism at its first meeting of the session.
Watching Margaret Heffernan’s TED Talk, Dare to disagree, was the starting point for the lively discussion at the Merchiston Campus on 8 November.
The talk struck a chord with the small group who had assembled from across the University. Fuelled by coffee and cake, they explored the importance of giving feedback and sometimes disagreeing, and some of the barriers women in particular face in doing so.
Disagreeing with someone can be difficult, whether we’re talking on a one-to-one basis or in a group meeting. Various research and media reports suggest that women are perhaps even less likely to speak out at meetings. Yet, giving and receiving feedback is an important part of our personal development.
Sometimes we hold back out of concern that the other person might think we don’t like them if we did speak up. Heffernan takes the opposite view, arguing in her talk that it’s precisely because we do care that we should “dare to disagree”. She even suggests that we actively seek out those who think differently from us to discuss and debate issues. In this way, we can challenge one another constructively.
According to Heffernan: “When we dare to break that silence, or when we dare to see, and we create conflict, we enable ourselves and the people around us to do our very best thinking.”
Dr Sandra Cairncross, Women’s Network Sponsor, came up with the idea for the session. “I’d encourage others to watch the video and even better to start to practise some constructive conflict,” she says. “I know that some of my better ideas have emerged after defending my position to a colleague.”
Join the conversation
Sandra was pleased to see a mixture of familiar faces and new ones at the latest meeting of the Women’s Network. Sessions are open to all staff, irrespective of gender.
Interested in joining the conversation?
Put these dates in your diary:
Tuesday 19 December – Working lunch with guest speaker
Thursday 18 January – Key skills workshop
Thursday 8 March – International Women’s Day debate
Tuesday 5 June – Coffee and conversation
Sexual harassment, a subject currently hitting the headlines, will be the topic of the next discussion, on 19 December.
For more details, sign up to our mailing list, by emailing edinburghnapierwomensnetwork@napier.ac.uk