Lynda Byron, currently President of Canoeing Ireland, works as a Leadership Specialist and Coach. She has developed teams and individuals in a range of industries across Ireland and globally for many years. Paddling since 2008, she is now a Kayak and Canoe Instructor and enjoys paddling open Canadian Canoes and Canoe Camping expeditions. She was the Chair of Wild Water Kayak Club for 3 years as well as a Board member of Canoeing Ireland before being Elected President in 2021.
Canoeing has been a male-dominated sport over the years. Although plenty of women sign up for beginner’s courses, not so many continue and fewer again become instructors and leaders within their clubs or at Discipline or Board levels. This is unfortunate as women have a lot to offer. When I joined the Board at Canoeing Ireland 4 years ago, there was only one other female Board member. That has changed dramatically over the past few years. We now have five, which has made our board gender balanced for the first time. The Board meetings have changed too. They are more open, there are more discussions about things that matter to the members, there are more decisions made about women’s issues… and the meetings are better attended and more fun. This tends to happen when there is more diversity in any setting, in the corporate world as well as in the sporting world. It benefits everyone. Women, by their nature, are more collegial, more consensus driven and have a greater wish to find common ground with others. These traits can ease the way to better relationships, more collaboration between groups, a more harmonious environment and, as a result, better buy-in and improved decision-making.
But how do we get this diversity in our leadership? It seems that women don’t generally put their hands up for the leadership positions unless they’re asked to, supported, or encouraged. Personally, I was asked to run for Chair of Wild Water Kayak Club, also for Board member and was encouraged to run for President. I’m not sure if I would have been so keen otherwise. This is where women differ a bit from men. Once we feel we have someone backing us, we’re happy to take on the challenge. So with the benefits we can gain for everyone in having a more gender-diverse leadership, we may need to consider how we can encourage others to step up.
We developed the ‘Bridge the Gap’ programme to help to support women in paddlesports. Over the past 4 years, with funding from Sport Ireland, we have developed and delivered four Leadership Programmes for Ambassadors. These programmes have enabled women to work together on many projects as well as given them the leadership skills, the confidence and encouragement to take on more leadership roles. We need to continue to find ways to support women to take these steps.
