Mary Ellen TurpelLafond

SOWK 667
Group Presentation

Our Group

Amanda Amaral
Jennifer Ellis
Jennifer (JJ) Mackwood
Gurdeep Tawana

Mary Ellen Turpel

Lafond

Turpel-Lafondsaid she took her new job

because she's interested in public service and
fair justice, not the punitive kind. She
promises to bring an aboriginal perspective to
the bench, an approach which emphasizes
restorative justice, personal healing and the
need for the entire community to address the
impact of crime. She says throwing young
aboriginal people in jail just isn't the answer.

Mary Ellen Turpel

Lafond

Early Life
Aboriginal, Muskeg Lake Cree First Nation in SK

Education
BA Carleton, LLB Osgood Hall, LLM Cambridge,
SJD Harvard

Accomplishments
1st Treaty Indian appointed to bench in SK

Multiple leadership accolades from Time

Magazine

Mary Ellen Turpel

Lafond

Current Role:
BCs 1st Representative for Children and Youth
Ministry of Children and Family Development
(MCFD)
Watchdog

Appointed in 2006
Re-appointed in 2011

Representative for Children and Youth Act

Advocate
Monitor, review, audit, publicly report
Conduct independent reviews and
investigations

Mary Ellen Turpel

Lafond

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrWakKfsg
2U

Leadership Models

Transformational
Coercive
Charismatic

Transformational
Leadership

Develop a challenging and attractive vision,

together with the employees.
Tie the vision to a strategy for its
achievement.
Develop the vision, specify and translate it to
actions.
Express confidence, decisiveness and
optimism about the vision and its
implementation.
Realize the vision through small planned steps
and small successes in the path for its full

Transformational
Leader

Idealized influence
Strong role model, determination, take
risks, empower
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond demonstrates idealized
influence by:
Being a role model for high ethical behavior

Transformational
Leader

Quotes by Mary Ellen:

The retail side of politics, she said, of promoting yourself and making yourself
sellable as a product to the public is something that is very different than where my
heart and mind is occupied on a daily basis, which is actually serving people and
making their lives practically better.
Its a little bit entertaining. Its flattering, I guess. But I am very strictly
nonpartisan.
Its a big province with lots of issues and I work in one domain, she said. Hubris
is a terrible fault that one should not give themselves over to because it will not end
well.
I have a pretty big job at the moment, she said, and I love the job.

Transformational
Leader

Intellectual stimulation
Inspire innovation, question
assumptions, fresh perspectives on old
situations
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond demonstrates Intellectual Stimulation
by:
Challenging assumptions
Taking risks
Stimulating creativity
Encouraging the Ministry to think deeply about things and
figure out better ways to execute their tasks

Transformational
Leader

Quotes by Mary Ellen

Ministry needs to stop funding that talking
People shouldnt be paid to talk about my report.
They cant possibly be sitting there saying everything is great,
lets keep doing what weve been doing. I hope they engage in
the report and it shakes them up, to really talk about, are we all
doing the right thing for kids, are we working together, do we
really have a plan, because as my report says, there is no plan.

Transformational
Leader

Inspirational motivation
Provides meaning and challenge, inspires,
motivates

Turpel-Lafond:
Solid sense of purpose and unwavering belief in the changes
that are required
Shes motivated me and Im sure all of the other 200-plus
leaders in British Columbia First Nations to take this problem
on. -Doug Kelly (First Nations Health Council)
Strong communication skills make the vision understandable,
precise, powerful and engaging (Bass & Riggio, 2006 and
Yammarino & Bass, 1990)
Followers are more invested in the vision

Transformational
Leader

Individualized consideration
Coaching, mentoring, delegating,
monitoring

Turpel-Lafond:
Promotes the rights of children, women, and
people living in poverty
Advocacy for aboriginal populations
Continued consultation with Saskatchewan
First Nations

Coercive Leadership

Aggressive, dictating leadership style

Ministry of Children and Family Development
Requires complete turnaround
Numerous disparaging reports
Effective style for Turpel-Lafonds work
Element of coerciveness needed to spur
process of reform
Not healthy for an organization over long term

Charismatic Leader

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond

Personality shines through in her media
appearances
Critical of government
Spurs action by highlighting pitfalls of MCFD
Uses actual statistics from MCFD to make her
point
Critical of system to encourage positive
changes
Critiques can be demoralizing

Charismatic
Leadership

Power of PERSONALITY
Galvanising
Negative aspect

Charismatic Leader

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond

Prestigious career
Reputation
Personality

Other Leadership
Models

Situational
Democratic

Situational
Leadership

If Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond were to utilize a

more Situational Leadership Style she would:
Adapt her leadership to the followers
willingness and ability to take responsibility for
the task
Be dependent on the environment and the
readiness of the followers

Not an ideal leadership style for a watchdog

because she needs to act regardless of the
environment or readiness of the followers.

Democratic
Leadership

If Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond would have used a more

Democratic Leadership Style she would have allowed:
The sharing of ideas and opinions; resulting in individuals
who are affected feeling included in the process of reform
Participation by various parties in the decision-making
process
Participation in the development of the recommendations
This leadership style would be less effective for a Watchdog
because they would have to share decision making power
rather than just making recommendations.

Key Learnings

All leadership types have a role and niche in social work

Leadership models are a facet of an individuals leadership
style and cannot wholly describe a leaders approach as
they cannot account for the personality factor.
As Marcus Buckinghams research states, presenting
leadership as a list of carefully defined qualities (like
strategic, analytical, and performance-oriented) no longer
holds. Instead, true leadership stems from individuality
that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed
(Sandberg, 2014, p. 91).
Mary Ellens leadership style is greatly influenced by her
past experiences and her individualism being imperfectly
expressed.

Question Period

References

Bailey, I. (2013, September 26). Influential Child Advocate Turpel-Lafond Declines NDP
Leadership Bid. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/influential-child-advocate-turpel-laf
ond-declines-ndp-leadership-bid/article14560754/#dashboard/follows/
Cherry, Kendra (n.d.) What is Democratic Leadership ? About Education Retrieved September 28,
2014 from
http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership/f/democratic-leadership.htm
Democratic Leadership. Retrieved from
http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership/f/democratic-leadership.htm
James Parker, D. L. (1998, Mar 07). Roots provide first nations perspective, but turpel-lafond is primarily an advocate
for justice. Star - Phoenix Retrieved from on October 06, 2014 http://ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/348483648?accountid=9838

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved September 28, 2014 from :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ellen_Turpel-Lafond
Representative for Children and Youth (n.d.) Mandate and Legislation Retrieved October 13 from :
https://www.rcybc.ca/about-us/mandate-and-legislation

References

Sandberg; S. (2014). Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf
Situational Leadership Theory. (n.d.) In Wikipedia Retrieved September 28, 2014 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situational_leadership_theory
Stueck, W. (2013, November 13). B.C. Child Welfare Watchdog Turns Down Aboriginal
Conference. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bc-child-welfare-watchdog-turns-do
wn-a
boriginal-conference/article15454501/
Talmazan, Y. (2013, November 13). Watch: Native Group Comes Out Swinging Against TurpelLafonts Report. Global Edmonton. Retrieved from
http://globalnews.ca/news/966186/watch-native-group-comes-out-swinging-against-turpel-l
afond
-report/
Tonvongval, S. (2013). Impact of Transformational Leadership Development
Through Organization Development Intervention of Employee Engagement and Firm
Performance: A Case Study. Social Research Reports, 25, p. 34-49.

References

Transformational Leadership. (n.d.) In Wikipedia Retrieved September 28, 2014 from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformational_leadership
Transformational Leadership. Retrieved from http://www.langston.edu/sites/default/files/basiccontent-files/TransformationalLeadership.pdf
Turpel-Lafond,Mary Ellen. "Sentencing within a Restorative Justice Paradigm: Procedural
Implications of R. v
Gladue. Criminal Law Quarterly 43 (1) (1999): 34-50.
Turpel-Lafond, Mary Ellen. "Enhancing Integrity in Aboriginal Government",ForSeven
Generations(Ottawa:
Libraxis, 1997).
Turpel-Lafond, M. (2014). 2013/14 annual report and 2014/15-2015/15 service plan. Retrieved
October 2,2014 f
romhttps://www.rcybc.ca/sites/default/files/documents/pdf/reports_publications/rcyannualreport2014_final.pdf