Women’s Leadership Development Programs
With more women acquiring higher education than ever before, the opportunity to drive greater women’s leadership in organizations is huge. But it is rife with challenges as well, especially that of the ‘Hollow Middle’. It is well known that large numbers of women drop out at mid- management level, leaving few women to promote internally and accentuating the shortage of senior women leaders as role models.
However, there are also factors at the individual level which need to be addressed – the transition related challenge of women leaders. This can help in bringing about genuine women’s leadership development.
Challenges of developing women leaders at the mid-career level are
The ‘Hollow Middle’ – Starting at the manager level, there are significantly fewer women to promote from within and to hire from outside. So even though hiring and promotion rates improve at senior levels for women, there is still a significant catch up required.
Lack of role models – As the pyramid of women rising to leadership positions gets narrower, those at the bottom have fewer role models to look up to and be inspired by.
Inability to tap into and articulate a ‘voice’ /clarity around career aspirations at the individual lev
How our Women’s Leadership Development programs are different
Most initiatives for preparing women leaders focus largely on the functional challenges of leadership such as improving their business acumen through more sophisticated understanding of strategy, financial reporting and monitoring, negotiating and gaining influence.
However, it is our experience (including of personally having grown as women leaders) of working with women leaders, that at the crucial transition point of going from mid-management to senior leadership, emotional preparation and self-awareness are as important to address. This ensures deep and lasting leadership capability enhancement for women.
Who should join our Women’s Leadership Development Programs
Women in mid-senior roles. Our programs are suited for women who have been identified as high-potential leaders or cross-functional leaders, who are seeking to enhance their leadership skills, and demonstrate strong drive to reach the top of their organization and have a minimum 10 years of professional work experience
Most of the women leaders in our programs tend to be functionally, emotionally at a Transition point, where significant career decisions and changes in own leadership style are waiting to be made . In our conversations with several mid-management level women, some of the things we have heard about their experience and the difficulty of growing to the next level of leadership are
“I want to understand my own working style and that of others better, so that I can be more effective.”
“I want to learn to feel powerful – even though I know that I can deliver and have delivered, I still don’t demonstrate that. I want to be able to change that”
Women’s Leadership Development Programs – Interventions to strengthen the Pipeline of Women Leaders, addresses the above problems at the individual and organizational level. It is not just another diversity initiative – but a focused effort at preparing Hi-Potential women managers and leaders for the next level.
This is a pivot point in ensuring real diversity and inclusion, because the chances of leakage of female talent in organizations is also highest at the mid-career level.
Key takeaways for Women Leaders
- Clarity and energy around next steps – learn to articulate one’s Personal Purpose, uncover personal narratives, patterns & strong suits, understand barriers and dilemmas impeding your development
- Managerial and leadership skills for the next level – how to focus on Results, design & improvise interfaces, roles, structures to create a high performance culture, how to deal with Ambiguity & focus on strategic issues, Influence & stakeholder management
- Career development plan – how to animate your personal brand, identifying high impact projects which are aligned to career vision and a roadmap with milestones for such projects
Key Takeaways for the Organization
Organizations too get positively impacted through women’s leadership development. According to research by McKinsey & Co, women leaders tend to apply the leadership behaviours that improve organizational performance more often than men do, enhancing organizational health and hence sustained performance.
Such behaviours, including inspiration, participative decision making, people development and role modeling are also more relevant for solving future global challenges. Our interventions lead to the following benefits for the organization
An engaged and more effective talent pool of women leaders – women leadership program participants grow in confidence, executive presence, communication, influence and decision making skills, allowing them to deliver results more impactfully
Clear career track for growing women leaders – our programs help women leaders clarify their core strengths, skills and career direction. This enables them to chart out their career track and clearly see roles and parts of the organization where they can add value and create maximum impact.
Key takeaways for the Organization
The greatest benefit to organizations from investing in purpose driven leadership development is in equipping leaders to be able to respond to change. This is of high value, considering the turbulent times and the rapid rate of change that businesses are continuously exposed to.
The other organizational benefits are
- A culture of learning getting embedded because of more open, authentic communication and information flows
- Collaborative networks unleashed when leaders role model trust building and open communication
Methodology of our Women’s Leadership Development Programs
Our women’s leadership development programs use a powerful, experiential methodology that truly works. The programs which are based on extensive leadership development research, neuroscience, positive psychology, make use of the following :
Our leadership development programs are highly experiential and immersive. They are customized to each organization’s need, but some key parts of the process include
- Individual reflection and self-awareness through psychometric tools
- Personal Insights – experiential techniques to uncover personal narratives, strong suits and patterns. Connecting to personal purpose and meaning.
- Storytelling to learn how to use stories to articulate values, purpose and influence key stakeholders
- Personal Mastery tools and practices focused on managing Energy, Focus and Time
- 1-1 Coaching with experienced coaches
We draw upon neuroscience, experiential learning theory and adult development to focus on achieving awareness, developing lasting new practices and further enhancing existing strengths.
Tools for Self-Awareness
Finding/clarifying career and personal aspirations
Skills Gap Assessment
Identifying and plugging knowledge and skill gaps towards meeting the above aspirations
Energy Enhancing Practices
Working on energy flows and blocks and learning practices to support continuous movement towards aspirations
Peer Coaching
Deep connect and support from a cohort who are also in this journey
1-1 Coaching
Working with experienced coaches to navigate leadership and transition challenges
Tracking & Measuring Diversity
Tracking and measuring organizational factors which will enable greater real diversity and inclusion
