WOMEN’S DEVELOPMENT SERIES

A comprehensive program designed specifically for women in business who wish to broaden their impact and influence and are keen to cultivate and grow their leadership abilities.

Modules include:

• Executive Presence for Women: How it differs and why that matters
• Speaking Up: The art of being heard and claiming credit
• Personal Branding: Ways to own your personal narrative
• Negotiation for Women: The essential toolkit
• Building Political Capital: Navigating career politics without compromising integrity
• Unconscious Bias Awareness in the Workplace: Preventing personal biases from becoming professional barriers

Modules are multi-format and tailored to client need.

By examining these elements through a gender-specific lens, this workshop encourages women to own, and hone, the practical skills needed to communicate confidently, effectively, and authentically.

Participants in this module will engage in discussion and exercises to:

• Define the components and characteristics of Executive Presence
• Build confidence by assessing and building one’s current state and debunking barriers to confidence
• Master the art of concise, assertive, and impactful communication
• Use body language that supports high-status communication
• Gain awareness of their ‘tonal perception’, both analog and digital

Yet, while they are now regularly on the front lines protecting the assets and revenues of their firms, some women are less willing to negotiate than their male counterparts. Fear of being seen as demanding – even aggressive – allied to a dislike of interpersonal conflict can undermine self-belief. Finally, if it does go wrong, there are statistically real concerns about backlash from colleagues.

What skills are needed to be a success? How can the ‘savvy’ and resilience to be a skilled negotiator be built? Why is there a difference between the approaches men can take? How can opportunities be maximized while avoiding repercussions that risk dampening firm and career success?

This interactive program distills proven behavioral science and skills into practical skills. It includes limited theory with discussion, role plays and real-life application. Participants explore internal blockers and learn techniques that build confidence and improve outcomes.

• Mindset and preparation: overcome self-imposed barriers taught by social norms
• Understanding the power principle and win-win vs win-lose negotiations
• Techniques and tactics for key stages of the negotiation
• Converting objection into opportunity
• Playing to strengths: collaboration and advocacy for self and others

Drivers can range from environmental issues such as team and culture, to idiosyncratic ones such as imposter syndrome. This is not just a problem for women coming up through the ranks. Senior women seeking external visibility find it persists even at the top of their fields.

This module offers participants the techniques to understand how, why, and when to speak up. The discussion delves into the discomfort linked to taking risk versus the ‘easy road’ of staying silent. It addresses having the confidence to contribute and be heard in group meetings. Finally, it equips women strategically ask for the career opportunities as talented executives with ambitions to help their firms succeed.

• Imposter syndrome and barriers to speaking up
• Benefits of speaking up for the individual, for her colleagues, and for her clients
• Proactive preparation process for structuring key interactions
• Balancing risk and reward outside the speaker’s comfort zone
• Strategically – and authentically – socializing ideas

A strategic plan for managing 360 degrees of relationships and leveraging internal and external networks are imperative for advancement.

Yet, most women dislike office politics and believe that their work should speak for itself. Frequently, this lack of agility is a development area often cited by female professionals and their managers in performance reviews.

What does political capital mean? Why is it critical to career fulfillment and success? How can women build political capital without compromising their authenticity?

This module addresses:

• The strategic network: how to plan and build a political capital base
• Insights on being visible and plugged in
• Building relationships with senior stakeholders, mentors, and sponsors
• Tactics of Influencing: how to get results more effectively
• Broadening persuasion skills

The unassailable truth is that if executives don’t define their personal brand, others will. The only conscious choice is to manage it to represent how each executive wants to be known.

The process of developing a strong personal brand brings unique challenges for female professionals. Research overwhelmingly suggests that women find it hard to self-advocate and articulate their accomplishments. And when they do, they can be subjected to the likability conundrum. Further, gender norms dictate that when women promote themselves, they’re often penalized for that behaviour.

How can women develop an authentic personal brand while navigating these obstacles? What does it mean to develop and cultivate a personal brand so that it communicates an individual’s strengths, values and unique attributes?

This course will:

• Discuss brand attributes and how they relate to the workplace
• Empower women to actively manage their narrative
• Align aspirations, skillset and personality to develop perceived reputation
• Provide frameworks to confidently articulate one’s brand and accomplishments
• Broaden the industry-specific channels that can be used to maximize visibility

Navigating unconscious bias in the workplace is arguably one of the most significant challenges facing professionals and employers today.

These challenges can be especially glaring for professionals who may be a part of a non-majority “out-group” in their environment. Further, current research reveals that the presence and influence of unconscious biases today has become even more prominent and exacerbated by the pandemic and related social isolation, wholesale change, and on-going uncertainty.

Preventing personal biases from becoming professional barriers is crucial for both workplace success and effective leadership.

This course equips women with a deeper understanding of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral biases. It shows how they can influence perceptions, shape interpretations, and drive decisions and behaviors in an organization. Attendees learn techniques for spotting and addressing biases, build skills to help avoid common pitfalls, and manage misperceptions in uncomfortable environments:

• Bias Awareness and Impact: build understanding of unconscious biases – where they come from, how they influence workplace interactions and dynamics, and the ways in which they impact women differently in the workplace.
• Workplace Dynamics and Implications: recognize common perceptual “brain filters” and how certain environments (i.e., virtual interactions) and workplace can exacerbate the presence and influence of biases.
• Recognize and Manage with Grace: learn to utilize techniques drawn from the fields of psychology and behavioural science to effectively identify biases in-play and mitigate their influence.