Women in Leadership
Veronica Canning introduces Shoes, a new programme aimed at inspiring Women Leaders.
Are you planning the future leadership of your company? Are you working to have more women active in that leadership? Are you planning to develop and inspire your female staff to rise up through the company to the highest levels? Are you considering how to increase retention rates of your most promising women?
If so, then you need to know about the newest initiative for the development of inspiring women leaders, the SHOES™ programme. It is supported by FAS under the Competency Development Programme, allowing participa-nts a subsidy of 60% of costs. It is accredited by the Institute of Leadership and already showing benefits for women participants.
Why a specific programme for women?
I have been working for the last ten years in training and consultancy work with senior executives and directors of organisations and companies in Ireland and have repeatedly observed highly talented women failing to achieve their true leadership potential.
This observation has been confirmed in the recent reports of The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Report which points to the low number of women setting up businesses, and the low number of women growing their business by exporting. Reasons given include lack of confidence, failure by women to realise they have something valuable to offer and their failure to see opportunities.
Women have massive purchasing power, both in the business world and in their personal capacity. Yet, while companies may recognise this, they are not responding by having suffici-ent women at the top levels in their companies.
Women volunteer in huge numbers in Ireland and are the backbone of many not-for-profit organisations yet they are not active enough in decision-making in many of these organisations.
I find the publications of the National Women’s Council of Ireland very revealing. In one they survey the leadership of Irish institutions and they show picture after picture of male dominated Boards.
In fact, the idea for the SHOES™ programme came from my work with CEOs and Boards in leadership programmes. Again and again, I found that women were not sufficiently represented at the cutting edge of decision making. This was why I decided to set up a specific programme to help build women leaders for tomorrow.
What are the seven principles of success for women leaders?
From my observations over the years I believe that women who inspire and lead others follow these seven principles for success:
• They have a BIG AUDACIOUS AIM inspiring them.
• They have a clear statement of their goals and specific steps to achieve them.
• They make and update an effective plan for dealing with obstacles.
• They have a self-development programme and invest in themselves.
• They have an ability to build a personal powerful image to match their career goals.
• They have powerful ways of communicating exactly what they mean.
• They can reach out to people by speaking effectively to groups.
These principles of success are integral to the SHOES™ programme:
Strategy: You must think strategically.
Horizon: You must have a clear purposeful horizon for your career.
Opportunity: You must have the courage to seize all opportunities that come your way.
Effective Communication: You must have an effective communication style.
Speaking in Public: You must be a competent public speaker.
What is different about the SHOES™ Programme?
Many traditional training programmes do not get to the core issues that hold women back. Many women have all the skills necessary to progress but may not realise how good they are or may be standing in their own way. Recently, I gave a series of workshops for women in Enterprise Board Networks and found that the successful women entrepren-eurs all echoed these points.
So you need a programme that starts with the specific needs of each woman participant and works closely with them to identify their particular issues.
The SHOES™ programme is much more than a regular training programme. It is a highly interactive process involving a lot of self development, in a quasi-coaching environment.
Key to success is the small number involved (6-8 women) as it allows for a significant one-on-one interaction between the programme director and the participants. It also allows each person time to contribute, raise specific issues, try out new skills, make presentations and get personalised feedback.
Underlying the programme is a confidence building approach which equips each person with a “can do” approach. Participants work between the five sessions and put into immediate use the topics covered. Specific tasks are set for each week, which form an integral part of the following module’s work.
The programme director works in an enabling and inspiring way to get participants to decide on the next ‘Big Audacious Aim’ in their business life which will take them to the next level. They then proceed through a carefully plann-ed programme to enable each participant to develop a personalised strategic plan to achieve it. Obstacles are identified and actions planned to overcome them. All participants contribute and the mutual interaction of a group of talented women is a key element of the success of the programme.
How do you decide if you need new SHOES™?
If you answer yes to the following questions you need to talk to us:
Would like to put more women at the heart of strategic decision making in your company?
Would like to achieve better gender balance at the leadership and decision making levels in your company?
Have you looked at pictures of your senior management teams or Board and found too few women?
In deciding who would benefit from attending this programme, you might consider offering it to women in your company who:
• are planning to move into a leadership position or would like to move to the next level in their career and need practical encouragement and help.
• you know could lead a group if they could only realise how good they are and get out of their own way.
• have a lot to offer but no one notices and asks them for input. You feel they are fed up being a support player and want to step up to lead.
• need to work on their communication style to make it more effective or who need help with public speaking so that they can more effectively lead.
Key individuals would be:
• women at middle management level aspiring to get to the senior level.
• women aiming to become directors.
• star team members who could be team leaders.
• women who have been too long in a particular position or grade.
• rising star who needs encouragement.
What do participants say about the SHOES™ programme?
“I enjoyed the support, candidness and the freedom to express myself that I felt from the other women participating. This programme changed my perception of how I wanted to get to where I needed to be.”
“I arrived at the course with no expectations, but within five minutes I had a feeling S.H.O.E.S was going to change my life.”
“Overall I felt the course was a turning point both professionally and personally for me.”
“This programme changed my way of thinking regarding my future in my job role/career.”
“This programme changed my outlook, it has the potential to change my life.”
“This programme changed my thought process and awakened my consciousness/sub-conscious.”
“I enjoyed the entire course and how it was tailored for women and all the pitfalls that we find ourselves in.”
“This programme changed my view of me.”
