Why this program?

This leadership development series is the result of a discussion that we had with the CEO of a multinational company in Luxembourg, having several females in their Executive Committee. The CEO’s assessment was that each of these ladies had a tremendous potential, but they would not progress in their career and reach their full potential without working on their self-leadership. The company has a very extensive Diversity & Inclusion program, and the CEO is a direct sponsor of several initiatives. Nevertheless, these female leaders were sometimes showing lack of self-confidence and of assertiveness and they did not take their career into their own hands in a decisive manner. Diversity and Inclusion is a two-way street. In the eyes of the CEO, the company was doing half of the way, but the women needed to do the other half…

How can we explain this problem?

People from underrepresented groups (e.g. women) will often internalize the expectations of others, often based on biases. This impacts their confidence and, in some cases, results in a gradual withdrawal of effort. However, when individuals understand that they have power over how their career progresses and can make choices about how they react to the barriers they face in and outside of work, they go on to achieve great things.

The world, even today, has a much larger proportion of male leaders, and that’s the template professional women subconsciously compare their behaviour and success with.  While the end goal may be the same, the route to success often differs for men and women on the professional path.

Professional women need to understand that they have power over their own careers. They must become proactive and “activate” that power in order to reach their full potential by making smart and conscious choices about their career path and how they react to obstacles they face. They need to put in place a strategy of thriving by design.

What is the goal of this leadership training? How does it work?

The program consists in a series of eight seminars (one per month) with a dozen of female leaders from different multinational companies, from diverse sectors, in Luxembourg. Participants will share personal experiences, will brainstorm together and will take part in individual or group leadership exercises to help themselves and each other advance in their reflection. We will apply the “Chattam House” rule, and we will work to install trust and good will between participants, in order for them to feel in a protected, transparent and safe environment, where they can share their thoughts without fear. They will address with their peers the issue of proactivity in advancing one’s career, but also the topics of self-development as a means to adding value for the company. We will also work on several means of advancing professionally, including the importance of the professional relationships and of the influence within the organization, which become crucial at top corporate level.

Every participant will leave the program with an individual career plan (based on feed-back from peers, leadership exercises, group and one-to-one discussions), that she created for herself and that she will put into action in the next years. The goal is for female leaders to take their careers into their hands and thrive by design!

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