Leadership Development for Women

Even the most competent women leaders sometimes need time to step away and gain clarity about their strengths, focus or direction. Our Leadership Development for Women programme challenges you to really think about your identity as a leader, consider where you need to focus your development, and to work intentionally to make it happen.

While both men and women are equally capable of truly great leadership, research shows that men and women can be very different in how they operate as leaders, promote their talents, and reach for opportunities. In this 2-day workshop, we explore ways to develop the mindset, behaviours and clarity that will help you progress as a woman in a leadership role.

The programme is built around three core dimensions of leadership development: shape, fitness and endurance. Sound a bit like a training programme for athletes? We use these ‘training’ concepts to help women become leadership athletes. This 2-day masterclass allows you to consciously ‘shape’ your leadership values, strengths and talents, update the skills, knowledge and confidence that underpin your leadership ‘fitness’, and build the ‘endurance’ you need to build your team’s culture and your leadership legacy.

Key learning outcomes from this programme:

Be informed about leadership evolution and ideas from recognised thought-leaders
Recognise the strengths and talents that you bring as a leader
Clarify your personal values and explore what really drives your purpose
Avoid common pitfalls that can typically hold women back as leaders
Consider how influence, credibility and EQ underpin the way you operate as a leader
Explore the core dimensions of high-performance teams and culture
Examine contemporary leadership ideas around motivation and change
Find ways to optimise your work-life integration, creating better balance and focus

Who should attend?

Whether you’re a new or experienced leader or aspiring to a leadership position, after attending this programme you will find yourself in a better position to be recognised for your true capabilities.

Workshop Outline:

Part 1: SHAPE – define and create your leadership identity

Leader or Manager – what’s the difference and why does it matter?
Clarifying the relationship between managing and leading, and what they mean in practice

The evolution of leadership – why do ideas about leadership keep changing?
Leadership ideas keep developing over time, but how do you know what’s still relevant?

What do we expect of our Leaders – exploring contemporary leadership thinking
Why progressive leaders never stop learning and examining new leadership insights and ideas

Leading with all you are – what is authenticity and why does it matter?
People can spot leaders who aren’t authentic a mile off, but how do you operate authentically?

How your values underpin everything you do as a Leader
When did you last really think about what you stand for, both as an individual and as a Leader?

Self-mastery and character – exploring your unique character strengths
Throughout history, great leaders have been recognised for character strengths – what are yours?

How your talents align to your leadership capability
Talents are different to strengths – what do you bring to the table?

Understanding your purpose – what do you want to achieve from your lifetime of work?
Cultivate your focus about the “big picture” of your aspirations and your purpose

Part 2: FITNESS – develop your leadership capability and confidence

Leadership blind spots – tackling behaviours that can derail you as a leader
Anticipate and avoid the common pitfalls that can damage your leadership impact

Recognising the simple things that can help or hinder your success as a female leader
What are some of the more common behaviours or habits that can be limiting for women?

Insights from powerful women leaders to inspire and focus you
Some of the most inspirational advice can come from other women who have excelled as leaders

Backing yourself – does your approach to assertiveness work for you?
Examining your relationship with assertiveness and how you can shape your own behaviour

Credibility and influence – how can you consciously create more impact?
Practical things to be mindful of when you need to make yourself more powerful

Must I be an extrovert to lead effectively? Celebrating the power of introversion
Exploring the myth that all leaders need to be high on the extroversion scale

Same situation: different meaning – are men and women really from different planets?
What part does gender play in communication, relationships, perception and power?

IQ, EQ and multiple intelligences – why leaders need more than just competence
What IS EQ anyway? And how does it impact on leadership success?

Part 3: ENDURANCE – cultivate culture, performance and your leadership legacy

What is a high-performance team and what makes some teams stronger than others?
Key characteristics that enable high performance teams to evolve and excel

How leaders strengthen teamwork and help their teams to evolve
Can teams really self-manage? What part does leadership play in team performance?

The art of ‘culturing’ – demystifying one of the greatest challenges for leaders
Key considerations for leaders when trying to build a new culture, or change an existing one

Switching to modern-day motivational paradigms and tapping into what works
Ideas around motivation have changed and there are three core concepts for leaders to understand

What do leaders need to know about change?
The connection between leading process and leading people during change

How innovation differs from change and why it dominates leadership thinking globally
Understanding how Moore’s Law, technology and disruption are changing everything

Getting the balance right – plan for your life, not just for your career
Five things you can do to start the process of designing your “big picture”

Leaving self-doubt behind and stepping out of your comfort zone
In 2017, 49.5% of world population is female – what does it take to get us to a world of 50:50 leadership?

Pamela Cronin

Facilitator, People & Teams / EA PA

Pamela’s workshops are relaxed, fun and packed with current thinking, rich discussion and engaging activity. She draws on her deep expertise in leadership, business strategy, communication, teamwork and service to provide practical advice and examples that make learning more relevant. With 22 years of experience as a learning and development specialist, Pamela is a sought-after consultant and facilitator, working with large and small clients throughout New Zealand. Pamela has a specific interest in working with women, and she has delivered leadership and communication workshops for women in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Manila. Pamela majored in Innovation and New Ventures, and Service Management as part of her MBA. She is the inaugural author of the NZ Guide to Training and Development (Brookers). Pamela lives in Wellington, New Zealand and is a keen traveller, a novice sailor, a bibliophile and a feline fanatic.