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“Influencing Women” Workshop & Coaching Programme Objectives & Intended Audience
The Double X Factor “Influencing Women” programme is for all women in the workplace who are in leadership roles, aspire to leadership roles or would like to optimise their performance.
The AIMS of the Double X Factor Programme are: · To raise awareness about how women and men operate and are perceived differently in the workplace
· To give women a forum to explore how they can navigate some of these issues and ensure that their talents are fully utilised and
· To individually coach women to work towards realising their full potential
What will that mean for your organisation?
The programme will lead to more aware employees with a clearer route to achieving their full potential. Having employees moving towards or attaining the opportunity to utilise all their talents is good for business due to increased participation, performance and satisfaction What is the Double X Factor “Influencing Women” programme? Women and men communicate and operate in the world differently and it’s important to be aware of these differences. This can be an uncomfortable topic, but one that warrants further discussion, not just for ethical reasons, but because research indicates that gender diversity has a significant impact on organisations’ bottom lines.
When asked, women come up with the same experiences. Do any of the following sound familiar?
·Not being heard or acknowledged, only to have your idea repeated and credited to someone else later in the meeting
·Discovering that expecting to be rewarded for putting the head down and getting the job done doesn’t work
·Not having the self-belief to apply for that stretch job unless you can tick all the boxes
·Stressing over work/life balance
·Guilty feelings from neither fulfilling career potential nor spending enough quality time with children
·Feeling that you don’t get the recognition you deserve
·Feeling that assertive behaviour that’s seen as powerful in your male colleagues is seen as aggressive and unlikeable in you
Despite the fact that women are now outperforming men at third level education, they are still paid less at every level. Even though companies have implemented diversity and inclusion programmes to foster women’s full participation in leadership, representation of women at senior management is still abysmally low with women making up less than 14% of senior executives at top publicly traded companies around the world. And no, it cannot be put down to women opting out for family reasons or different aspirations. Even when considering only men and women who aspired to CEO/senior executive level and men and women with no children, a 2010 report by Catalyst indicates that women both start at a lower level and are paid on average $4,600 less than men in their first post-MBA assignment. Extrapolate that over a lifetime and the results can be stark.
The Double X Factor is a positive empowering programme to raise awareness and support women in rising above the “It shouldn’t be like this” feeling. Grounded in hard research findings, it comprises
A 1 Day Group Workshop to · Explore the differences between how women and men communicate, experience and operate in the workplace
· Explore the business case for having a more diverse workforce
· Challenge the popular stereotypes about women in the workplace and examine the evidence that demonstrates these to be incorrect
· Identify and take ownership of the things that women can do to achieve contentment and their full potential
· Identify ways to build woman friendly organisations and to get support from senior management
Optional Follow-up Individual Coaching Sessions to support women in exploring what’s important to them, what success means to them, and what they want to change or enhance in their lives. Coaching sessions will be of 1.5 hours duration each, typically every three weeks, by appointment to suit the participant.
The programme will be facilitated by coach and mentor Mary Carroll Some Frequently Asked Questions:
What is Coaching?
A coach can be likened to a personal trainer for the mind. The past decade has seen an increased recognition of the value of coaching by leading organisations. Coaching is a collaborative alliance, with the coach helping the coachee to realise their full potential by accessing their own solutions, setting goals and developing a plan of action to achieve those goals.
In an environment of unconditional support, acceptance and trust, the coach works with individuals to figure out what is important to them and what they want to do about it. The coach supports the coachee by asking the right questions, by helping them to look inwards and to identify their values and strengths, their limiting beliefs, their fears, what motivates and empowers them and then to implement personal change by developing an action plan to help them achieve what they want in life. The coach may use proven tools and techniques to draw out some of these answers and to help the client to move forward but the agenda is set by the client, as they are much more likely to buy in to and follow through on solutions of their own making. The coach continues to work with the client over a period of time in the pursuit of agreed outcomes.
How about including men in this programme? It is true that men too have some of the experiences detailed above and that real change will be extremely difficult without the support of men. Another Double X Factor Programme, “Gender Balance – A Business Opportunity” provides an opportunity for men and women to explore the benefits of Gender Balance together.
Is there any evidence that Gender Balanced organisations are more effective or profitable?
Several reports indicate a positive correlation between women at board or senior management level and success in the marketplace. It also makes sense to harness the potential of half the talent and to get the female perspective in a world where women have increasing buying power. See here for more information
Is there some information I can supply to my manager indicating the potential benefits of this programme for our organisation?
Yes. Click here for a downloadable information sheet including the business case for this programme
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