The Advancing Women Leaders Series is designed to empower women professionals with the strategies needed to confidently advance their careers. Each of the 12 sessions will be highly interactive and incorporate self-assessment exercises, strategic and guided learning, and small group discussions. The goal is for each participant to develop strategies to overcome challenges faced in the workplace and define a path for career advancement. All sessions are 1-hour in length and will be conducted virtually.
Who should Attend:
This program focuses not only on the critical elements of leadership development but also addresses the unique challenges facing women as they strive to achieve their professional goals. It is designed for women with a minimum of 3-5 years of work experience who would like to advance to higher levels of leadership more confidently and strategically.
The series sessions in this program are listed below:
Session 1: Introduction
The first session begins with an opportunity for participants to introduce themselves to one another. To create a safe, engaging space for women to share openly with each other, it’s important to establish trust and connection. This session also includes the establishment of ground rules.
Session 2: Overview
This session orients participants to the leadership competency by framing, at a high-level, each of the topics. Participants are invited to share their insights/questions, as well as their highest priority focus areas, as defined in their self-assessments.
Session 3: Confidence
Because of the prevalence of Impostor Syndrome across women in traditionally male-dominated fields, confidence serves as the foundational pillar upon which all others are built. In this session, participants explore common triggers of confidence issues and how to effectively manage self-doubt. Women are provided with specific, actionable strategies to build their short and long-term confidence.
Session 4: Career Goals
The career goals session focuses on empowering women to clarify their short and long-term leadership goals. Exercises encourage them to define a leadership vision that reflects their core values and strengths. Participants are also encouraged to identify resources that can help them achieve their goals.
Session 5: Strategic Relationships
This session addresses common challenges that undermine women’s ability to develop strategic relationships across their organizations, including self-doubt and limited access. We explore the importance of a diverse network of relationships and identify key strategies to expand our networks internally and externally.
Session 6: Communication
This session focuses on the need to understand our own communication styles, as well as those around us. Using the Deloitte Business Chemistry Profiles, participants are asked to examine their own styles and identify the styles of key stakeholders. We discuss key strategies for connecting with other styles, as well as tips for avoiding common communication traps facing women (i.e. minimizing language, unnecessary detail, etc.).
Session 7: Influence
This session bridges the strategic relationships and communication sessions with a focus on navigating organizational politics. We explore the most effective ways to position ideas, gain support and minimize conflict. Participants are encouraged to define opportunities to build a stronger voice and strategically seek to build influence.
Session 8: Visibility
This session recognizes the limiting beliefs and structural barriers that undermine women’s ability to self-promote and raise their visibility. Here we discuss strategies to reframe the idea that our work should speak for itself and engage in proactive efforts to educate others on our strengths and values.
Session 9: Strategic Mindset
This session facilitates the transition from expert to leader. Whereas individual contributors demonstrate value through tactical work, leaders must engage in discussions and decision-making that transcend specific tasks and connect to larger business goals. Here participants learn to think about their work more strategically and apply it to larger initiatives.
Session 10: Time Management
Building on the strategic mindset session, this session focuses on prioritizing and delegating work to ensure that we’re engaging in the highest value activity. It also teaches the importance of boundary setting and saying no, which is generally more difficult for women. We also discuss the holistic importance of creating time for personal goals and self-care.
Session 11: Wrap Up
This session brings together the previous sessions and encourages participants to reflect on their progress. Participants are encouraged to create an action plan for how to move forward when the program concludes, including specific action steps and accountability measures.
Session 12: Celebration
This session is an opportunity for the women to celebrate their successes and share key wins. We create a space for women to practice self-promotion by encouraging them to speak candidly about their journey and accomplishments. Finally, this session offers an opportunity to formally say goodbye and determine how to stay connected in the future.
About Kim Meninger
As a certified executive and leadership development coach, Kim empowers individuals and organizations to reach their full leadership potential. Kim has coached hundreds of clients and has presented on career advancement and leadership topics to corporate, non-profit and academic audiences.
Prior to formalizing her leadership coaching expertise, Kim held a variety of cross-functional leadership roles in the high-tech industry where she experienced first-hand the unique challenges and opportunities facing women in the workplace. She is especially passionate about helping women and traditionally marginalized groups to develop their confidence, visibility and influence in order to maximize their impact and advance to higher levels of leadership.
Kim has a BA in psychology and an MBA from Boston College. She is an ICF Associate Certified Coach and CCE Board Certified Coach with certifications in career, executive and leadership development coaching. Kim also holds a certificate in Executive Leadership from Cornell University. In addition to coaching, Kim serves on the leadership teams of a number of women’s empowerment groups. She lives in Groton, MA with her husband and two young boys.