Leadership development
for women
We work with women to improve their performance
and achieve their career potential.
Our aim is to increase the number of women in senior roles
We have significant experience in designing and delivering bespoke workshops, executive coaching and personal profiling unashamedly addressing the development needs of women.
We work in partnership with organisations committed to developing the career and leadership potential of their female professionals.
Find out how we do itFact
Companies with a higher ratio of women in boardroom or senior leadership roles are seen to perform better.
Figures show far fewer women advance into senior roles meaning organisations lose out on the unique contribution and profitability that women can bring.
Women face unique challenges to progressing their professional and leadership careers. Most standard training and development programmes ignore this.
Our development model
Our development model is robust and credible.
We focus on developing the 4Cs of Confidence, Communication, Contribution and Credibility.
Research shows that the lack of any one of these holds women back from achieving their potential.
Our workshops, webinars, personal profiling and executive coaching are all informed by our 4C development model
Workshops
We design each workshop to be energising, engaging and future focused. The style is one of collaboration, support and challenge.
Feedback highlights how our workshops create the perfect learning environment.
We use business actors at our workshops that have a high skills development content.
See a sample of our workshops here.
Executive coaching
Coaching is a powerful and flexible development process.
Coaching is ideal if you want a 1-1 bespoke development programme. Coaching enables you to engage in a confidential, challenging, yet supportive discussion to address specific and personal development needs.
Sessions are typically 90 minutes and held every 4-6 weeks. Timings can be organised to fit in with busy schedules.
Personal profiling
Research on women’s leadership development confirms that really ‘knowing yourself’ is fundamental to raising self awareness and developing the skills to progress.
At CSW we offer personal profiling using our unique 360 Feedback Impact Profile exclusively designed for women. This 360 tool gathers feedback in relation to our 4C development model.
We also use Myers Briggs, Career Tactics and Career Drivers profiling tools.
Our 4Cs Philosophy
In our research with senior women, a number of themes have emerged as the ones most likely to hinder women's ability to move onward and upward within their organisations.
Confidence
The most prevalent theme was 'Confidence'. Why is confidence a seemingly female issue and, more importantly, why does it hold women back? Comparison with other women, self doubt and the need for approval seems to be at the heart of confidence leaving many women particularly exposed to the feelings of "Am I good enough?", "Will I be found out?", "What if he/she doesn't like me?"
We'll help you to be Confident when it matters by helping you to keep self doubt at bay, believe in what you have to offer, 'claim' what you are good at and be 'bolder and braver'.
Communication
The second theme is developing excellent 'Communication' skills. Many women sought help in being more visible as well as handling those inevitable tricky moments and difficult conversations. There is an identifiable need for women to 'find your voice', to let people know who you are, what is important to you and what you stand for.
We'll help you Communicate by giving you the confidence to raise your profile, to speak up with your authentic voice and have more impact.
Contribution
Many women do a great job but are reluctant to self promote or stand out from the crowd. The result is their 'Contribution', is overlooked, taken for granted, or unnoticed altogether. These issues are compounded for women when they are working part time or returning from maternity or other career break.
We'll help you to raise awareness of, and maximise your Contribution and more importantly let others know about it.
Credibility
Finally, though by no means least, women want to develop more influence, 'gravitas 'or 'Credibility' with others. The need to have others believe in you, follow you and trust your judgment. This all links into confidence of course, if you don't believe in yourself then how do you expect others to believe in you?
We'll help you develop the Credibility to be noticed and promoted.
Clients
Career Savvy Women work with a large range businesses and organisations. Some of the organisations we have worked with are below.
The Law Society
UKTV
Fourfront Group
Arup
Reckitt Benckiser
Bangor University
OMD International
The Career Savvy Women Team
Executive coaches, facilitators and trainers with a passion for and a proven track record in developing successful women in organisations.
Monika Barnes Founder
Read more about Monika
Jan Armstrong Senior Associate
Read more about Jan
Marianne O'Connor Senior Associate
Read more about Marianne
Roger Lloyd-Thompson Associate
Read more about RogerWhat our clients say
CSW takes time to really understand the issues and outcomes and whilst the framework is based on best practice and research the workshops are tailored and adapted accordingly. It does not feel “off the shelf” or a “sheep dip” approach.
The workshops gave women tools and techniques to support their progression, rather than using it as an opportunity to criticise male colleagues.
Running workshops for different nationalities is not easy and there is a tendency for it to be UK centric but this was definitely not the case.
Those who lead the workshop could speak from personal experience, They quickly built a rapport essential for the participants to really benefit. There was only positive feedback from everyone.
It is always a pleasure working with Career Savvy Women. Monika and her team really feel passionate about adding real value through the programme so took the time to understand our business fully. The response from our employees is always extremely positive, not only could the women relate to the topics covered, Career Savvy women taught practical ways of rising to these challenges. We are about to go in to our fifth cohort meaning that almost 60% of our female workforce have benefitted from the programme.
You care about the progression of women's careers and are invested in the development of each employee in the programme. Some training providers can feel robotic and repetitive in their approach to workshops but you and the CSW team tailor your approach to the organisation, each individual, their circumstances and aspirations.
Are you ready to move forward?
We work with companies both large and small. To find out more about the benefits and support that we can provide your organisation, please get in touch.
