Course Outline

TAKE A SEAT AT THE TABLE IN CORPORATE AUSTRALIA

• Selling your strengths and creating your ‘authentic’ personal brand
• What is your special currency that sets you apart from your peers?
• What is your preferred leadership style and does it fit your current position?
• Overcoming the ‘imposter syndrome’ that plagues women in leadership roles
• Believe that you are the right person for the promotion
• Being confident to promote yourself to your organisation although you feel isolated with few women at the top
• Take on the sometimes hostile ‘macho’ culture with an influential communication style
• Confront the impact of hostile work environments on your wellbeing and learn some strategies for managing these pressures

OVERCOMING FEMALE SELF-LIMITING PATTERNS

• Pitch for the higher profile jobs and don’t be stuck in the back office doing work that nobody knows about
• Promote your successes – own them and make them visible to leadership
• Frame your accomplishments in terms of what the organisation values
• Don’t undersell your capabilities – be comfortable championing your worth
• Don’t self-select out of more demanding roles – women typically believe they are not ready unless they have 100% of the skills required – men will ‘give it a go’ and learn on the job
• Be resilient – take risks and learn from failures

UNDERSTANDING YOUR SOURCES OF PERSONAL POWER

• Target the C Suite (C00, CFO, CEO)
• Look for the role models to guide and advise you and keep refreshing the pool
• Learn through case studies of other women who have overcome great obstacles to succeed in a man’s world
• Network on this course with other like-minded women to share

POWER CUES: UNDERSTANDING THE MALE LEADERSHIP STYLE AND HOW TO USE THIS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

• Use the male ‘lens’ to understand how men in leadership positions see the world
• Understand ‘unconscious bias’ and its effect on female career paths to leadership
• Tackle the unintended gender bias in recruitment, promotion and appointments
• Men in leadership roles prefer working with those similar in style – convince those appointing, that your difference in style adds diversity to the role
• Analyse the differences in communication styles between male and female leaders – know how to get your ideas endorsed
• What can women learn from men and use to their advantage?
• Influence male senior management by cracking the unwritten code that creates barriers for women getting ahead
• Don’t support the perception that the female ‘collaborating’ is of less value than the male ‘promoting’ style

EXECUTIVE PRESENCE: WOMEN CREATING AND ACHIEVING AN IMAGE OF AUTHORITY

• Overcome the difficulty of deciphering Executive Presence (EP) in male dominated cultures
• Learn how to embody the winning leadership attributes
• Identify the components of executive presence in your workplace: appearance, communication and gravitas
• Develop the skills to enable you to have greater authority to command a room and project depth and confidence through your voice and interpersonal skills
• Use assertive language, personal image and body language to convey power, confidence and authority
• Be authentic and protect your personal brand

ADVANCED NEGOTIATION SKILLS FOR FEMALE LEADERS

• We are all negotiators – review – what kind of negotiator are you?
• The gender pay gap – your success as a negotiator effects your pay and retirement options
• Principles of negotiation (some basic ‘rules’)
• Winning and losing: dealing with conflict
• Position bargaining versus principled bargaining
• Strategies to become a more successful negotiator

MENTORING AND SPONSORSHIP TO INCREASE YOUR VISIBILITY

• Using mentoring as a career strategy for managing the unexpected and the potential
• Seek out mentors to modify your style with honest feedback on ‘organisational fit’
• Manage mentoring relationships as they are collaborative partnerships
• Understand the importance of the ‘sponsor effect’ and seek out effective sponsors as champions
• Understand that it is sponsors who traditionally help women get their ideas endorsed
• Cultivate sponsors who can speak up in your favour and improve your chances of being offered leadership roles
• Protect the integrity of the sponsorship relationship – their brand is connected to yours

NETWORKING FOR STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE

• Learn how to accomplish goals through networking
• Build networks with those different to you in experience, interests and background
• Strategic networking: having political intelligence (PQ) as a leadership capacity to work with multiple stakeholders
• Cultivate networks with connections to decision makers to champion your worth
• Cultivate cross geographical and cross cultural networks in a global economy

BUILDING YOUR SPHERE OF INFLUENCE

• Know what you have to offer your organisation
• Know what you want and where you are going
• Market your successes
• Profile yourself in front of the influencers
• Maintain the integrity of your personal brand
• Take charge of your future
• Devise an action plan for the next stage of your career

VALUE-ADDS

• A comprehensive manual for further reference and reading
• Templates for application in key communication contexts
• Tools to use the very next day