Why Women's Leadership Programs DON'T work (and what to do instead!)
Winitha Bonney OAM - Keynote Speaker
?? Global Keynote speaker; Facilitator; Executive Coach ?? Powering teams to lead the future today
***Disclaimer: The information on this newsletter does not substitute for professional and qualified advice and is intended to be general in nature. Always seek advice from a qualified and certified psychologist first.
We have one of the greatest gifts - and that is self-agency and autonomy. There are multiple perspectives and paradoxical truths to the below.?Exercise your agency and autonomy on what is helpful, relevant and contextual to you and throw out the rest ;)
To get different results we need to take different actions.
Women's leadership programs don't work.
If they did, we would be seeing better results or should I say, ACTUAL results.?
Yes, women need equitable access to leadership development and skill-building opportunities that will support career and leader progression—and it's not enough.?
Let's revisit the ROOT problem.?
A lack of equity and equality is not rooted in Women needing more skill.
It's rooted in systemic injustice and inequality.
Therefore, skill building and leadership development is not the answer ???? It's a band-aid solution.
Which is why you may have completed a leadership program and seen little to no impact on your career or leadership progression.
Or why you may have run a Women's leadership program in your organisation and seen little to no change in who runs the show (leadership) - aka, the Women have gone back to the same old systemic biased environment, and the same old people are in the same old leadership positions.
The participants have?"changed" but the environment around them has not.
You fail Women, every time you put them back into environments (cultures) that do not support their career and leadership progression.?
So what works instead?
Sponsorship.
No - not mentorship, SPONSORSHIP.?
Mentorship is a power-over dynamic.?
Sponsorship is a power-with dynamic.?
A mentor tells you what to do, and you take the action.?
A sponsor advocates for you in spaces?where you are not and with people you don't have access to—they use their?power and privilege to increase your visibility, networks, and career and leadership progression opportunities.?
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SPONSORS take action on your behalf?to create greater equity and equality for YOU.?
As we step into 2025, let's do things differently to get different results.
???????????????A more progressive and innovative approach that ACTUALLY gets results that matter.
Listen to the podcast or YouTube video above to learn more about why traditional Women's leadership programs don't work and why sponsorship is actually what's needed to move the proverbial needle on equity and equality for ALL Women.?
Got questions about how to run a highly effective sponsorship program in your organisation? Or want an IWD keynote that dynamically shifts how the audience thinks and feels?
Please do reach out and send me an email at hello[at]winitha.com.I'd love to help.
One life. All in.?
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Programme Director
1 个月Love this, and thats why we also collabed with a programme called Mobilise, the first of its kind in Aotearoa for men - creating a community of allies to bring everyone along this journey and not trying to fix women! Great read! :)