Leadership Journeys

If you want to build stronger women leaders who will be key pipeline players now and in the future, then enrolling them be at the top of your priority list.

Better organizational performance and stronger financial performance has been linked to having more women leaders in senior roles. A McKinsey & Company report finds that ‘making gender diversity a significant goal is well worth the investment.’ Research shows the benefits of such an investment includes improved employee motivation and efficiency, as well as attracting and retaining highly talented people.

Three women leaders join together for a full year as a learning Peer Pod. The special design allows for these women to learn in a collaborative environment with others who become friends, mentors and key business partners. One reason the Pods are so successful is because the women have each other to rely on; others who truly understand the environmental and cultural factors at play.

The Peer Pod is expertly guided through various experiences including 360 feedback, learning modules, and field assignments.  These women work on strengthening their leadership ability directly in their  own work environment.  No classroom training. No hypothetical scenarios. Only real teams with real assignments and real accountability. Each leader has personal, one-on-one coaching for the full year, directly with Dawn Frail.

The ideal candidate for the IWLP™ is a woman who is in a leadership position and has direct responsibility for staff. There is an interview process to determine if your candidate leader is right for the program and if the program is right for her. It is important to understand that there is an additional work load on top of daily business commitments. While all work is related to her team, completion of field assignments is critical to the success of the program.

Topics covered in the learning sessions cover all fundamental leadership skills from creating a vision and mission for the team, to learning the principles of execution that ensure strategies are successful. Several assessment tools are included that would cost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to implement on their own. The field assignments are based on the learning sessions, which cover the following topics:

• Vision and mission setting
• Business ethics and values
• Trust and loyalty
• Interpersonal dynamics
• Strategic relationships
• Individual performance management
• Building high-performing teams
• Effective communication
• Giving and receiving feedback
• Change and transition management
• Strategic execution

All learning sessions take place on site at the leaders’ organization*.

Peer Pods meet together for learning sessions and for some special events.  Feedback, coaching and mentoring takes place individually with each leader, and can be either by email or by telephone.

The schedule is established at the beginning of the program and is determined collaboratively by the Peer Pod, the Facilitator, and will take into consideration the needs of the business.  The Peer Pod learning sessions are expected to take a high priority on the calendar of each leader.

*on-site sessions are restricted to the Greater Toronto Area, otherwise special alternate arrangements may be made