eve-olution newsletter January 2004
Contents
- Thank you to all our corporate clients
- New for 04 - Coaching Tips from Jane Campion
- Creative Female Leader Masterclass - sponsored by Business Link Herts
- Gender specific training in different cultures
- Benchmarking tool for Female Leaders
Thank you to all our Corporate Clients
We would like to thank all those visionary companies who took a leap of faith in 2003 to support women and all minority groups in working with us to better understand the needs of these groups and, perhaps more importantly, pro-actively working toward a solution.
We look forward to breaking new ground with you in 04!
New for 04 - Coaching Tips from Jane Campion
Leadership is a hot topic. Much is published about it, to the extent that some of us assume it can't mean us. 'Not me,' we say. We recognise the difference between management (getting it done) and the vision-inspiring work of a leader, but as few of us own or run the companies we work for, how does leadership fit in for us and how do we put it into practice?
We can learn what a leader looks like, faithfully model the skills, and even 'walk the talk' and probably get what we've always got. Or, we can we be more radical and bring visionary solutions for our companies; new ideas, competitive advantage, value for all stakeholders and freedom to our own working lives. The answer is nearer than you think!
Ralph Waldo Emerson said: 'What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.' Accessing our intuition is a challenge in today's corporate environment. Why would we even do it? What if we could coach our intuitive minds to be increasingly efficient in their ability to crystallise new insights and prepare us to participate in vision-building?
Part of the answer is addressed in this months coaching tip. Call now to hear Jane Campion, eve-olution's strategic coach and facilitator of the Creative Female Leader Masterclasses beginning next month. Calls are charged at the national rate. Simply dial 0870 262 3044 and listen in. Click here to see Jane's biography.
Creative Female Leader Masterclass
Last year we received frequent requests from the many women who have now passed through our open programme for a follow-on course.
After much research we have finally found the answer - Group Telephone Coaching or Masterclasses. Following on from the themes in the Creative Female Leader Programme about personal responsibility and accountability we believe this to be the perfect solution to the challenge of the 'Lonely at the Top' syndrome.
Jane Campion, who will be running the programme, comes highly recommended and coaches many leading visionaries (click here for details).
Jane will begin the pilot in February with the generous backing and support of Business Link Hertfordshire who will be looking at the results as part of their research programme into the Glass Ceiling.
We will be sharing the themes from this pilot through this newsletter, kicking off with leadership this month.
Gender Specific Training in Different Cultures
by Tracey Carr, Managing Director, eve-olution Ltd
I recently ran a gender specific development programme for a group of women working for a large Multi-National in Asia and, although I have travelled extensively in that part of the world, it was my first experience of working with Diversity in Asia.
The experience was both rewarding and insightful and I would like to share some of my learning with you and I hope this will be of particular interest to Diversity Directors across the UK and USA who are considering rolling out a Global Diversity Programmes.
The first insight is that it is difficult to roll out a 'global' diversity programme and there are many reasons for this. It is vitally important to consider the material's usefulness in relation to the cultural drivers and the underlying values and beliefs that emanate from religion and societal conditioning. For instance, goal-setting and empowerment techniques are less valued in a culture where there is a strong religious element.
I firmly believe that if you are working in Diversity the most important aspect of you as a person must be your ability to maintain an open mind. This requires a great deal of mental flexibility and a questioning approach to each new situation plus an acceptance of that view even if you strongly disagree with it.
Another important aspect to consider is the delivery style. In the West we are trained, as speakers, to facilitate the discussion and to ask questions so that the delegates come up with their own coaching solutions. We are also encouraged, as speakers, to show that we are human and perhaps a little vulnerability is a good tool for creating rapport. In the East the idea of flatter structures is less familiar and direct feedback is not the norm. Your facilitator must adapt his/her style to suit the local culture.
Secondly, any Diversity roll-out should be delivered by an expert in the subject to bring external perspectives and to share experiences and insights form other women whether they be in London or Beijing! This proves to be a challenge with a global approach as the supply of Diversity experts outside of the UK and USA is limited. This then poses the question 'are we willing to spend the time and money familiarising the 'expert' in cultural differences or training local people in Diversity?' My feeling is that if a Global Diversity initiative is to be successful then it must celebrate difference and work with that difference to bring about change.
Lastly, despite the subtle differences, women are the same all over the world and face the same challenges and barriers. Some of the feedback that we received from the women suggested that they had clearly benefited from our time together.
I would like to thank those women for sharing their experiences with me and contributing to the depth of our understanding of what is, essentially, a new movement and a new view of the world and the way it operates.
Benchmarking Tool for Female Leaders
eve-olution is now in its third year and has had the privilege of working with female leaders across the UK from many different professions and industries and has built up a fascinating fact file of information about what drives them and what doesn't.
We have now begun work on creating standard benchmarking tools for measuring competencies and providing baselines for corporations and, more importantly, women themselves.
If you would like more information about how we can work with your company to help develop an industry standard then please email us at info@eve-olution.net