Effective Women on the Board

First published in I0D News, May/June 2014

Early in February an impressive line up of directors and senior partners from the public, legal, accountancy and arts sectors came together for the I0D workshop on How to be effective as a woman on the board or senior leadership team. Their aim was to figure out how to be even more effective than they already were! In the company of such high calibre women a presenter could be excused for wanting to take a class from them. It is therefore no accident that mutual support is at the heart of the RECIPRO programme for senior women, developed and delivered by Rapid Change Consultancy. 

RECIPRO workshops are research based, woven into the fabric of each programme without explicitly naming it. This workshop was different. The day started, uncharacteristically, with a ‘teaching’ session. The participants were on the edge of their chairs as they listened to the latest research - about second generation gender bias - and absorbed how it impacted on them. What was surprising was that although the participants hadn’t heard about it before,it really rang true for them.

When the participants were told how strategies exist to help them navigate their way through all this, there were visible sighs of relief. So the following session focused on how to manage second generation ender bias - which you might be surprised to learn, starts with you and your leadership purpose. Other aspects such as the importance of sponsorship were explored. The afternoon sessions focused on managing relationships more strategically and covered the organisational and political landscapes.

Sharing

As always, discussion and interaction was a crucial key element. Sharing experiences and giving advice and support another. One of the participants said she would recommend the course to anyone in senior management or above to enhance their understanding of how to effect strategic leadership in an organisation.

Personally, I find it really inspiring to work with motivated, driven and successful women who want to be even more successful. This group, like previous attendees at the IoD workshops, have vowed to stay together as a group for a year-long programme.

Effective women: (back) Laura Jackson, Anne Dargan, Anne McReynolds, Jenny Ebbage, Dorcas Crawford, (front)Beveryley Harrison (sitting) and Pauline PootsWorking with other successful women keeps us on our tiptoes. They want to be challenged, given new things to think about so they can raise their game. The year ahead is set to be inspiring and fun!

For anyone who was disappointed to miss this workshop, it will be repeated in the autumn. Look out for details on @iodni, LinkedIn, online iodni.com and in future issues of IoD Northern Ireland News.

Anne Dargan is an organisational development consultant and co-founder of RECIPRO.