Module seven, nurture women's leadership. While there are formidable barriers to women's leadership, there are also simple but powerful steps your organization can take to nurture women's leadership. Developing women into leaders from within the organization is a key path to increasing women's representation in your organization. Investing in women who already in the organization demonstrate a commitment to employee development, generally, until women's development pacifically. In addition, there are steps you can take to bring more women into your organization, whom you can then invest in developing. actively recruit women.

One of the most powerful things you can do to increase women's leadership in your org Is to actively recruit women at all levels. Don't just go looking for promising women leaders, when there is a position to be field also work to recruit women at entry level and on up the ladder. When you actively recruit women, you just demonstrate that you care about having women represented in your organization. You might start by attending women's career fairs and expos in your community, or local university in colleges, or having a presence at other events that are targeted at women who might be interested in your industry, including the simple line. Women are encouraged to apply in your job announcements may also prove Effective. networking with women's professional organizations is another way to actively recruit women in your organization.

Create and encourage networking opportunities. Because one of the major barriers to women's leadership is a lack of networks. Creating and encouraging women networks is another powerful step your organization can take. consider creating a women's networking group within the organization, or several divided by function of or area. encourage women employees to join professional organizations, even subsidizing fees if possible, so that they can network with colleagues and peers. If possible, encourage and support women in attending professional conferences and events geared towards women in your industry or professional women more generally.

You can also encourage networks by introducing women in your organization to each other and encourage them to work together or serve as resources for one another. Women should be encouraged to network with their male peers, as well. Pair women with mentors and leadership. Mentor relationships are a vital part of employee development, especially developing leaders. Your organization has a mentoring program in place. This can be very vital to helping to encourage women to develop to encourage and develop women into leadership positions.

Pair women with mentors when possible, pair women with mentors who are themselves women in leadership. If this is not possible, pair women with mentors who are strong leaders who invest in them. You might also encourage women to seek out mentors beyond your organization as they seek to grow into leaders. When working with women who show leadership potential, encourage them to become mentors for other women. Create and encourage training opportunities. training opportunities are vital for developing employees of any gender into leaders.

These opportunities are even more important, however for women, creativity, training and other development opportunities geared towards women in your organization. And actively encourage women to encourage and engage training and develop activities that are geared toward employees who wish to move into leadership positions. also encourage women to go through to other training and development experiences that are geared towards women subsidize these opportunities when you can. Women can of course benefit from trainings and development opportunities that are targeted at members of both genders. Be sure that you encourage women to complete these courses and other experiences, when possible, also facilitate one on one development and growth opportunities for women in your organization, such as serving on special committees, or working on new initiatives and projects that will develop leadership skills. Case Study.

Eva was eager to take on more leadership in her organization, but found that she was consistently passed over when promotion time came. Although she worked hard With skilled at her job, she never seemed to be able to make the jump to the next level. And her annual review she asked her supervisor Jackson, what she could do to improve your chances next time. Jackson suggested that she go through the organization management intensive. Ava had never heard of the program. Jackson was surprised.

So he did some research and found that not one woman had ever completed intensive. One other woman had tried, but when Jackson acts, she said that she had felt ignored and overlooked in favor of the men in the group. Jackson worked with the training coordinator to create a session of intensive that was all women and encouraged Ava to go. She learned a great deal over the week of the course. The next time she applied for a promotion to management she received in