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Henley Business School launches ‘Women Leading Change’ programme

Henley-on-Thames, UKLearning NewsHenley Business School

Henley Business School has launched a new programme aimed at women who wish to take the next step up into a senior leadership role, where they can create change for their own careers and within their organisations.

Starting in May 2019, Women Leading Change draws on 15 years of global research on gender diversity in leadership and is based around three principles: change, impact and resilience. 

Women bring unique skills to leadership roles that can help organisations innovate and improve their performance. However, traditional organisational cultures can restrict the positive influence that women can make. 

Women Leading Change is unlike any other women’s leadership programme in that it allows participants to set out their change agenda. Participants identify an area of change they want to focus on – whether it’s their career progression, or innovating within their team – and utilise their leadership development to achieve transformational change. Building strong relationships across different sectors, the programme creates opportunities for networking and support along with insights from experienced guest speakers. 

Dr Shaheena Janjuha-Jivraj, Programme Director for Women Leading Change and co-author of Championing Women Leaders: Beyond Sponsorship, said: “A key focus of the programme is finding a champion. A champion isn’t just a mentor or coach, but is someone – ideally within your organisation – who is willing to put their neck on the line to promote you and put you into a stretched challenge role. Our research on women in leadership across 50 different countries identified champions as a critical resource for these individuals, so the programme enables women to identify their leadership aspirations and develop an effective championing relationship to support their goals.” 

Delivered at Henley Business School’s stunning Greenlands campus on the banks of the River Thames, the 12-month programme consists of 5 one- and two-day modules interspersed with webinars, one-to-one coaching and workplace learning. 

The style for the sessions is based on ‘design thinking’, which allows the group to experiment and explore new ways of being, observing and reflecting. In addition to getting to grips with the latest thinking in leadership behaviour, participants also benefit from customised sessions that are co-developed to suit each individual cohort’s aspirations. 

Henley Business School will also deliver a free seminar on Women Leading Change at the Learning Technologies show in London, where they are exhibiting at stand H65. The seminar will take place in Theatre 8 from 13:15 – 13:45 on Thursday 14th February.