A new, hands-on leadership development program offered by the Kelley School of Business is designed to help women—and their organizations—reach their potential by building on female managers’ strengths rather than expecting them to work like men.
The Women in Leadership business certificate program, Dec. 2 – 6, 2019, brings women together with experts in leadership, negotiation, interpersonal and management communications, and coaching. They will participate in discussion, exercises, role-playing, assessment and introspection, and more on the IU Bloomington campus.
Ideal participants are women who are poised for upper management roles, who pitch and lead projects, and who need to have productive meetings that incorporate different styles of thinking.
“Our program can help organizations that say, ‘We need new perspectives; we need new ways of thinking about things; we need creativity; we need more effective decision making,’” said Carolyn Goerner, lead instructor of the program and an expert in human resource management, mentoring, and leadership.
Goerner, the ALDI, Inc. Distinguished I-Core Clinical Professor at Kelley, said most work cultures still prioritize masculine ways of thinking. This doesn’t mean that women need to model their male colleagues to get ahead, though. In fact, their employers may be better off if they do not—research has found that organizations with gender diversity in their leadership can expect to see stronger financial performances than those that do not.
“The purpose of the course is to recognize these differences so that women understand their strengths and can communicate their value in ways that can be heard,” Goerner said. “We’re not asking the women to develop new skillsets. We’re showing them what they already have and how to navigate the culture.”
