{"id":108067,"date":"2022-02-25T05:52:20","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T13:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globaltrademag.com\/?p=108067"},"modified":"2022-02-24T06:54:57","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T14:54:57","slug":"how-to-build-leadership-programs-for-women-in-your-organization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globaltrademag.com\/how-to-build-leadership-programs-for-women-in-your-organization\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Build Leadership Programs For Women In Your Organization"},"content":{"rendered":"
The percentage of women who hold leadership roles in business<\/a>, higher education and government\u00a0grows<\/a>\u00a0with each passing year \u2013 sometimes dramatically, sometimes incrementally.<\/p>\n But every gain holds the promise of more gains, as young girls see opportunities previous generations didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cEach of us stands on the shoulders of all the women in our chosen professions who have come before us, who have blazed a trail,\u201d says Barbara Bell (www.captainbarbarabell.com<\/a>), a professor of leadership at Vanderbilt University and author of\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Flight Lessons: Navigating Through Life\u2019s Turbulence and Learning to Fly High<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cOthers have done the hard work, and we must too. Throughout my career, I learned many deepening skills of leadership and was privileged with many opportunities to lead.\u201d<\/p>\n But Bell,\u00a0one of the first women to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy and the Naval Test Pilot School, also says that businesses and other organizations can do a much better job of helping women reach their leadership potential. And March, which is Women\u2019s History Month, is as good a time as any to get started.<\/p>\n She says some ways organizations can develop better leadership programs for women include:<\/p>\n Provide mentors or a support system.<\/strong>\u00a0Certainly, a mentor can guide and advise those emerging leaders in an organization, which is valuable in and of itself, Bell says. \u201cBut it goes beyond just having someone who offers guidance,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s important as women are developing their leadership skills to have someone in their corner.\u201d Bell says that when she was an instructor at Navy Test Pilot School, she worked for a Navy department head, Commander Dave Kennedy, and a Marine Corps Commanding Officer, Lt. Col. Bob Price, who did that for her. \u201cBoth of these leaders supported my work and, more broadly, helped expand the roles of women in military aviation,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Allow them time to grow.<\/strong> Bell says that, too often, people think they need to have everything figured out before they take the risk of heading down a new path or beginning a new opportunity. But organizations can help women grow as leaders if they free them of this idea. \u201cWomen need to understand that, as you become more senior in your leadership, you should let go of the notion that you have to know everything,\u201d she says. \u201cThey also should understand that as their leadership responsibilities grow and become increasingly more complex, they should become comfortable being more of a generalist. One way of growing in leadership is to rely on those who work for you as the specialists and lead them in the direction you want them to go.\u201d<\/p>\n Encourage, don\u2019t discourage.<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s easy to point out obstacles someone faces and to express doubts about their abilities to overcome those obstacles, Bell says. Avoid that temptation. She recalls a career manager in the Navy who suggested her record wasn\u2019t strong enough to get into Test Pilot School. \u201cFortunately, I didn\u2019t let him dissuade me,\u201d she says. \u201cBy that point in my career, I was so used to the naysayers that I was not fazed.\u201d But it did affect her approach when she became a career manager later herself. She vowed never to discourage, but only to encourage those she worked with.<\/p>\n Understand that women leaders can be role models for others in the organization.<\/strong>\u00a0In flight school, Bell became a role model almost by default because she stood out as the only woman in her Naval Flight Officer class. \u201cMy calling to leadership included the privilege to be the example,\u201d she says. \u201cOther women who assume leadership roles have the same opportunity and privilege.\u201d And having role models who inspire others is good for any organization.<\/p>\n \u201cFor anyone, rising to the top takes hard work, endurance and persistence,\u201d Bell says. \u201cYou have to be in it for the long haul. But whenever we create forward motion in our lives, we generate the lift that will take us to new heights.\u201d<\/p>\n ____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Barbara Bell (www.captainbarbarabell.com<\/a>), author of\u00a0<\/strong>Flight Lessons: Navigating Through Life\u2019s Turbulence and Learning to Fly High,\u00a0was one of the first women to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. Now she works to empower the next generation of female leaders. In 1992, Bell and fellow aviators went to Capitol Hill to help successfully repeal the combat exclusions laws, opening up combat aircraft and ships to women in the military. Bell holds a B.S. in systems engineering from the United States Naval Academy, an M.S. in astronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School, an M.A. in theology from Marylhurst University, and a doctorate in education from Vanderbilt University.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The percentage of women who hold leadership roles in business, higher education and government\u00a0grows\u00a0with each passing year \u2013 sometimes dramatically,… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1849,"featured_media":108071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3987,1102,3850],"tags":[5429,5520,10897,6673,423,10896,4570],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n