On October 10th, I had the pleasure of opening and conducting the first workshops for the Lead IT Lady Program! This program aims to empower women to take on leadership roles in IT and and supports the development of their competencies.
I decided to take part in the Lead IT, Lady! Program because, like Harvey S. Firestone, I believe that "developing and growing people's skills is the most important calling of leadership." As a leader, coach and trainer, I love sharing my experience as well as learning from and being inspired by others. Being a part of the Lead IT program, Lady! offers me both opportunities. Moreover, I can now give back to others what I learned from my mentors many years ago.
During the opening of the Program, we met a group of a dozen or so wonderful leaders—open, brave, and committed girls—who shared their expectations towards the program and introduced themselves not only verbally but also through drawings:
We continued discussing leadership, the competencies a leader should possess, and the attitudes they should adopt. The girls shared their inspirations and discussed the type of leaders they aspire to become. We emphasized that for us, a leader is not the star of the team; if someone has to call themselves a leader, they might not truly be one. A leader takes responsibility not only for the success of the project but also, and perhaps most importantly, for the people involved.
In the next part of the workshop, we delved into the broad and deep topic of talents as discovered in the Gallup test. According to this test, talent is understood as a natural pattern of thinking, feeling and acting that can be used productively. According to the theory of talents, people who use them have the opportunity to act most effectively, in harmony with themselves, to develop and build their strengths. Therefore, it was important for us to identify and harness these talents. During the discussion about talents, we explored how they manifested themselves in school and how they manifest themselves now at work; which ones we like and see most often; and which ones support us the most in our leadership roles.
At the conclusion of the workshops, our leaders sought a question that could help them become more conscious leaders—a question for which they do not need to find an immediate answer but one that may accompany them throughout the Lead IT, Lady! Program.
To all the girls and ladies, thank you once again for the meeting and the time filled with sharing, curiosity, and inspiration. I also wish you much success in becoming the leaders of your dreams!