The Female Advantage Course

This is a senior management program for women executives. It better equips them with the necessary skills to confidently ascend the hierarchy while retaining their female strengths.

Originally developed to meet a client need, it addresses part of the issue that many businesses are heavily populated by successful female executives at middle-management yet seriously under-represented by them at Board/Partners/Director level.

Many women feel, when trying to reach for the top, that there is still a ‘glass-ceiling’ in effect. Using most recent research ASPI starts from the precept that the glass ceiling in large professional services firms is less a function of prejudice than it is a consequence of gender strengths and weaknesses. It is the perception and management of the latter that will allow more women to punch above their weight and through the glass ceilings that exist.

The Female Advantage Course acknowledges the gender strengths that make many women very successful compared to many men at
middle-management and potentially also superior to male managers at senior level. These include team mentality and strong process skills, better empathy and communication, their use of influence rather than power and more effective relationship building. Taking these strengths as given advantages, the course increases attendees’ skills (and feelings of confidence) in the other areas necessary to be seen to be effective candidates for the most senior positions. These include being
objective-driven, having a clear leadership frame, impact and credibility on first meetings, selling skills, conflict management in one-on-ones (especially with men), delivering difficult messages comfortably, being able to disassociate from emotions when required and managing group dynamics in high level policy discussions.

Leaving aside debate on the existence and causes of the glass ceiling, feedback on the course to date shows that it makes a significant difference.