Women Rising, an initiative supported by Microsoft, is a global holistic personal and professional development journey, described by women around the world as ‘life changing’.
As part of Advania’s goal of recognising and nurturing talent and embedding a culture of diversity and inclusion among our workforce, Women Rising has been introduced to our UK workforce, offering the chance to learn from business leaders and network with professional trailblazers.
In this blog, Aman Sangha, Advania’s Senior Marketing Executive, reflects on her experiences of the programme.
A global community for women
I first heard of Women Rising in 2023, when a colleague mentioned that she was taking part. Although she only spoke about the programme at a fairly superficial level, she kept saying how empowering it was – a word that piqued my interest immediately.
For women to reach their full potential in the workplace and to carve out an equal footing in professional settings, a breakthrough is required that rises women up and lets us thrive.
With more than 7,000 women having taken part in the programme over the last few years, Women Rising has been flying the flag for female professional advocacy for some time. Being given the opportunity to join this select group and develop my personal and professional self was in some ways a daunting challenge, but one I approached with enthusiasm.
No matter your role, the industry you work in or your level of seniority, Women Rising is open to all women, and delivers outcomes based on a four-month virtual schedule. Aimed at both individuals and organisations, it’s an opportunity to unlock purpose and confidence within yourself and your people, allowing women to show up with confidence, authority and leadership. It’s a community that supports each other every day.
Crucially, the Women Rising concept is not limited to only female professionals. As a strategy to empower women, it calls upon everyone to inculcate a culture of equality and opportunity for everyone. That’s why the programme for male colleagues – Male Allies – is so crucial in supporting men who want to enhance their leadership and be a more effective ally to the women around them.
Rising through the ranks
I had noticed that a number of women in Advania – particularly women in more senior positions than myself – were enrolled on the programme and all had nothing but good things to say about it. Although I didn’t know much about it, the fact that these women, who I considered to be role models, were taking part was enough to make me inquisitive and hungry for that same opportunity.
I didn’t know I was being considered for a place on the course until I received a notification telling me I had been nominated. Along with the excitement that I felt, what I remember most clearly was a real sense of pride. Knowing that someone felt I was good enough and deserving of a place was incredibly validating and encouraging.
Empowering women through a proven curriculum
At the outset, I discovered that the programme was broken up into eight separate modules. The time you take to complete the course is largely up to you, but the individual modules have been crafted to each have a focus on a different skill. With the aim of providing a holistic set of topics to empower its participants, the programme is split into:
- Vision and purpose
- Radical confidence
- Career evolution
- Authentic leadership
- Influence and impact
- Intentional wellbeing
- Grit and grace
- Leading change
These core elements each represent a cornerstone of the most impactful areas for women’s careers, leadership and life success, as discovered through decades of research by the Women Rising team.
From an initial session of setting the scene with vision and purpose, laying out the meaning behind the programme and a vision for the participants, the sessions unfold into a path that offers a journey through career mastery, leadership mindsets, lessons in building resilience and mindfulness – all with a focus on inclusivity and leading change.
It’s no secret that oftentimes women in the workplace can feel less confident than their male counterparts, and that fear of being labelled emotional or irrational can play a large part in women not speaking up. Women Rising puts real emphasis on why this isn’t the case, and how women can use their innate abilities and emotional intelligence in professional settings.
And there’s no doubting the success of the programme. According to Women Rising’s figures, 97% of participants feel better equipped to take confident action at work, 98% feel like a more authentic leader, and 93% have greater clarity of their vision and purpose at work.
Women Rising: learning through experience
For myself, the programme has clarified what some of my greatest strengths truly are – and even more importantly how to use them. On reflection, there have been situations in the past when I haven’t always spoken up with authenticity and confidence, but being aware of how to play to my strengths and how to approach situations differently is a huge value I have gained from the programme.
Here are just a few of the crucial lessons that Women Rising has delivered for me:
Stop stalling, take action
When faced with an opportunity or a chance to ‘have a go’, a little voice in your head can stop you taking action. This is particularly true in the ways that women can talk themselves out of opportunities. The stories we tell ourselves – that failure is most likely and that the chance in front of you isn’t really for you – can be silenced with the right attitude and encouragement.
Lead from the front
Women Rising has helped me understand and analyse the personality traits of leaders – both current and previous – that I would like to emulate. Just as importantly, it has helped me analyse which people in positions of power I feel could have been better. Good leaders inspire people, great leaders create leaders – and those are the people I want to associate with.
Continuous growth and endless desire
I can now delineate the differences between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset, both in myself and in others. For women looking to rise and succeed, it’s crucial to understand that you will always be at the start of a new career journey and be facing new opportunities if you have a continuous growth mindset.
Build trust and confidence with executive presence
Commanding attention and influencing others in a sensitive and inclusive way is a difficult skill to perfect. By understanding the importance of your executive presence, discovering how to master it and learning how it can unlock your abilities, women, in particular, can become more effective, natural leaders.
Using Women Rising training in the real world
Perhaps the greatest takeaway that I have so far benefited from has been the ability to learn more about my own emotions and responses. Through a mixture of the fifth, sixth and seventh modules (Influence and Impact, Intentional Wellbeing, Grit and Grace), I have begun to discover far more about myself than I was previously aware of.
Being able to understand how different situations can be triggering, and how those triggers can cause me to react, has allowed me to map out a much clearer roadmap to the professional I want to be.
The programme lays out several workplace-based example interactions which, in response to external stimuli, present women as feeling required to protect themselves. This unfortunate but all-too-common scenario usually leads to one of four possible outcomes: pretending, pleasing, perfecting, or performing.
By understanding the nature of each of these four responses and why our emotions can cause us to gravitate to one of them in particular, we are able to compartmentalise, improve our decision-making and better engage with colleagues and peers for more equitable and fair outcomes.
Similarly, learning about different conflict styles has been a real eye opener. All of us have experienced conflict at one time or another; each of us will have engaged in different conflict styles, perhaps even without realising it. Understanding the differences between the nature of a personal and professional conflict, and developing the crucial skills required to navigate these challenging moments, are key goals for anyone with serious leadership ambitions.
I am already noticing patterns around me, in decision-making, colleague behaviour, workplace relationships and daily interactions. Beyond my own personal development, being able to take note of other people’s conflict styles, personality traits and their executive presence can make me a better colleague to my peers and a better representative for our business.
One personal story I can proudly relate is having witnessed a recent conversation between colleagues. For the sake of this context, we can call it a conflict – in reality it was the same vigorous debate and sharing of opinions that all businesses generate.
However, with the training that Women Rising has provided and the knowledge it has instilled, I was quickly able to ascertain that this conversation was one in which every person was approaching with what we refer to in conflict resolution as a competitive attitude. With numerous points of view and competing priorities, there was little common ground being reached and a sense of being stuck in a vicious cycle of opinions.
With the confidence gained from the programme, I was able to establish a far more equitable and inclusive conflict style, steering the conversation from a competitive – even combative – style, to a far more collaborative position.
At its most fundamental level, Women Rising has given me the language to be able to communicate better, especially regarding interpersonal relationships and leadership skills. I had never considered different communication styles, methods of conflict resolution or personality traits before, but now I can have a conversation and know I’m explaining myself properly, with confidence, in an authentic manner. Nothing is more valuable than that.
How Advania helps women rise
Taking part in Women Rising has been an amazing experience, something that has challenged me to step out of my comfort zone and apply new-found knowledge to real-world problems.
It’s an incredibly rewarding and enriching programme that helps you develop not just as a professional, but as a human being as well. Investing in this critical opportunity for women demonstrates that Advania really does walk the walk when it comes to inclusivity and development.
It is refreshing, empowering and encouraging to work for a company that cares about its people, its clients and its impact on the world. I’m very glad to be a part of it.
