Leadership Skills for Women Curriculum Outline
Leadership Skills for Women Simulation
Overview/Description
While women have entered and successfully adapted to most industries, including traditionally male-dominated fields, they have yet to obtain equal representation in the upper ranks. There is no doubt that women are capable of being successful managers and executives, and many women are discovering that training is the real key to getting beyond the glass ceiling. Women need to learn the unwritten rules of the business game and manipulate them to suit their needs. Thats not to say the rules are different for men and women; merely, that some believe women havent traditionally been taught the rules, and, therefore, have a disadvantage when playing the game. The skills practiced in this simulation pertain to both men and women. Understanding the unwritten rules of a corporate culture, emulating successful leaders, practicing strategies to demonstrate confidence, advocating for yourself, overcoming stereotypes, finding a balance between life and work, and using proven leadership techniques to negotiate conflicts are all skills that any leader needs to understand. However, the situations in this simulation are created for a female learner who may not be privy to the unwritten rules of career advancement. This simulation has been written with the assumption that the learner is a woman with a six-year-old daughter. The simulation is based on the SkillSoft series Leadership Skills for Women and contains links to the following SkillSoft courses: LEAD0131, LEAD0132, LEAD0133, LEAD0134, and LEAD0135.
Target Audience
Women at all levels in the workplace.
Expected Duration
0.5 hours
Lesson Objectives:
Leadership Skills for Women Simulation
Utilizing your mentor to help you advocate for yourself and others and to understand and practice unwritten rules. Observing and understanding the unwritten rules. Practicing the unwritten rules, including using the REV model. Overcoming fear and female stereotypes by valuing your unique experiences. Applying appropriate strategies for communicating effectively. Avoiding self-defeating communication styles. Building personal relationships and networking. Acting like a leader by being confident and creating a supportive environment. Advocating for yourself and others. Applying appropriate strategies to find a balance between work and home. Cultivating and practicing leadership skills (assertiveness, decisiveness, and supportiveness). Using steps to neutralize conflict. Following appropriate steps of delegation. Practicing steps for negotiation. Making the best personal decisions. Back to ListThe Secrets of Female Leaders
Overview/Description
This course reveals the secrets of many women who have become successful business leaders. It teaches women how to become players in the business world and make their careers work for them. Learners will also discover some of the ways great female leaders handle themselves and gain even more professional power.
Target Audience
Female executives, midlevel managers, supervisors, team leaders
Expected Duration
2.5 hours
Lesson Objectives:
Get in the Game
Recognize benefits of understanding the unwritten rules of the game of business. Identify steps of learning to play the game of business. Apply strategies for playing the game of business in given scenarios. Identify ways that mentors and advocates can help women advance in their careers. Identify people who can make up an effective professional network. Take Charge of Your Career
Recognize the importance of taking charge of a career. Identify strategies to become an advocate in advancing ones own career. Apply strategies that advocate career advancement in given business scenarios. Select effective communication methods of successful leaders. Determine whether communication methods are used effectively in given business scenarios. Identify ways to take smart risks in business. Discover Your Abilities to Lead
Recognize the importance of displaying abilities to be a leader in business. Identify behaviors that leaders should exhibit. Apply techniques to help you focus on your skills in given business scenarios. Select ways to find balance between work and home. Back to ListPlaying by the Rules
Overview/Description
This course is intended to help women understand the basis of many traditional businesses founded by men. It will help all women moving into leadership positions because every organization has some set of rules that must be understood to gain success. It also gives women a basis for finding ways to change the rules as they become leaders.
Target Audience
Female executives, mid-level managers, supervisors, team leaders
Expected Duration
2.5 hours
Lesson Objectives:
Learn the Rules
Recognize benefits of learning the rules of an organization. Identify reasons many men seem to inherently understand the rules of business. Select ways to deal effectively with the unwritten rules in a company. Know How to Play
Recognize why its important to understand how to play the game of business. Identify results of displaying confidence as a leader. Use techniques for taking new approaches to a job in a business scenario. Select strategies for being assertive as a business leader. Use strategies for being assertive as a leader in business scenarios. Select ways to let go of emotions while playing the game of business. Change the Rules
Recognize benefits of changing the rules of business. Identify ways to gain support for changing the rules of business. Identify methods for bending the rules in business. Identify techniques that help women in leadership gain greater influence in business. Successfully apply techniques for exerting influence in business scenarios. Back to ListGroundbreaking: The Paradigm Shift toward Women
Overview/Description
This course describes ways women in leadership can help companies adjust if they are among the first women leaders in their organizations. Learners will look at why more companies are welcoming women into the ranks of leaders and how women can use their skills to reach top jobs. The course also explores ways to make the company more accepting of women in leadership and how such leaders can benefit a company.
Target Audience
Female executives, midlevel managers, supervisors, team leaders
Expected Duration
2.5 hours
Lesson Objectives:
Growing Opportunities for Women to Lead
Recognize the value of the paradigm shift toward more women leading in business. Identify the global changes in business that have offered women more leadership opportunities. Identify examples of the cultural changes in corporations that provide more leadership opportunities for women. Breaking through the Glass Ceiling
Recognize the importance of succeeding in reaching a leadership position as a woman. Identify the appropriate steps to take in creating an advancement plan to help her move forward in her career. Identify the techniques for successfully exhibiting self-confidence as a leader. Apply the steps necessary for successfully exhibiting self-confidence as a leader in a role play. Sequence the steps in the shared-vision process. Apply the shared-vision process in a given business scenario. Making Use of Diversity
Recognize advantages of having diverse leaders and staff members. Identify examples of targeting formerly underrepresented groups for products and services in the new marketing paradigm. Predict whether a female business leader will be successful in convincing her company to make the marketing paradigm shift to include underrepresented groups. Assess whether a female leader in a given business scenario is successful as a diversity advocate in her organization, based on all the strategies necessary for being a diversity advocate. Match specific qualities of leadership with examples of ways a woman can use these qualities outside the professional setting. Back to List
Leadership Skills for Women
Women in leadership roles are faced with many challenges and stereotypes in today’s workplace. A woman in a corner
office who is too confident and aggressive may be seen as “catty” or “moody” or even “trying too hard to be a man”! On
the other hand, a woman who is a bit indecisive and timid may be labeled as “emotional”, “weak” and “just like a typical girl”.
We’ll teach you how to beat these stereotypes at work as well as how to establish and maintain authority through
everyday communication and build a support system to help reach your professional goals.
This online training also includes an online course on “The Secrets of Female Leaders”. Learn how current successful
women leaders gained their power and continue to succeed while “playing by the rules” in companies founded by men. There is
also an interactive online training simulation on leadership skills for women included for your guidance.
Leadership Skills for Women