From Aspiration to Action: Empowering Women in the Workplace

Thank you to everyone who joined our recent LinkedIn Live event with Deborah Croft, focused on empowering your future through professional development for women. Whether you missed the live session or want to revisit the key points, here’s your chance to catch up on the takeaways.

1. Start with the Why: Leadership Programmes Must Be Designed to Drive Representation

The core purpose of any female-focused leadership programme should be to increase the number of women in leadership. That means organisations can’t ignore the broader context of women’s lives. 

“We can design the best leadership programme in the world - but if we don’t factor in the reality of caregiving and life transitions, many women will opt out of opportunities before they even begin,” Deborah explained.

Build flexibility into programme timelines and expectations. Understand that participants may be juggling care responsibilities for children, ageing parents, or other life transitions. A great leadership programme empowers women to say yes, not feel like they have to choose between growth and real life.

Female-Only Programmes Create Fast Trust and Psychological Safety

Despite some criticism of women-only initiatives, Deborah strongly advocates for offering them as a choice, not a mandate. Why? Because the moment you remove external judgment or competition, women show up faster, speak up more, and connect deeper. Women feel more enabled to speak up, share vulnerabilities without fear of judgment and connect deeply. Typically, psychological safety is built in a matter of hours, which speeds up learning and vulnerability.

Offer a female-only option. Don’t frame it as remedial, frame it as focused. It’s not about exclusion; it’s about offering a space where women can reflect, stretch, and explore their voice without pressure.

Great Programmes Help Women Tackle What’s Getting in Their Way

Deborah listed the top five internal blockers she sees in her coaching and programmes, along with how to directly address them in your content and facilitation:

1. Limiting Beliefs: Often shaped by upbringing, culture, or workplace dynamics. Encourage participants to articulate beliefs they’ve internalised and gently challenge them through peer reflection and reframing.

2. Imposter Experience: The constant fear of "being found out." Normalise it early. Ask all participants to share a moment they felt like an imposter. Include a module or discussion on how this is not a sign of incompetence - it’s a sign of growth.

3. Fear of Visibility: Many women are uncomfortable with self-promotion. Include sessions on strategic visibility, how to share successes without feeling like you’re "showing off," and how to leverage allies to amplify your voice.

4. Not Networking Strategically: Too many women deprioritise relationship-building. Offer tools to build intentional networking maps: who to connect with, why, and how. Make it feel purposeful, not transactional.

5. Waiting to Be Noticed: Believing hard work will speak for itself. Help participants identify what they want to be known for and how to clearly articulate that in career conversations and performance reviews.

Dare to Dream: Let Women Reconnect with Ambition

Deborah stressed the importance of "daring to dream"- of asking participants to reconnect with the ambition they may have buried under the weight of daily life. She shared that her co-founder and CEO Natalie Wilkins brings a literal magic wand to kickoff sessions to ask: “If you could wave a wand, what would your ideal role, contribution, or life look like?” Incorporate visualisation, future-mapping, or storytelling exercises into your programme. Help women dream again, and then map the small steps to get there.

From Individual Growth to Systemic Change

No leadership programme exists in a vacuum. A woman can gain clarity, confidence, and competence, but if the system doesn’t create opportunities, she’ll look elsewhere.

“Leadership programmes shouldn’t just build the woman. They should influence the system she’s in,” Deborah emphasized.

Complement the programme with manager briefings, peer mentoring, and sponsorship initiatives. Equip line managers with tools to support participants’ ambitions, not unintentionally block them.

Design for Real Lives, Not Ideal Conditions

One of the most powerful takeaways was Deborah’s insistence that we stop pretending participants live in a vacuum. Many women in leadership cohorts are:

• Parenting for the first time

• Juggling elder care

• Returning from a break

• In cultures or teams that don’t support inclusion

Schedule realistically. Encourage asynchronous content or catch-up options. Offer coaching or group reflection on real-life constraints. Teach prioritisation and boundary-setting as a core part of leadership.