Jones Consulting had the pleasure of designing and delivering a leadership programme for female leaders at the University of Leicester between 2019 and 2024.   We then developed this programme for women leading in the fields of Space & STEM.

The Women leading with Purpose programme targeted both professional and academic staff who were looking to hone their leadership skills.   Over the course of 4 modules, participants worked on their unique leadership style and built their confidence and impact in the workplace.

Strengths profiling identified key strengths and styles when under pressure which improved self awareness.  Communications skills training focussed on story telling and authenticity, and we introduced participants to design thinking and prototyping techniques for managing their careers and life planning.

One of the most impactful elements of the programme was the cross cohort projects that each participant developped with peers to support the network of female leaders across the University and champion gender equality.

Projects initiated from the Women Leading with Purpose programme make an impact at the University of Leicester

Approximately 6 months after the leadership programme ended, participants showcased the work they had initiated as part of the programme at an internal event. The event was attended by the Pro Vice Chancellor and Head of the College of Art and Humanities, Henrietta O’Connor, who is a key sponsor of the Women Leading with Purpose programme at the University. Participants presented the results of the final projects they undertook to promote gender equality and develop a community of leaders across the University.

The 3 projects were…

Walk with women –

A career and life journey plotting tool that allowed someone to easily input their life and career achievements that was published online (e.g. internal intranet /external website).  Its purpose was to inform and inspire other female leaders and students to continue on their own career / academic journeys by providing easy access to inspirational stories and role models across the University.  From a gender equality perspective it celebrated how women overcame pinch points in their career and aimed to influence the culture of the College of Life Sciences to further celebrate its female leaders.  www.le.ac.uk/walk-with-women

Aspire –

An ezine (online magazine), published as part of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion area of the University of Leicester’s main website. Its aim was to advertise causes and topics that are interesting to women. It’s first publication focussed on Black History Month as the team wanted to talk about the under representation of BAME female professionals across higher education in the UK (at time of publication there were 25 Black female professors out of 21,000 professors in the UK). Aspire also profiled black female authors and gave information on their publications and where to access the titles in the University and outside. In addition, the team interviewed female leaders across the University about their careers and published their stories in the ezine.

Connect me –

Was a programme of events designed to build the community of women professionals across the University. The team planned, organised and delivered 3 events on topics they felt were important to women: Women & Health, Women & Change, Women & Coping. The team secured match funding from the Centre for BME Health East Midlands and hosted their first event on wellbeing which included guest speakers and interactive yoga sessions in the main courtyard at the University and had a great turnout.

It was a pleasure to be involved in sparking these leadership journeys from such fabulous cohorts of women.