It made me look at where I wanted to go and how to get there. We did a lot of self learning but it also made me much more corporately aware, of the sorts of things that you are expected to know and understand as a leader. I found a lot of the discussions and talks by female leaders very inspirational. They tell you about of the reality of what’s involved – so you’ve got a personal face to what the leadership work talks about.
The most important thing is that you have your own peer group. It’s really up to you to make that work. In our group we did a self-awareness leadership style test, which was fantastic. Finding out about your own leadership style and preferences, your strengths and weaknesses and how to build on them.
And then you had a mentor who supported you throughout the year. It provided the motivation to do something in your hugely busy schedule and helped create some space to think about yourself and your own development. As a result I have got my promotion ticket.
Katja Jobes, DFID
An Excellent workshop! One of the best courses that I’ve attended. It came at a good time in my career/life. The day flew by and I’m totally inspired. I’d recommend this to others and plan to use what I learnt both personally and career-wise.
GCHQ participant
When I applied for this workshop I had no idea about my goals or which direction I should be going in. At the end of the course I have a much better idea of my goals and the practical steps I need to take to fulfil them.
Department for Transport participant
Communicate With Impact got me thinking about the way that I present myself and communicate, and gave me some really practical tips to use in the workplace to help me get my message across in a strong and powerful way.
Helen King, FCO
The programme was brilliantly facilitated but the strongest impact was how much I learned from the other women from across Whitehall departments. We shared experiences and solutions, and the strategies they’d developed really helped me. The feedback I had from them was very practical and realistic and so was really useful. By the end of it I felt I’d really made progress. I was much clearer about what I was trying to achieve and what I needed to do next. It demystified some of the senior leadership issues people talk about and made them very practical, like raising your profile.
Carys Evans, Welsh Assembly Government
I feel more confident that I will be able to handle these difficult situations that are likely to come up over the next few months. I will be prepared, as much as you can be prepared and I feel this will help me to stay in control and deal professionally with whatever comes out of that meeting. The four-stage process we were given will make a useful reference for future meetings.
Dorothy Francis, Department of Health
It made me see how easy it is to give difficult feedback can be IF the discussion starts off on the right foot. Before attending, I would have entered such a session with negative comments which would have made the situation worse I now realise that I have to think about the desired outcomes for both parties and engage them throughout the discussion, whilst assuming goodwill.
Beverley Walker, Department of Health
Crossing Thresholds has been very successful in achieving significant increases in the number of women advancing their careers at DFID.