Leading Forward: Leadership Development for Early Career Professional Women

Leading Forward: Building the Foundations for Future Leadership

Part of the Let’s Lead Women’s Leadership Development Pathway.

Leading Forward is designed for women who are building the confidence, visibility, influence and self awareness needed to take the next step in their professional and leadership journey.
Typical participants include early career professionals, graduate programme alumni, technical and specialist professionals, project coordinators and project leads, new and aspiring managers, and high potential women identified for future leadership development.

Many leadership programmes begin when women have already reached management positions. Leading Forward is designed for the important period before that transition occurs. Developed by the team behind DCU Business School’s successful Let’s Lead! programme, Leading Forward supports women in the early stages of their professional careers as they prepare for greater responsibility, leadership opportunities and long-term career progression.

Nobody talks honestly enough about the realities of women’s career progression. The trade offs, the confidence challenges, the importance of visibility, the influence of organisational dynamics, and the relationships that often shape opportunity. Leading Forward is designed to have exactly those conversations.
Supported by a 360 feedback exercise, the programme combines evidence based leadership development with practical tools to help participants build confidence, strengthen their professional presence, understand how organisations really work and develop the relationships that support future career growth.
Participants leave with greater self awareness, a clearer sense of direction and a practical plan for taking the next step in their leadership journey.

Programme Format.
Four interactive online workshops delivered over five weeks.
Format: 4 × 3-hour online sessions ( 1 x self directed )
Cohort Size: 20–25 participants
Investment: €1,500 per participant.
Includes:

- 360 feedback assessment
- Four facilitated workshops
- Personal leadership development plan
- Leadership toolkit and resources
- Peer learning cohort.

The Programme Journey: Four modules ( 3 hour online sessions)

Workshop 1 Clarity – Understanding Yourself as a Future Leader	You do not need a leadership title to begin developing leadership capability. This opening session provides an honest and evidence based exploration of leadership, helping participants understand what leadership really is, what effective leadership looks like in practice and how they can begin building their own leadership identity. Participants explore the realities of leadership, the factors that influence women’s career progression and the importance of developing self awareness early in their careers. Topics include leadership identity, self leadership, personal values, leadership strengths and the development of a personal leadership plan.
Self Directed work 360 Feedback assessment	The 360 and personality assessment feedback report captures a snapshot of current performance in a specific role by collecting anonymous performance input from managers, peers and colleagues from previous employments, while personality assessments measure deeper, long term behavioural tendencies and workplace drivers. The Results structure insights into clear strengths, operational improvements, and targeted individual development plans. This method improves self awareness, reduces singles manager bias and highlights behavioural blind spots. This assessment work is a great way to guide your professional growth in a targeted way.
Workshop 2 Confidence – Building Presence, Visibility and Voice	Many talented women are overlooked not because they lack capability, but because their contribution is not always visible. This session focuses on developing confidence, strengthening professional presence and building the communication skills required to be heard, recognised and valued. Participants develop practical approaches to building visibility, communicating with confidence and establishing a professional reputation that reflects their capability and potential. Topics include leader presence, communication, influence, visibility, professional reputation and overcoming impostor syndrome.
Workshop 3 Courage – Navigating Organisations and Building Influence	Career progression is rarely determined by performance alone. Understanding how organisations operate, how decisions are made and how influence is exercised is an important leadership capability. This session develops participants’ organisational awareness and strategic thinking. It provides practical tools for navigating stakeholders, understanding informal power structures and positioning themselves for future opportunities. Topics include organisational dynamics, political savvy, stakeholder management, influence, power mapping and strategic thinking.
Workshop 4 Connection – Building the Relationships that Open Doors	The most important career conversations often happen outside formal reporting lines. This final session focuses on the relationships that support career development, leadership growth and future opportunity. Participants learn how to build authentic professional networks, identify mentors and sponsors, and develop a deliberate approach to creating the relationships that support long term

Learn together, online

Four modules and one self directed week, delivered live on DCU’s secure Zoom platform. Small group and real participation, not a webinar you half watch.

See yourself clearly

A 360° evaluation and personality questionnaire on the Nexion platform gives you a personalised report, the raw material for your own reflection.

Leave with a plan

Across the programme you build a portfolio of insights, observations and action plans, plus a buddy connection and network that outlast the final session.

Protected time

The hardest part of leadership development is guarding the time for it. The programme is built to be a short, precious window where the work comes first and everything else waits.

This programme is delivered online and comprises of four 3 hour modules over 5 weeks with one week self directed. Each session runs from 10am – 1pm.

Programme dates for Nov 2026: All classes are online with an opportunity to meet participants in person at a later social event on our Glasnevin campus.

Start Date: Friday Nov 6th

Time: 10am -1pm – Full Content days

- - Day 1 – Nov 6th
  - Day 2 – Nov 13th ( one self directed week)
  - Day 3 – Nov 20th
  - Day 4 – Nov 27th
  - Day 5 – Dec 4th

For further information please contact the Programme Chair, Dr Melrona Kirrane: melrona.kirrane@dcu.ie

To apply please contact the Programme Coordinator Karena Flynn Thai at karena.flynnthai@dcu.ie or fill in the application form HERE

UPCOMING EVENT

Sep16

9:30 am - 2:00 pm

Higher Options

Nov13

10:00 am - 2:00 pm

Undergraduate Open Day – November 2026

Nov26

5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

Postgraduate Open Day – November

Business School Student Set Up Photography 15th March 2026 1297

Jan14

12:00 am - 12:00 am

CAO Information Evening

Our staff

Dr. Melrona Kirrane

Associate Professor Organisational Psychology

Department
Work, Psychology and Strategy Group

Telephone
01 700 5439

Email
melrona.kirrane@dcu.ie

View profile

Your career

Leading Forward: Building the Foundations for Future Leadership.

Leading Forward is designed for women who are building the confidence, visibility, influence and self-awareness needed to take the next step in their professional and leadership journey. It is particularly suited to women who are beginning to navigate the transition from professional contributor to future leader.
Key question: How do I prepare myself for greater responsibility and future leadership opportunities?

Choose Leading Forward if you/ the participant:
✓ Is in the early stages of their professional career.
✓ Is preparing for promotion or greater responsibility.
✓ Is seeking greater confidence, visibility and influence.
✓ Has leadership potential but limited formal leadership experience.
✓ Wants to better understand organisational dynamics and career progression.
✓ Is beginning to consider their future leadership journey.

Programme Lead

Dr Melrona Kirrane – Programme Director

Associate Professor of Organisational Psychology at DCU Business School, Melrona designed Let’s Lead!, the senior leadership development Programme and has started “Leaning Forward” for early career female professionals. She has spent over thirty years working at the intersection of research and practice, as an academic, executive coach and psychoanalytic psychotherapist.

Her work is published in top tier journals and put to work across industry, including a five year study of Ireland’s female leadership pipeline with the 30% Club. She has held Visiting Professor posts in Vienna and Austria, and an Erskine Fellowship in New Zealand, and was named a Top Ten Woman of Influence.

She is a Professorship of Leadership at Princess Nourah University in Riyadh.

Participant Outcomes

Participants will leave with:

This context removes the usual conversation filters, making space for women to have candid discussions of unspoken workplace truths and build the raw confidence leadership requires
Greater confidence in their ability to progress and succeed
A clearer understanding of leadership and their own leadership potential
Increased visibility, presence and communication effectiveness
Stronger organisational awareness and influence skills
A practical personal leadership development plan
A valuable peer network of women at a similar career stage.

Why Organisations Invest.

Organisations invest in Leading Forward to strengthen their future leadership pipeline and support the progression of talented women at a critical stage in their careers. The programme helps participants build confidence, visibility and influence, develop leadership capability, strengthen professional networks and prepare for greater responsibility. The result is stronger talent retention, increased engagement and a more diverse pipeline of future leaders.

You strengthen a pipeline you are probably struggling to fill.

If your organisation looks like most — well represented by women early on, thinner towards the top — part of that gap sits at the individual level: readiness, visibility, and the confidence to be considered for senior roles. The programme works directly on that. It will not fix structural barriers on its own, and we don’t pretend otherwise, but it addresses the part of the problem that genuinely belongs to the individual.

You get changed behaviour, not just a trained employee.

Because the development is built on a 360° review, it is anchored in how each participant actually operates day to day, not in abstract content. What comes back to you is someone managing, influencing and making decisions differently, not someone who can recite a model they heard on a Tuesday.

You do it without losing people from the floor.

4 Sessions online. Your people develop without disappearing for a week at a time, without travel, and without a serious dent in delivery. The format is built to make development something you can say yes to.

Who is this for? Key question: “How do I prepare myself for greater responsibility and future leadership opportunities?

Who should attend? Typical participants include:

Early career professionals
Graduate programme alumni
Technical and specialist professionals
Project coordinators and project leads
New and aspiring managers
High potential women identified for future leadership development
Women seeking greater confidence, visibility and organisational impact

How To Apply

Duration and dates

This programme is delivered online and comprises of four 3 hour modules over 5 weeks with one 360 report week (self directed). Each session runs from 10am – 1pm.

Programme dates for Nov 2026: All classes are online with an optional in person networking events on our Glasnevin Campus.

Start Date: Friday Nov 6th

Time: 10am -1pm – Full Content days