Let’s Lead! Leadership Development for Women

course overview

Let’s Lead!

Reflect on, plan and activate your personal leadership journey

Key to Ireland’s economic success is the optimising of the skills and talent of our people throughout all regions of the country.  Increasing the participation of women in entrepreneurship, leadership and senior management roles is a critical feature of this strategy.  With this in mind, DCU Business School has developed Let’s Lead!, a relevant and contemporary Leadership Development for Women programme.

This programme provides a relevant, refreshing and contemporary approach to leadership for women. Its foundation is the acknowledgment that women’s careers and leadership journeys often follow a very different route to those of men.  Thus many women can find themselves caught between competing and conflicting identities and goals which need dedicated time to explore.  This programme provides women with an opportunity to discuss and examine these complex issues in an action-oriented environment in the supportive company of other female leaders.  Guided by insights from the field of organisational psychology, the programme emphasises the importance of deep reflection on career-related choices. It provides the space and time required for women to consider these issues in a personal and strategic manner.

Along with a 360-degree feedback process, the outcomes of this programme include a rich appreciation of the nature and demands of leadership, enhanced competency in leadership skills and practices, and a personally constructed, meaningful action plan to support each woman’s leadership journey.

Each participant is also provided with three individual coaching sessions with professional, experienced coaches.  The purpose of these sessions is to support participants in identifying leadership growth trajectories that are personally and professionally meaningful.  Coaches will support participants in developing their leadership expertise and building their capacity in demonstrating leadership excellence. 

The programme has been designed to be highly interactive and comprises a rich mixture of self-assessment, skill development and knowledge building that together encourage goal clarification and action planning to support women’s leadership journeys.  Participants are assigned a buddy for the duration of the programme to enrich their programme experience and contribute to the development of their leadership excellence.

Programme structure

Prefaced by an online induction event, this programme is delivered online and comprises 8 half-day modules over three months.  Each day runs from 9.00am to 1.15pm. 

Programme dates 2024:  

January 18th:  10am – 1pm Online Induction

January 25th

February 8th, 22nd

March 7th, 21st

April 11th, 25th

May 9th

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

To apply please contact executive.education@dcu.ie

DCU Business School has a long history of executive training both to individuals and client companies.  Our executive programmes are crafted to meet both the needs of business and of individuals developing their careers based on the industry connections that underpin our approach to education.  Globally accredited by AACSB and AMBA, we’re among the top Business Schools globally.

Who is this programme for?

This programme is for women who are well into their careers, who hold responsible positions in their organisation and have experience of managing others.  It is for women who are contemplating change or facing decision-making junctures in their careers and who know that a deep knowledge and rich appreciation of who they are as women and leaders will serve them well in such situations.  It is for women who value a refined and sophisticated approach to leadership development and are prepared to make the necessary commitments to learning, self-reflection and engagement to pursue and deliver leadership excellence.

What will you learn? 

This programme offers women a space to reflect on and develop the key domains of leadership behaviours and skills that are particularly valuable and relevant for women.  The programme emphasises moving from personal to strategic thinking in respect of leading oneself, one’s career and life.

INDICATIVE CONTENT:

1.       Encouraging and gaining traction in leadership: This content explores personal perceptions and assumptions about leadership.  Reflective thinking is used to clearly identify meaningful career goals and attention is paid to the skills required for building a strong and authentic leadership brand.

2.       Influential leadership: This content focuses on the behaviours necessary for self-assured interpersonal encounters.  The skills of excellent communication and successful negotiation are emphasised.

3.       Leadership competencies: This content concerns the development of resources to effectively deal with disagreement, resist pressure from others and use conflict constructively.

This programme will enable you to:

1. Identify meaningful career goals and chart your leadership journey towards them
2. Navigate complex relationships and workplace challenges
3. Develop deep insight into personal strengths and preferences and translate them into an authentic personal leadership brand
4. Expand and enrich a meaningful professional network

Testimonials

“Excellent course.  Thoroughly enjoyed it and found the information invaluable.”

Gillian DeMarco, National Galleries of Ireland

“The course in general provided great insight into leadership.  It provided a structure for putting your career goals and aspirations to the forefront of your mind and doing something about it.  The guest speakers were excellent and very inspiring.”

Yvonne Bogan, Dept. of the Marine

“I would highly recommend this course – it was inspiring and insightful, with very practical leadership development take-aways to become the CEO of your own career.”

Lydia Rogers, Enterprise Ireland

Dr Melrona Kirrane, Programme Chair, Associate Professor of Organisational Psychology

Dr Kirrane designed and developed this programme and is a nationally and internationally recognised scholar of Organisational Psychology.  She has a particular expertise in leadership, organisational change, and workplace behaviour and her work in these fields has been published in international peer-reviewed journals. 

As well as being endorsed as a high-quality lecturer and organisational consultant, Melrona was named as a “Top Ten Woman of Influence” in 2017.  A recipient of the prestigious Erskine Fellowship at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, Melrona was appointed Professor of Leadership at Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh and holds Visiting Professor positions at the Technical University of Vienna and Danube University, Austria.

Andrea Dermody

Andrea Dermody has over twenty years’ experience working across the Global Financial Services marketplace.  Supporting Melrona in designing the content for the programme, Andrea leveraged her twenty plus years of practical experience in the corporate world, most of those spent in developing leaders through Talent Management, Learning & Development and Diversity & Inclusion.  Most recently Andrea led inclusion and diversity for State Street in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).  She is now managing director of her own consulting practice, Dermody.

Andrea holds a BA in History and Economics, a post-graduate Diploma in Business Studies from UCD and a Masters in Human Resource Development from Sheffield Hallam University.  She is a qualified executive coach and a chartered fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

Duration and dates

Prefaced by an online induction event, this programme is delivered online and comprises 8 half-day modules over three months.  Each day runs from 9.00am to 1.15pm. 

Programme dates 2024:  

January 18th:  10am – 1pm Online Induction

January 25th

February 8th, 22nd

March 7th, 21st

April 11th, 25th

May 9th

Applicants to the programme will be interviewed by the Programme Chair.

For further information and to apply please contact executive.education@dcu.ie