PowWFollowMyLead Program™

Women In Law

The Koa Club is a builder of women communities within organizations with the emphasis on:

  • Strengthening the leadership, personal and workplace skills of women employees so they can build the confidence to succeed, gain insights on being effective leaders, managers and team members, and be armed with useful tools to navigate commonplace workplace challenges
  • Equipping women employees with strategies to maintain their well-being, especially during these high stress times
  • Helping women employees establish supportive relationships with other women at work, providing them a safe environment to share best practices and informal advice with each other

The Gender Challenge

  • Even though the number of women in leadership has grown in the past five years, women are still very much underrepresented at every level in key roles in the workplace and in every industry, including within the legal field.
  • According to a Glass Ceiling Report by Law360, only about 23% of equity partners in U.S. law firms are women, even though women have made up at least 40% of U.S. law students for decades. As for in house counsel positions, according to a study by LawGeex and the Association of Corporate Counsel, Landscape of a General Counsel, it was found that approximately 42% of General Counsel positions in Fortune 500 companies were filled by internal hires, but only slightly more than one in five of these promotions were given to women.
  • Many organizations often advocate the criticality of advancing women to higher level roles, but little is usually done within these organizations to remove structural barriers and gender bias that contribute to the lack of women in leadership roles, nor to implement effective support for women to help them be prepared to pursue, and to tackle, these higher-level roles.

Women’s Leadership Study Findings

Though women’s confidence in their professional and personal lives have grown significantly in recent years, a number of women surveyed in the 2019 KPMG Women’s Leadership Study stated that not being confident enough was still the leading factor preventing them from taking more risks at their organization and that “overcoming a lack of confidence may therefore be key in creating a cycle in which successful risk- taking fosters the resilience and confidence needed to attempt further risk taking and advancement.” The study also found that 71% of the women responding to the survey think more can be done now by their organizations to encourage risk-taking among women, including the following:

  • 41% asks for more training opportunities
  • 33% believes that their organization should encourage mentorship
  • 28% thinks that there should be more flexibility offered for the women employees to be able to take more risks

Women in Law – Challenges

  • Companies and law firms have the responsibility to look at how they evaluate and promote female employees and ensure that women are being given a fair shot. Many are now more proactive in finding new ways to address the gender imbalances within their organization, but clearly there is still a lot of work that can be done to reduce, and eventually erase, institutional bias.
  • Beyond institutional bias, there are also other challenges that may hold back women lawyers from gaining satisfaction in their jobs. achieving coveted leadership positions or leading effectively:
    • Lacking confidence to ask for what they need, whether it’s for a raise, a more flexible schedule or additional team support
    • Experiencing imposter syndrome or other limiting beliefs
    • Not realizing that doing good work is only part of the puzzle to getting a seat at the table.
    • Not knowing how to find allies and sponsors to champion them
    • Not getting the support they need to be successful for the long term

Program Overview

  • Program Kickoff: Leading Women in Law Roundtable Discussion (January)
  • The Program will have two Phases – each Phase has 3 monthly workshops for a total of 6 monthly workshops (January – June 2023)
  • Each workshop will be held virtually once a month for 2 hours.
  • Structured Mentorship Huddles
  • Empowered Networking for 1st thirty minutes of the workshop.
  • Minimum of 30 paid participants for Program to be held.
  • Program fee is $995/person.
  • All participants automatically get free membership to The Koa Club general community as the alumni club.
  • Access to workshop materials and recordings in proprietary Workshop Dashboard designed for Program participant’s access and use.
View Workshops Mentorship Huddles

Leading Women in Law Roundtable – Achieving success in the law firm or as in-house counsel 

We will invite women law firm partners, general counsels and chief legal officers to join us on Wednesday, January 11, 2023, 4:00-5:30pmPT for a robust roundtable discussion; to share their stories and lessons learned on their journey to leadership; and provide insights on how women lawyers can thrive and succeed within their organizations.

details.

Workshops will be held online and the dial-in details will be provided to the participants once they have registered for the Program.

questions.

For any questions about the Program, please contact us at info@thekoaclub.com

2022 Women In Law Program overview

The Women In Law PowWFollowMyLead™ Program is made up of 2 phases:

Phase 1 (Personal Skills Development)

  • 3 monthly workshops specifically designed to provide insights for women in-house counsel on mastering life-changing skills to fight off any self-doubt that creates obstacles to their success, build effective communication skills beyond engaging in legalese and to develop a growth mindset for success.
  • Phase 1 of the Program will be held in January, February and March 2023.
  • Each workshop will be two hours long.

Phase 2 (Workplace Skills Development)

  • 3 workshops focused on providing women in-house counsel with practical strategies for operating effectively within the workplace, including, applying emotional intelligence to help with decision-making process, managing the different levels of relationships in the workplace, and developing their leadership potential.
  • Phase 2 of the Program will be held during April, May and June 2023.
  • Each workshop will be two hours long.

Workshop #1

Phase 1: Personal Development Skills

Wednesday, January 25, 2023
12:00pm – 2:00pm PT

Eliminate Self-Defeating Beliefs and Enhance Your Self-Confidence

Description:

Research and studies conducted over the years on the subject of women’s leadership and progression in the workplace have found that many women lack confidence at work on a regular basis and that many women tend to wait until they are 100% confident in themselves before deciding to accept a new position or request a raise. Having a lack of self-confidence can directly affect our productivity and job performance, which in turn affects our professional success. Low self-confidence often shows up in the form of self-defeating beliefs and patterns of behaviors where we may doubt our abilities, believe that somebody else is better than us without any factual basis, or worry that we will soon get “found out” our capabilities are limited. These limiting beliefs are often the culprits obstructing us from going beyond our comfort zone to grow, achieve the successes we deserve, or be effective leaders or teammates. To make progress on self- confidence, it is important to challenge these negative self-narratives and to avoid an onslaught of self-criticism when we encounter failure.

In this workshop, our speaker will discuss how limiting beliefs such as impostor syndrome and self-doubt often manifest in women’s lives, wrecking hard-earned confidence, and what you can do to overcome them. She will bust a few misconceptions about confidence and share a set of tips on how to build and maintain self-confidence. She will also discuss the importance of striking the right balance in developing self-confidence as being overly confident can create its own set of pitfalls. This workshop will provide an actionable list of strategies and tools that can help you make positive changes and strengthen your confidence and courage.

Workshop #2

Phase 1: Personal Development Skills

Wednesday, February 22, 2023
12:00pm – 2:00pm PT

Essential Communication Skills to Boost Presence and Productivity

Description:

Even if we are experts in our fields, maintain leadership roles within our organization, or always have innovative ideas or viable solutions to issues, if we are not able to convey our thoughts, ideas, expertise or requirements in a meaningful way to others, our influence will be greatly limited.

If we want to show others that we have qualities of a leader who can inspire, motivate and persuade those around us to act, or to help us achieve our goals (which may sometimes be known as “executive presence”), we certainly need to be able to communicate clearly and effectively with others whom we interact with to build trust and credibility. According to G. Riley Mills, co-founder of Pinnacle Performance Co. in Chicago and author of The Bullseye Principle (Wiley, 2018), “[t]he ability to communicate with clarity and purpose is the key to personal and professional success.”

In this workshop, our speaker will share strategies on how you can communicate in a way that will strengthen your professional relationships, boost teamwork, and help you to become more productive. Our speaker will also guide you on how to avoid communication failures that can cause misunderstanding, mistakes, and reduction in productivity at work. Lastly, our speaker will discuss how you can continue to maintain good communication skills where you have to resort to new forms of communication due to remote working in our new normal.

Workshop #3

Phase 1: Personal Development Skills

Wednesday, March 22, 2023
12:00pm – 2:00pm PT

Developing a Mindset of Success

Description:

Researchers have found that 90% of the way we think, feel, judge, and act are driven by our mindset. Top performers tend to share the important trait of having a success-oriented mindset that is geared towards habits and actions that help them develop beliefs, emotions, and motivations that ultimately lead to their success.

According to Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, “[t]his growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although people may differ in every which way in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments, everyone can change and grow through application and experience.” The growth mindset embraces challenges and views failure, as Dweck says, “not as evidence of unintelligence, but as a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities.”

In this workshop, participants will learn the limiting impact of a fixed mindset, understand the importance of developing their growth mindset, and learn the techniques to build the right mindset to help achieve goals and ambitions.

Workshop #4

Phase 2: Workplace Improvement Skills

Wednesday, April 19, 2023
12:00pm – 2:00pm PT

Developing Your Leadership Potential

Description:

Even if you are currently in an individual contributor role, there may be times when you may be asked to take on a leadership role (perhaps as a team leader for a project), or you may be given the opportunity to move to a position that allows you to manage others, or you may aspire to move up to a leadership role. Being a leader is more than a title, it’s important to know how to lead others, get the work done, deal with conflict, solve problems, and inspire others to follow.

Our speaker in this workshop will help you to:

  • Gain an understanding of the various leadership styles and develop behaviors supporting the specific styles
  • Recognize and amplify your leadership skills and strengths
  • Build your personal board of advisors
  • Learn the importance of crafting a compelling vision
  • How to demonstrate commitment, courage, and flexibility

Our speaker will also explore workplace challenges that are uniquely faced by women leaders and share key strategies on how to overcome these challenges.

Workshop #5

Phase 2: Workplace Improvement Skills

Wednesday May 24, 2023
12:00pm – 2:00pm PT

Improving Emotional Quotient for Workplace Success

Description:

Emotional Quotient (EQ), also known as Emotional Intelligence (EI) or Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EIQ), is generally defined as a person’s ability to recognize, understand, manage, and reason with her own emotions as well as the emotions of others. Having higher EQ results in greater success in the workplace, as it can help with decision-making process, improve work relationships, minimize conflicts, and increase empathy towards others in different situations. TalentSmart conducted a survey which found that “90% of the top performers were high in emotional intelligence, with a higher average income per year” and that “emotional intelligence also accounted for up to 60% of the job performance for supervisors through CEOs.”

In this workshop, our speaker will discuss the five key components of emotional intelligence at work:

  • Self-Awareness: The capability to recognize personal emotions, emotional triggers, and limitations which allows us to better understand how others might perceive our emotions
  • Self-Regulation: The ability to control and adjust emotions so they do not have a negative effect
  • Intrinsic Motivation: Having the inner drive to pursue goals for personal reasons, rather than for a reward
  • Empathy: The ability to identify and understand the emotions of another person which allows us to handle workplace situations more effectively
  • Social Skills: The ability to interact and negotiate with other people in order for us to listen, speak, and resolve conflicts more effectively and to find the best way to meet the needs of each person.

Workshop #6

Phase 2: Workplace Improvement Skills

Wednesday, June 21, 2023
12:00pm – 2:00pm PT

Essential Skills to Manage Up, Down and Across Your Organization

Description:

Beyond having the right skills and competencies to achieve success, it is also crucial that you have the knowledge and skills to effectively manage up, across and (where applicable), down, in order to successfully navigate obstacles along your career path at your organization. No matter what position you hold in your organization, you will always have a boss. Many times, you will also have to manage work requests from management or partners, collaborate with your colleagues as well as peers from other departments, or if you are in a leadership position, manage direct reports under you.

Our speaker in this workshop will discuss the importance of effectively managing up, down and across, your organization, thereby overcoming differences between you and others so you work together effectively, mobilizing the support you need, to move your initiatives forward and to reach your objectives faster. Our speaker will provide you with the insights and practical tools to build a robust, working relationship with these individuals in order to create the best possible outcome for yourself, your bosses and colleagues, and your organization.

mentorship huddles™

Mentorship Huddle Program Overview

As part of the PowWFollowMyLead Program, the women will be assigned to Mentorship Huddle groups made up of 6–8 participants, which will be facilitated by a Huddle Mentor, a peer to the participants. The Huddle Mentor creates a supportive environment for their Huddle team that fosters a feeling of belonging and value as a member of the organization and the program. Huddles typically meet for an hour once a month.

The women in each Huddle will collaborate closely to work through insights and learnings from the workshops and use their Huddle as a safe space to open up and seek needed help and guidance from one another. The women will also be paired up within the Huddles so that they can be accountable to each other for their successful journey through the program.

why mentorship huddles?

  • It encourages the expansion of knowledge pool as women from different organizations can collaborate to learn from one another.
  • It helps to build inter-organizational personal relationships by breaking down silos between organizations, genders, ethnicities and beyond, providing a safe space to discuss things which can sometimes be uncomfortable.
  • It gives participants a place where they can have a voice that matters to build confidence and develop or improve leadership and other skills.
  • It connects people with varying skillsets to tackle challenges or issues raised during a Huddle meeting.
  • It may help open access for the participants to influential peers, future sponsors and senior leadership that they might never have interacted with before.
  • It aims to inspire participants to push themselves to deal with obstacles by understanding that others in the group may be tackling similar issues and helping them to overcome those issues or obstacles.
  • It fosters the building of trust between participants that allows them to come together in support of each other’s goals, while simultaneously seeking to achieve their own.
  • It aims to be more fun than traditional mentorships with group activities, including role play and brainstorming that creates energy and camaraderie.

how does a mentorship huddle work?

  • All participants will be assigned to a Mentorship Huddle, facilitated by a Huddle Mentor.
  • After each workshop, questions and details of that workshop will be shared with the Huddle Mentor who will use the provided information as the base for group discussions at Huddle meetings.
  • Huddle meetings will be scheduled by the Huddle Mentor as appropriate with that specific Huddle group and will be held no less than once a month. Huddle meetings typically last for an hour.