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

What some of the past participants in our other PowWFollowMyLead Programs have to say:

“Every single session has been full of valuable insights, and I come away from each one feeling inspired and motivated to hone my leadership skills. Not to mention, the enduring friendships I’ve built with my Huddle sisters continue to thrive to this day” – Viola S., founder of MAIKA.

“When I enrolled in PoWW Program, I had taken up a new leadership role and I felt it was necessary to build on my interpersonal and communication skills in order to encourage, influence, and grow my network. I really found the training course to be an enjoyable and valuable experience. It was also an honor to learn from other peers and their collective experiences during our “huddle” sessions. This program was exceptional and I was pleasantly surprised with the organization, assignments/ workshops and the quality of speakers. Thank you to the Koa Club team for executing such a valuable program for women of all career levels” – Nethra M., Principal Pricing & Product Marketing Manager at LeadVenture.

“I was invited by a friend to join POWWFollowMyLead and had no idea what to expect. But I ended up meeting some amazing women doing impressive work in their respective fields and gaining insight on a variety of workplace wellness topics, including how to set healthy boundaries, how to engage difficult conversations, and how to navigate career growth in a challenging environment like Covid. The networking was really valuable for me and our cohort continues to meet monthly over zoom for short check-ins” – Alison M., Financial Advisor at UBS.

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 (November)
  • The Program will have two Phases – each Phase has 3 monthly workshops for a total of 6 monthly workshops (Phase 1: March, April and May 2023, and Phase 2: June, July and August 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 $950/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

Women Leaders 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

2023 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 learn useful strategies to curb decision fatigue and build resiliency.
  • Phase 1 of the Program will be held in March, April and May 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 June, July and August 2023.
  • Each workshop will be two hours long.

Mentorship Huddles “This is Us” Showcase (August 2023)

Each Mentorship Huddle team will present their team project that they have worked on throughout the year, showcasing their collective strengths, creativity and passion. We have created this Mentorship Huddle Showcase with the hope of encouraging successful collaboration among the Mentorship Huddle team members, to encourage self-assessment, to get fired up because it is an opportunity to show off your Huddle to others and have fun in the Program. We invite leaders from the participating organizations to act come view the showcase and share their insights to the Program participants

Workshop #1

Phase 1: Personal Development Skills

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

Eliminate Self-Defeating Beliefs and Enhance Your Self-Confidence

Agenda:

12:00pm-12:30pmPT: Introduction to Program – Goals and Expectations
12:30pm-2:00pmPT: Speaker Presentation & Q&A

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, April 19, 2023
12:00pm – 2:00pm PT

Essential Communication Skills to Boost Presence and Productivity

Agenda:

12:00pm-12:30pmPT: Empowered Networking – What’s Your Personal Brand Statement?
12:30pm-2:00pmPT: Speaker Presentation & Q&A

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, May 24, 2023
12:00pm – 2:00pm PT

Strategies to Ease Decision Fatigue and Build Resiliency

Agenda:

12:00pm-12:30pm PT: Empowered Networking – Your Favorite Energy Boosters

12:30pm-2:00pm PT: Speaker Presentation & Q&A

Description:

Studies show at on average, people make 35,000 decisions a day – and the number may be significantly higher, depending on the circumstances. And it has also been proven that the ability to make good decision decreases over the course of the day. Not surprisingly, women tend to be more susceptible to encountering decision-fatigue. From the moment we wake up each day, we are faced with making constant decisions, and when there are too many options, we become overwhelmed, anxious, stressed or otherwise out of sorts.  Over time, decision-making fatigue, a state of mental overload that can impede our ability to make additional decisions, can cause chaos across many aspects of our lives. Decision avoidance, procrastination, self-sabotage, feeling emotionally drained and triggered by others as well as impulsive decision making are just to name a few of the ways that this unhelpful habit can start impacting us and our ability to perform. If left unresolved, the impact it can have on a person’s work and personal performance can be significant.

In this workshop, our speaker will provide insights on how to transition away from this unhelpful and draining habit and begin replacing these default behaviors with more helpful and productive responses. Workshop takeaways will include gaining clarity on where decision-making fatigue may impact work and life, helping to build awareness of the self-deprecating behaviors and habits, and removing barriers to allow for making better choices and undertaking appropriate actions to build much needed resiliency.

Workshop #4

Phase 2: Workplace Improvement Skills

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

Developing Your Leadership Potential

Agenda:

12:00pm-12:30pm PT: Empowered Networking – Identifying Your Leadership Identity

12:30pm-2:00pm PT: Speaker Presentation & Q&A

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 July 19, 2023
12:00pm – 2:00pm PT

Improving Emotional Quotient for Workplace Success

Agenda:

12:00pm-12:30pm: Empowered Networking – An Emotional Intelligence Game
12:30pm-2:00pm: Speaker Presentation & Q&A

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, August 23, 2023
12:00pm – 2:00pm PT

Becoming a Super Connector

Agenda:

12:00pm-12:30pm: Empowered Networking: Who are Your Sponsors and Mentors?
12:30pm-2:00pm: Speaker Presentation & Q&A

Description:

According to Scott Gerber and Ryan Paugh, authors of Superconnector: Stop Networking and Start Building Business Relationships That Matter, “[s]ocial capital is the most important currency in the world.”  One major misconception about connectors is that people think it is easy to be a connector. In reality, it is often difficult to be an effective connector, or even harder to be a super-connector. To be a super-connector, you will have to understand the needs of the people in your network and know how to be the crucial bridge for connections in your ecosystem.  Each of us have the potential to become a super connector even if we may not have the strongest network at the moment. We can create opportunities and grow our influence by carefully curating our network to strengthen the bonds we already have and to build trusted long-term relationships. 

Our speaker in this workshop will discuss what it means to be a super-connector, the key traits they exhibit, how they are able to effectively connect others in a mutually beneficial way and in doing so, how their professional relationships will be valued and sought after.

 

Huddle Showcase & Graduation

Wednesday, July 12, 2023
12:00pm – 2:00pm PT

Wednesday, September 20, 2023 @ 12:00pm – 2:00pm PT

Huddles “This is Us” Showcase

Agenda:

12:00pm-2:00pm PT: Huddles Showcase

Description:

The 2023 Women in Law Program will have its own version of a “Show & Tell” showcase of the Huddle teams. Each Huddle Team will be asked to work on a project for the entire Program year that will showcase their collective strengths, creativity and passion. Details about this Huddles Showcase will be shared at the first workshop with progress check-ins on a quarterly basis. On Septmeber 20, each Huddle Team will showcase their project to the entire cohort and to leadership from their organizations whom we will invite to attend this workshop to see all the work that each Huddle has put into this project.

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.