Women’s Leadership Programs Help Stem Loss of Women from Today’s Workforce
At a time when McKinsey/LeanIn reports that senior-level women are 1.5 times more likely than senior-level men to think about downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce because of COVID, companies are rethinking ways to engage and retain strong talent. In response, agilon health designed a 6-month program to provide leadership workshops, individual coaching, and a supportive network to 20 high-potential women. agilon reported ten months later that they have retained 100% of the participants and promoted three to senior leadership roles.
Dedicated to improving the health care delivery system for patients and physicians, agilon health has a workforce that is majority women, but they recognized a gap in the percent of women in senior management.
They partnered with ReBoot Accel in January 2020, to develop and kick-off a six-month ‘EmpowHER’ Leadership Program designed to increase impact, productivity, and confidence for future leaders. The women initially met in person and then shifted to Microsoft Teams for bi-weekly workshops around topics designed to use their power and strengthen their influence. Sessions included the importance of mindset and intentional presence in being an effective leader, while also covering communication skills around having difficult conversations, negotiation, and speaking with impact. Accountability groups helped strengthen the connections between sessions, and individual meetings with ReBoot Accel coaches deepened the personal learning.
Veeral Desai, Chief Strategy and Development Officer commented, “At agilon health, we are deeply committed to creating a diverse and inclusive organization – top to bottom. EmpowHER offered robust training and dedicated coaching to accelerate the development of female leaders in the company. Feedback from the team has been terrific, and we are looking to leverage this programmatic framework across our broader D&I efforts.”
In addition to the benefit of retention, participants attested to increases in their productivity and on their impact on business outcomes. Participants also said the program left them feeling empowered and motivated to share their learnings with their teams. A full 100% recommended that the program be continued and offered both to those above the director level and those not yet in management.