Women's Board & C-Suite Leadership Accelerator: Program Management Guide

1. Program Introduction & Benefits

This 12-month Women's Board & C-Suite Leadership Accelerator is a blended, coaching-rich, experiential journey designed to prepare high-potential women for board or senior management positions. Grounded in adult-learning and change frameworks, it is structured around clear milestones tied to actual advancement, visibility, and strategic impact. The program moves beyond skill-building to create a transformative experience that addresses the unique systemic challenges women face in reaching the highest echelons of leadership.

Strategic Benefits for Participants:

• Accelerated Career Progression: Directly prepares participants for promotion, expanded scope, or board appointment through a structured readiness plan, sponsorship, and visibility-building activities.
• Enhanced Strategic Influence: Develops the capability to think and act at an enterprise level, leading strategic initiatives and contributing meaningfully to board-level discussions.
• Robust Support Ecosystem: Provides a dedicated executive coach, a mentor, and facilitates connections with senior sponsors and a powerful peer cohort for ongoing support and advocacy.
• Increased Confidence & Executive Presence: Builds self-mastery, a strong leadership identity, and the communication, negotiation, and influence skills necessary to be effective and recognized in senior rooms.
• Expanded Strategic Network: Systematically builds a powerful internal and external network of allies, advisors, and sponsors critical for accessing opportunities and navigating organizational politics.

2. Program Expansion Strategy

Evaluation: The primary program is a comprehensive leadership development program, not exclusively a Mentorship or Coaching program. However, the research blueprint explicitly identifies coaching, mentoring, and sponsorship as core, non-optional components for success. Therefore, integrating a formal, structured supplemental Mentorship and Coaching layer is not just an addition—it is essential to achieving the program's goal of preparing women for board and senior management roles.

Value Addition & Implementation: A dedicated mentorship and coaching layer adds critical value by providing personalized guidance, safe spaces for reflection, and accountability for applying learned frameworks to real-world career transitions. Mentors offer wisdom, organizational navigation, and sponsorship pathways, while coaches facilitate deep self-discovery, challenge limiting beliefs, and support behavior change using models like GROW.

Implementation Note: The program will formally match each participant with both an Executive Coach (external or certified internal) for 1:1 development work and a Senior Leader Mentor (internal, typically two levels above the participant) for career and organizational guidance. This will be managed through a structured agreement outlining meeting frequency (e.g., bi-monthly for coaching, monthly for mentoring), focus areas, and expected outcomes tied to the participant's Board Readiness Plan.

3. Implementation Roadmap

Launch Phase (Months -1 to 0)

• $render`✓` Secure executive sponsorship and budget.
• $render`✓` Form steering committee with senior leaders (including program alumni if applicable).
• $render`✓` Finalize curriculum design based on the four content pillars.
• $render`✓` Select and contract with executive coaching partners.
• $render`✓` Recruit and train cohort of Senior Leader Mentors.
• $render`✓` Launch participant nomination and selection process (manager and HRBP involvement).
• $render`✓` Conduct participant onboarding: pre-program 360 assessments, strengths profiling, and goal-setting interviews.
• $render`✓` Execute formal kick-off event with all participants, coaches, mentors, and sponsors.

Tracking & Operations (Months 1-12)

• Program Management Platform: Utilize a central platform (see Approved Tools) to track participant progress, coaching/mentoring session logs, assignment submissions, and milestone completion.
• Cohort Manager: Assign a dedicated program manager to facilitate workshops, coordinate logistics, check in with participants, and serve as liaison for coaches and mentors.
• Rhythm of Review:
  • Monthly: Peer learning circle meetings.
  • Bi-Monthly: 1:1 Executive Coaching sessions.
  • Monthly/Bi-Monthly: Mentor check-ins.
  • Quarterly: Progress reviews between participant, program manager, and (where appropriate) the participant's line manager against the Board Readiness Plan.
• Milestone Gates: Formal review at each of the 5 critical milestones (Month 1, 3, 6, 9, 12) to ensure participants are on track, adjusting support as needed.

Success Measurement

• Quantitative KPIs:
  • Participant Promotion/Appointment Rate: % promoted, given significant expanded scope, or appointed to a board/committee within 12-24 months post-program.
  • Network Growth: Average increase in senior-level (Director+) contacts documented in participant's power map.
  • Program Completion: >90% completion rate of all core milestones.
  • Pre/Post Assessment: Measurable increase in leadership confidence and capability scores.
• Qualitative KPIs:
  • 360-Degree Feedback: Narrative analysis from pre- and post-program 360 reviews on strategic contribution and executive presence.
  • Sponsor & Manager Feedback: Structured interviews on observed changes in participant's readiness and impact.
  • Participant Artifacts: Quality and business impact of final strategic project presentations and board-ready CVs.
  • Alumnae Impact Case Studies: Collection of stories detailing policy changes, DEI initiatives, or business outcomes led by program graduates.

4. Approved Tools List

• Coaching Software: Primary Tool. Essential for scheduling, securing, documenting, and tracking outcomes of the mandatory 1:1 executive coaching sessions. Provides structure and measurability to this critical program component.
• LMS (Learning Management System): Primary Tool. Necessary for delivering asynchronous formal learning content (recorded masterclasses, articles, reflection guides), housing the resource library, tracking workshop attendance, and managing assignment submissions for a blended 12-month journey.
• Mentorship Software: Highly Recommended. While matching can be done manually, dedicated software significantly improves the scalability, tracking, and support of the supplemental mentor layer, facilitating matching, goal-setting, and meeting logging.
• Personality Test / Leadership Assessment: Required Diagnostic Tool. Integral to the "Self-Mastery" pillar. Provides a validated, shared language for participants to understand their leadership style, strengths, and potential derailers, forming the basis for coaching and development planning.
• Internal Social Network: Supporting Tool. Useful for fostering ongoing community and dialogue among the cohort, alumni, mentors, and coaches beyond formal sessions, encouraging peer support and knowledge sharing.

(Justification for Omitted Tools: ERG Program Software is too narrow; Onboarding Platform is not fit for purpose; Internal Social Network is supportive but not core to program delivery.)

5. Resource & Content Library

General Program Content

• Foundational Frameworks: Explainers and application guides for the 70-20-10 Model, ADKAR Change Model, and GROW Coaching Model.
• Leadership Identity: Video masterclasses on values-driven leadership, crafting a personal leadership narrative, and overcoming impostor syndrome.
• Strategic Leadership: Case studies on strategic decision-making, board governance fundamentals, and financial acumen for non-financial leaders.
• Influence & Negotiation: Interactive modules on advanced negotiation tactics, executive presence, and managing gendered communication dynamics.
• Networks & Sponsorship: Guides on mapping power and influence networks, differentiating mentorship from sponsorship, and building a board-ready profile.
• Application Templates: Personal Board Readiness Plan template, Strategic Initiative Charter, 90-Day Onboarding Plan for a new executive role.

Supplemental Mentoring Content Table

To equip mentors (senior leaders) to effectively support their mentees' advancement goals, the following soft-skills content is provided.

Topic	Description	Format
Active Listening for Sponsorship	Moving beyond advice-giving to deep understanding of mentee's challenges and aspirations.	Short Video & Checklist
Giving Strategic Career Feedback	Framing feedback on business impact and strategic contribution, not just style.	Guide & Role-play Scenario
Advocacy & Visibility Tactics	How to proactively create opportunities and advocate for your mentee in senior forums.	Article & Discussion Prompts
Navigating Organizational Politics	Coaching mentees on understanding and ethically influencing power structures.	Case Study
Goal-Setting for Board Readiness	Using the GROW model to help mentees set and achieve specific, ambitious advancement goals.	Worksheet & Template