All in for Advancement
Most businesses want to create equitable workplaces for women, but far too often, office cultures fall short of being truly inclusive due to both conscious and unconscious behaviors. When female professionals are forced to deal with negative work environments, studies show they are far more likely to depart careers, companies, and industries. And when women leave the workplace, we know it hurts our economy and significantly depletes the talent pool.
To help Boston businesses address workplace issues that may be holding female professionals back, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Women’s Network and Babson College are pleased to partner on a new year-long, custom group leadership program designed to support organizations as they shape and shift their culture towards gender equity and inclusivity.
Our Mission: Develop co-ed leaders who will have a positive impact on their office cultures by helping them gain a deeper understanding of gender acumen and inclusion, and provide them with the learning tools needed to achieve inclusivity in the Greater Boston business community.
All in for Advancement Program Elements
- Curated educational sessions on gender acumen, entrepreneurial behavior and design thinking and stewarding culture change in the workplace, taught by Babson College faculty
- Peer support and networking within and across companies and industries
- Exposure to exemplary leaders of company culture change efforts
- Tailored group coaching to reach company identified goals through action learning projects
- Opportunity and support to launch a scalable pilot effort to support women’s inclusion (to be presented to company leadership at the end of the program)
- Opportunity to be part of a larger groundswell of support for women in the workforce in Greater Boston
Our Inaugural Cohort of 2019 INfluencers
*In addition to participating in the program, Comcast is the 2019 sponsor for All in for Advancement
Who Should Participate?
We are recruiting companies who are dedicated to supporting culture change from within and have the support of their CEO and senior leadership in championing inclusive cultures for women. Each company will identify and send three to four staff members to participate. We suggest choosing those participants based on the following criteria. There should be a mix of genders, functional areas/departments/ disciplines, seniority, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and other dimensions of diversity among the participants. Organizations should think about who does, or can, influence their office culture, formally or informally.
Focus on staff outside of human resources and diversity and inclusion departments. This is not a program meant for HR/D&I professionals as these employees have already been primed as a part of their job description to be aware of many of the points this program will be teaching. Therefore, the All in for Advancement program is targeting employees throughout the organization who can support and reinforce the work of their HR/D&I colleagues. HR/D&I officials’ input will be sought throughout the program. The program is an opportunity to lead a social innovation project and can be positioned as an opportunity to raise the professional profile of participants.
Commitment
- CEO, Boston/MA Office Managing Partner, or local office leadership commits to championing culture to retain and advance women, and, thus, support the organization’s participation in this program.
- Support for up to four participants with the time and resources to attend all formal sessions that run from February 2020 – January 2021 and approximately 10-15 hours per month needed to work on the pilot project within the organization.
- Internal supports and resources that are in place for pursuing culture change.
- $15,000 program fee which includes up to four participants.
Interested in joining All in for Advancement?
To be considered for our 2020 cohort, interested companies should request an informational session and submit a statement of interest. Company participants will be accepted on a rolling basis. Please contact Caitlin Fisher, Director of Leadership Initiatives.
Click here for more details on the All in for Advancement program.