Our Women and Leadership programme is designed to equip women from across the business with the tools, skills, confidence and support network to progress into senior leadership roles underpinning our ambition to have 40% women in leadership positions, globally, by 2020. In our regular series, ‘Five minutes with’, we catch up with some of this year’s cohort to hear about their experiences on the programme.

Why did you apply for the programme?

I applied for the Women and Leadership programme to develop my career and grow as a leader in what can often be a very male-dominated industry.  Women’s leadership is important to me because it supports female development within the workplace, changes the diversity within leadership teams and creates a new form of leadership altogether. I wanted to join the programme to become part of a movement and network that helps build the confidence of women who have strong career ambitions and who want to develop within the workplace.

What do you hope to achieve from being on the programme?

I love that the course provides an opportunity to meet with other like-minded female leaders within the DAN network and I hope to meet more of these amazing women throughout the programme.  I hope that by networking and learning from these women I will be able to achieve my ambitions as a female leader, supporting my team and encouraging their own development within the company. Thinking further ahead as a senior woman in leadership, I would like to become a mentor to encourage future female leaders and help create a more women-empowered workplace.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learnt so far?

The most important thing I have learnt so far is what it means to be politically skilled in the workplace and being able to apply these learnings in my day-to-day. If a difficult or challenging situation arises, I feel I am now better equipped to manage these thanks to the learnings I have adopted from the Women and Leadership programme.  With the variety of skills, tools and opportunities this course provides, I am learning how to grow in confidence and become a stronger female leader.

Abigail Roberts-Law is a Content Marketing Manager at iProspect