Empowering Women Leaders: Enhancing Organizational Culture

9-2 Final Project Milestone 3: Application | Roy, Ashley Ashley Roy 9-2 Final Project Milestone 3: Application OL-676 Women in Leadership February 10, 2024 pg. 1

9-2 Final Project Milestone 3: Application | Roy, Ashley Implementing restored structures and organizational culture that supports women leaders and their advancement has many benefits to any organization. Fostering and developing women leaders supports diversity and inclusion, allows for more representation of women which empowers other women to seek career advancement and attract more talent, while contributing to a more equitable work environment. Design and cultural elements that support women in leadership establishes an environment that supports inclusion and empowers other women to achieve leadership roles. Southern New Hampshire University has many design and cultural elements in place currently, that supports the development of women leaders. This includes representation of women leaders in high-level leadership positions, flexible remote work and time-off for employees, and professional development programs centered around aspiring women leaders, to name a few. Additionally, SNHU values diversity and inclusion, implementing strategies on how to improve and support this mission with creating safe spaces for employees, representation of people from marginalized backgrounds and providing training and development resources to employees that are both mandatory and voluntary. While SNHU has been and continues to be an organization that supports women leaders and the representation of women in leadership, the work in creating a culture that empowers and advocates for women leaders is ongoing. SNHU has had a huge push towards diversity and inclusion initiatives for both supporting student’s and employees alike, and this initiative has been successful, moving into a more proactive phase than reactive. I believe there is still more room for improvement, specifically with developing more mentorship programs and ensuring the programs that are already in place more visible and accessible. Mentorship provides aspiring pg. 2

9-2 Final Project Milestone 3: Application | Roy, Ashley women leaders with examples of real-life experience of women in leadership roles, the obstacles they face, inspiration of overcoming obstacles, and supports the expansion of the mentee’s network. (Castrillon, 2023) SNHU has great professional development programs, which are all available to help support employee career advancement. This is excellent, but there is no clear direction or promotion of these programs that are explained to employees and encouraged. Bringing these programs to the forefront of conversations and providing an individualized road map that is based on one’s own goals, while also providing the specific professional development programs that align with their goals would be a way to encourage and empower talent to use these resources. Most of the employees and staff do not know that there are leadership mentor programs available. Additionally, Southern New Hampshire University has access to a wide range of talent, given that most if not all employees who work for the online sector are remote. This allows SNHU to access talent in areas of the United States that are more diverse than just New Hampshire. SNHU should utilize this asset to expand the talent pipeline to hiring future women leaders from diverse backgrounds. Implementing intentional diversity, equity, and inclusion training more regularly, while also checking on the pulse of the culture. Specifically training on identifying unconscious bias and gender bias. Where is SNHU missing the opportunity to improve unconscious biases or ensuring that there is a consistent promotion of gender equality? Creating more spaces for employees to come together and have general conversation regarding topics around diversity and inclusion. Encouraging conversations that include women and gender bias, racial and ethnic minorities, the LGBTQ+ community and people with disabilities experiences will challenge unconscious bias in the work environment. Using training and development to foster inclusive pg. 3

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9-2 Final Project Milestone 3: Application | Roy, Ashley language, navigating language barriers, cultural differences, and gender pronouns will facilitate an organizational culture that values and supports an open, safe environment for collaboration and communication. Implementing these design and culture elements would enhance the already strong foundations and strategies SNHU has in place on supporting and developing women leaders. pg. 4

9-2 Final Project Milestone 3: Application | Roy, Ashley References Castrillon, C. (2023, July 26). Why Women Benefit From Mentors In The Workplace . Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2023/07/26/why-women- benefit-from-mentors-in-the-workplace/?sh=4a8ec0822622 Staff, L. E. (2022, March 06). Making Gender Equity in the Workplace a Reality . Retrieved from Center for Creative Leadership: https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/gender-equity-workplace/ Staff, L. E. (2022, March 08). Retaining & Developing Women Leaders: 5 Steps for Success . Retrieved from Center for Creative Leadership: https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading- effectively-articles/5-proven-ways-develop-female-talent/ pg. 5

OL 676_9-2 Final Project Milestone 3-Application_Ashley Roy

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