Fifty Shades of Women Brochure – KPMG pilot – February 2014


Kate Nash Associates

Kate Nash Associates is the UK’s lead consultancy in the establishment and delivery of workplace disability networks and resource groups. In the last seven years we have set up, or supported the delivery of 230 workplace networks in the public and private sector across the UK.The reach of these networks extends to several thousands of disabled employees. And the successful establishment of networks is having a powerful effect on the vision and ambition of disabled talent in all organisations.

Our work has helped thousands of disabled people to notice the soft insidious bigotry of low expectation that often comes from many significant others, including work colleagues and one’s dearest loved ones. We support individuals to protect themselves from the low expectation of others. Our experience is that it can often be the first step for disabled employees to get the workplace adjustments they may need and in building a successful and fulfilling career. It can galvanise individuals and enable them to offer exceptional contributions to UK employers looking for diverse talent.

In order to support disabled employees to flourish at work we have an established a portfolio of successful open and in-house training courses and workshops for networks and disabled employees.

EDIT Development

EDIT development are a business that focuses on developing people. We work with clients to create experiences that make a difference and give clear return on investment. We focus on three core areas of people development, Coaching, Team Building and Diversity and Inclusion. We believe that high performing individuals need to develop an understanding of the capabilities and behaviours required across four key areas. This is the very heart of EDIT.

Our work is focused on raising awareness of changes required for high performance, and supporting the development of capability to develop behaviour. We take a strengths based approach to learning and we offer pragmatic action centered solutions to our client’s needs and work in partnership to develop and deliver high impact experiences which give clear return on investment.

We have many years’ experience in working with organisations to build their female talent pipeline, through working with employee and client resource groups as well as building programmes aimed at women to support organisational talent pipeline. We are the content delivery partner for the Opportunties4Women conferences, Diversity Career Show and the European Diversity Conference. We have also done extensive work with many employee resource groups across the UK.

Fifty Shades of Women is a one-day workshop co-created by Kate Nash Associates and EDIT Development.

Contents

The power of personal development for disabled women

What role does targeted training have in being effective at work?

Getting on, getting ahead, getting promotion

Aims of workshop andlearning goals

Workshop creators and facilitators

The power of personal development for disabled women

There are lots of training courses and development opportunities that can help people to:

  • improve their personal effectiveness;
  • enhance their quality of life;
  • realise dreams and aspirations;
  • develop their sense of identity.

But when did you last find a learning experience specifically designed to do all of the above from the perspective of having a disability or long term health condition which affects your effectiveness at work or in your daily life?

And one tailored just for women?

You haven’t found one?

Well you have now.

Kate Nash Associates and EDIT Development have partnered to pool our many years of working with thousands of disabled people and professional women around the world.

Together, we have co-designed Fifty Shades of Women, a one-day workshop for disabled women designed for disability confident employers.

Fifty Shades of Women will be piloted on 12th February 2014 for 30 disabled women in management grades, across 10 of their employer clients and contacts. We expect that following evaluation we will roll this out to employers across the UK.

What role does targeted training have in being effective at work?

Increasing resilience and investing in disabled talent

Kate Nash Associates and EDIT Development have independently coached a growing ecosystem of thousands of talented women and disabled people.

We often hear how and when folk move from ‘good’ to ‘great’.

It can be tough for women to work with politics organizationally, socially and in the home. And it can be even tougher when you first acquire a disability or health condition. It can result in:

  • Losing self confidence;
  • Getting bogged down in thinking this will always be “tough” and will dominate your life and work;
  • Worrying about whether it will impact you negatively at work;
  • Thinking that it will impact on what your colleagues will think about you;
  • Settling for what you think you can achieve

Learning how to negotiate your way through these things and develop personal strategies while holding down a busy job at the same time is a tall order. It is not easy. Even the most confident women will spend time thinking about their own personal strategies for dealing with all these things.

And the good news?

New strategies can be taught.

Fifty Shades of Women will help disabled women to understand the tools and techniques you can use at work to ensure you define your own personal success and maximize your full potential to achieve this success.

Getting on, getting ahead, getting promotion

Three stages of change for disability confident organisations

Weare entering a third stage of building sustainable culture change in recruiting and developing disabled employees.

The first stage was the establishment of equalities legislation secured in 1995 and now harmonized under the Equality Act 2010.

The second stage has been the process by which employers have become, and continue to become, disability confident organisations through the systematic use of best practice tools and enabling products. That stage continues.

Meanwhile, the third stage has begun. It is the age when disabled employees share their personal strategies for developing self confidence and career advancement. We have seen, over and over again that being able to find the space to talk these things through with like minded colleagues supports the employer too - so that they continue to invest in their disabled talent, their careers and their progression.

It’s about getting on, not just getting in

Over the next decade we will see disability confident employers investing in disabled employees:

  • in their visibility – every employer has between 10-15% disabled employees in their workforce;
  • in understanding the lived experience of disabled employees – to improve employee engagement;
  • in the interaction between disabled employees and the organisation – to improve policy and practice from first-hand experiences.

We think that investing in quality personal development training for disabled women– for business impact - will have a strong role to play in the next stage of successful employment of disabled people.

As disabled women at workstart to rehearse the personal strategies that they can employ to build resilience at work, a new narrative will emerge. It will move from being one of “getting in” to “getting on”.

The Fifty Shades of Women workshop is designed to support the process.

The Workshop - aims of workshop and learning goals

Who is it for?

The workshop is designed for delegates from all backgrounds, ages and stages of their lives. This pilot is designed for disabled women in management grades.

For employers, the programme enables them to develop their disabled women to their fullest potential and the learning is a vital component in the development of disability confident organisations.

What are the benefits?

The workshop will help delegates to be more effective on two levels. The first is personal and the second more work focused, tackling how you can deliver your work more effectively as women.

  • It will help you to know yourself;
  • It will help you to maximise your career potential look at what you want out of life;
  • It will help you to look at image and reputation and how your portray yourself with a disability or health condition;
  • It will help you make connections and the skills required to maximise your visibility
  • It will develop your self-belief and help you take control of your life.

Our pilot, and subsequent workshops, will be run for 30 women.

What results might I expect?

As a result, you can expect to:

  • Reach more insights into how you can overcome self-limiting beliefs and behaviours as a disabled women;
  • Have a fresh chance to start to find new solutions to old problems;
  • Gain some insight into your strengths and development areas in the workplace and for your career;
  • Have some practical ideas to start using immediately.

During the workshop delegates will:

During the workshop delegates will engage in a series of discussions and activities to help them build their self-awareness, their definition of success and map out the next steps for maximizing their true potential.

We close with drinks, a panel discussion with business leaders about how to get ahead at work, and networking.

Workshop creators and facilitators

Kate Nash OBE

Kate Nash is the UK’s lead consultant and trainer in the establishment and delivery of workplace disability networks and resource groups. The reach of these networks extends to several thousands of disabled employees. Her company Kate Nash Associates and their portfolio of training are having a powerful effect on the vision and ambition of disabled talent across the business and public sector.

Kate started her early career supporting disabled people to set up self-help support groups. She has worked in many disability organisations and was Chief Executive of Radar between 2001-2007. She chaired the merger between Radar, Disability Alliance and National Centre for Independent Living in 2012.

After a long successful career campaigning for legislative change she now supports disabled employees to be themselves at work, ask for the adjustments they need and helps employers mine their talent and develop their success.

In addition to leading Kate Nash Associates, Kate is a non-executive director of Remploy and associate and senior advisor at Business Disability Forum. Having campaigned for many years for equalities legislation for disabled people she was awarded an OBE in 2007 for services to disabled people. She was appointed Ambassador to Disability Rights UK in 2012 and Global Ambassador to Business Disability International in 2013.

Sonia Bate

Sonia Bate is the Director of EDIT Development. She is an internationally experienced leadership development consultant with particular expertise in the areas of inclusive leadership, women and leadership, relationship management and executive impact. Sonia has over fourteen years’ experience in leadership, and consulting. Sonia has held senior leadership positions in both retail and the financial services sector so brings broad commercial and operational experience to the organizations she works with.

She is a gender diversity expert and works with organisations to build the talent pipeline of women, as well as works with senior teams to build a more inclusive culture. She sits on the government’s gender pipeline review committee and is the content partner for the Opportunties4Women conferences in the UK. A keynote speaker, facilitator and Executive Coach, Sonia is passionate about making a difference to the demographic and performance landscapes of global businesses.

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