University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

An online strategic career planning and leadership development curriculum for women in upper-division undergraduate and graduate programs

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An online strategic career planning and leadership development curriculum for women in upper-division undergraduate and graduate programs

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Content Running head: LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 1
AN ONLINE STRATEGIC CAREER PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN IN UPPER-DIVISION UNDERGRADUATE AND
GRADUATE PROGRAMS

by

Brittany Manzer

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

August 2017

Copyright 2017 Brittany Manzer

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 2
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my chair Dr. Kimberly Hirabayashi for her guidance during the
dissertation process and for contributing to my learning and growth throughout my entire time in
this program. I would also like to thank Dr. Tracy Poon Tambascia and Dr. Felicia Hunt for
agreeing to serve on my committee and advising me in the development of this curriculum. I am
grateful to my chair and committee members for their time and the wealth of knowledge each
shared from their respective areas of expertise in educational psychology, student affairs, higher
education administration, gender equity, minority student success, and preparing emerging
professionals.
The journey to the doctorate and tackling my dissertation will forever be marked by the
wonderful educators, counselors, and professionals I had the honor to collaborate with and learn
from along the way. I am lucky to have shared this experience with an incredible USC cohort
who quickly became my Trojan family who I am thrilled to celebrate alongside. I would
especially like to thank Ryan and Nisha for the friendship we have built over the last three years
and, of course, for always being available for feedback and to vent when needed. I am also
thankful for the higher education teams and students who have shaped my career, especially my
mentors and colleagues at UC Santa Barbara, UC Riverside, Mount Saint Mary’s University, Cal
Poly San Luis Obispo, and Allan Hancock College. A few special shout-outs to Stephanie, for
the unwavering support and many brainstorms since that first day together; Angela, for inspiring
me with such a strong and passionate voice for equity in higher education; and to my dearest
Maya and Monica for being my creative and emotional support team both in and out of the
office, and for the lifelong friendship I feel blessed to share with you both.
I am forever grateful to my family and loved ones. I am especially thankful to my
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 3
wonderful grandparents for a lifetime of unconditional support and to my epic crew of aunts,
uncles, and cousins from the Gallagher and Manzer families for cheering me on and keeping me
motivated. Shout out to Jessica and Ciara who were a source of inspiration while writing on this
topic. A special thank you to the Gowing family for so thoughtfully opening up their home to
me. Thank you to my brother Zac for the countless motivational pep talks over the years and
world-renowned comedic small-talk that always helps me forget my worries. I am incredibly
thankful to Carrie, Alex, Jorge, and Amber for their years of friendship and good times, for
always making me smile and helping me de-stress, and especially for understanding when the
program consumed my time and I was pulled away or had to miss big celebrations in your lives.
My deepest appreciation and love to Shotaro, who has been the sweetest surprise in life
and an unparalleled partner—Thanks for your constant encouragement and confidence in me, for
being selfless during the demands of this dissertation, for helping me enjoy those successful
moments each day, and of course for contributing your deduping expertise to this dissertation.
Most importantly, I would like to thank my parents Janice and Warren for helping me
persevere and empowering me to work toward my goals. I would not be where I am today
without you, and I am beyond excited to share this moment with you two. Thank you for the
endless support and patience, even in my least agreeable moments, and for providing the
perspective I always need to hear. I lovingly dedicate this dissertation to you, mom and dad.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 4
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments 2
Abstract 6
Chapter One: Problem of Practice and Review of Relevant Literature 7
Statement of the Problem of Practice 7
Background of the Problem 7
Importance of the Problem 9
Causes of the Problem of Practice 11
Leader Identity Development and Access to Critical Career Resources 14
Issues with Career and Leadership Development Interventions 16
Challenges to Career Advancement within the Workplace 17
Solutions and Approaches to the Problem of Practice 19
Solutions Related to Motivation and Self-Efficacy 20
General Suggestions to Enhance Leadership Development Interventions in College 24
Other Curricula 27
Developing Management Competencies in a femaleMBA (fMBA) 27
Undergraduate Online Leadership Certificate Program 29
Four-Year Professional Development Requirement 30
Entrepreneurship Education and Training (EET) 32
Learner Characteristics Related to the Problem of Practice 33
Characteristics of Adults 33
Characteristics of Successful Leaders in the 21st Century 35
Summary 38
Chapter Two: Curriculum Overview 39
Curriculum Description 39
Learner Description and Context 40
Learners’ Prior Knowledge 40
Theoretical Framework and Research-Based Practices 41
Identity Development 41
Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) 43
Social Cognitive Theory 44
Design Justifications and Acknowledgement of Designer Bias 45
Designer Bias 50
Curriculum Outcomes 50
Description of Curriculum Assessments 51
Description of Curriculum Activities 54
Topics 56
Assessment and Evaluation 60
Level One: Reaction 61
Level Two: Learning 65
Level Three: Behavior 66
Level Four: Results 68
Scope and Sequence Chart 71

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 5
Chapter Three: Curriculum Design 73
Unit 1 Overview: Fundamentals of Leadership Development and Strategic Career Planning 73
Unit 1 Web Content: Fundamentals of Leadership Development & Strategic Career
Planning 75
Unit 2 Overview: Self-Awareness and Self-Assessment 82
Unit 2 Web Content: Self-Awareness and Self-Assessment 84
Unit 3 Overview: Professional Communication Skills for Emerging Leaders 89
Unit 3 Web Content: Professional Communication Skills for Emerging Leaders 91
Unit 4 Overview: How to Build and Expand a Network 98
Unit 4 Web Content: How to Build and Expand a Network 100
Unit 5 Overview: Coping Strategies for Career Advancement 106
Unit 5 Web Content: Coping Strategies for Career Advancement 108
Unit 6 Overview: Move Forward on Your Leadership Path 115
Unit 6 Web Content: Move Forward on Your Leadership Path 117
Chapter Four: Recommendations for Implementation 124
General Considerations and Limitations 124
Instruction and Design Recommendations 125
Student Participation and Employer Engagement 128
References 132
Appendix: Definition of Terms 163

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 6
Abstract
Research has found that women remain underrepresented in occupational leadership roles
and face barriers well before entering the workforce that inhibit career advancement. This is an
important problem to address at the college level because pre-career interventions can help
mitigate gender disadvantages and promote future leader development and career advancement.
Further, having women in leadership roles is vital to the success of businesses. The purpose of
this paper is to review the causes, solutions, existing curricula, and relevant learner
characteristics related to this problem of practice. Theoretical frameworks and research-based
practices from educational psychology, leader development, and career theory were considered
to inform the design of a curriculum that addresses this problem of practice and the needs of pre-
career women in upper-division undergraduate and graduate programs.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 7
CHAPTER ONE: PROBLEM OF PRACTICE AND REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE
While the representation of women in occupational leadership roles has continued to
progress, the literature has clearly documented that women do not advance in their careers to
leadership roles at the same rate as their male counterparts across all industries in the United
States (Alliance for Board Diversity, 2012; Babaeva & Chirikova, 2014; Corbett & Hill, 2012;
Dey & Hill, 2007; Holder, Jackson, & Ponterotto, 2015; Parker, Horowitz, & Rohal, 2015; Salas-
Lopez, Deitrick, Mahady, Gertner, & Sabino, 2011). Studies indicate that women are
disadvantaged well before entering the workplace, facing a myriad of factors that inhibit their
career advancement and development as leaders (Dugan & Komives, 2007; Fitzsimmons, Callan,
& Paulsen, 2014; McCormick, Tanguma, & López-Forment, 2002; Ryan et al., 2015). In short,
early disadvantages and issues related to knowledge and motivation influence women’s
leadership aspirations and career persistence, contributing to their persistent underrepresentation
in occupational leadership roles. The purpose of this review of literature is to better understand
this problem of practice.
Statement of the Problem of Practice
Background of the Problem
It is helpful to briefly review some of the trends in women’s career advancement to
introduce this problem of practice. Research indicates that the pipeline from college to career has
prepared enough qualified, degree-holding women to fill available occupational leadership
positions in the workforce (Johnson, 2016). Women have earned at least half of all
undergraduate and graduate degrees over the past three decades (Kena et al., 2016; Johnson,
2016) and women are nearly half of the U.S. workforce, having achieved near parity with men at
early career levels (Babaeva & Chirikova, 2014; Hill, 2016). Further, more than half of all
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 8
management, professional, and related occupations are held by women (Catalyst, 2016). Despite
overall gains, women are not advancing to leadership occupations at the same rate as men.
Women remain underrepresented further up in leadership ranks or are occupationally
minoritized, a term used by scholars to discuss “those whose sexuality and gender have been
consigned to lower status, visibility, and power” (Vaccaro, Russell, & Koob, 2015, p. 25). Their
underrepresentation in leadership roles has been characterized as a leaky pipeline issue in that
women are less likely to be represented in advanced career occupations such as senior or elite
leadership, with women holding 5.8% of CEO positions and a man four and a half times more
likely to reach the boardroom as compared to a woman (Bystydzienski & Bird, 2006; Catalyst,
2016; Dannels et al., 2009; Eagly & Carli, 2007; Helfat, Harris, & Wolfson, 2006; National
Research Council, 2007; Salas-Lopez et al., 2011; West & Curtis, 2006). There are several
factors that contribute to this problem. For example, women lack access to critical leadership and
career assets as adolescents and early adults, which leads to persistent limitations throughout
their careers, and they are likely to have lower leadership self-efficacy than men (Fitzsimmons et
al., 2014; Ryan et al., 2015). These are just some of the dynamics that aid in better understanding
the severity of women’s career climb within the leadership pipeline.
The complexity of this problem is a reflection of deep-rooted societal and environmental
issues in workplaces that cannot be resolved in isolation at the college level. The scope of this
study, however, is narrowly focused on how these larger issues and contextual barriers relate to
attitudes and skills at the individual level that have an impact on women's leadership
development as pre-career individuals and the important role higher education plays in preparing
women to navigate the climate and barriers within professional environments they enter post-
graduation. An early, pre-career intervention, such as a college-level curriculum, is one strategy
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 9
to mitigate the motivational and learning issues that influence women’s advancement to
occupational leadership roles. Several studies found interventions offered in college help women
access critical assets for career advancement, promoting both future access to and engagement in
leadership development throughout their careers (Dugan & Komives, 2007; Dugan & Komives,
2010; Fitzsimmons et al., 2014; Hopkins et al., 2008). Further, interventions prior to entering the
workforce can have a positive impact on self-efficacy, motivation, leadership capacity, leader
identity development, and may influence the ability to navigate organizational barriers in
professional experiences post-graduation (Boatwright et al, 2003; Dugan, 2011; Fitzsimmons et
al., 2014; Gracia, 2009). It is, therefore, critical to design a college-level curriculum, informed by
pertinent motivational and learning issues, to address this problem of practice and promote
women’s continued leadership development and career advancement, preparing women to assess
and navigate environmental barriers.
Importance of the Problem
This problem is important to address for several reasons. First, promoting women’s
career advancement and attainment of leadership roles is critical because of the positive impact
they have in the workforce as leaders in corporations. The fastest-growing businesses have more
women in senior roles, and greater gender diversity in executive roles correlates to higher sales,
economic gains, and returns on invested capital and equity (Babaeva & Chirikova, 2014).
Leadership teams are also more effective at addressing stakeholder concerns when women hold
director roles because diverse leadership skills better allow them to reflect the consumer
population (World Economic Forum, 2015). Furthermore, when women are represented in top
corporate positions, there is generally less organizational gender segregation, greater access to
the top of organizational hierarchies, and greater likelihood of women being promoted to top
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 10
positions (Stainback, Kleiner, & Skaggs, 2015). Encouraging more women to engage in senior
leadership roles helps ensure companies acquire the best employees from the talent pool and
helps them attract future talent by creating role models for women (Burke & Nelson, 2002;
Burke & Vinnicombe, 2005). These benefits are critical to the success of businesses and failing
to address this problem, and thus failing to support the pipeline of women in leadership, will
mean that organizations and society miss out on excellent leaders.
Second, it is important to address this problem at the college level because failing to do
so inhibits higher education’s goal of developing leaders. Higher education has historically
aimed to prepare leaders for post-college roles in both careers and communities, and research
over the past two decades illustrates investment in leadership development through the growth of
curricular and co-curricular programs and the emergence of professional standards and interest in
assessing student leadership outcomes (Astin & Astin, 2000; Dugan & Komives, 2007; Owen,
2012). While the aforementioned initiatives underscore how higher education leaders have
continued to assume responsibility for their role in developing leaders, emerging literature still
emphasizes the need for further improvement.
Specific recommendations continue to be made to enhance leadership development
interventions, improve targeted student involvement in such programs (Dugan & Komives, 2007,
2010), update theoretical frames, and better define leadership training in conjunction with
employers (Ely, Ibarra, & Kolb, 2011; Jenkins, 2015; Petriglieri & Petriglieri, 2010).
Furthermore, while education is viewed as a deliberate economic investment and preparation for
the workforce, women see different economic outcome returns on their educational investments
as compared to other groups (Becker et al., 1990; Nafukho et al, 2004; Reskin & Charles, 1999)
as further illustrated by the persistent occupational segregation and systemic gender pay parity
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 11
issues mentioned earlier (Babaeva & Chirikova, 2014; Cocchiara et al., 2006; Catalyst, 2016).
Thus, while a variety of college-level interventions exist, it is still pertinent to enhance leadership
development initiatives that help colleges meet their goal of developing leaders and to better
address the persistent occupational inequities women face post-college.
Causes of the Problem of Practice
Causes of the problem of practice reviewed below aim to build a bridge between the
individual and the environmental barriers. Specifically, the causes reviewed focus on how larger
environmental and societal issues materialize at the individual level to influence women’s career
advancement and development as leaders prior to and once they enter the workplace. While the
causes below influence individual’s motivation and self-efficacy, and inherently influence other
factors, some of the key trends from the literature are factors stemming from sense of belonging
and occupational stereotypes, access to effective social networks, sufficient opportunities for
leader identity development, access to knowledge related to career success, and direct leadership
experiences.
Sense of Belonging and Access to Social Networks
There are many factors that contribute to leader identity development and leadership self-
efficacy while adding to the complexity of the attrition issue for women within the leadership
pipeline. Low self-efficacy and perceptions of career options influence women’s motivation
related to leadership roles. Studies have found that college women are more likely to have lower
self-efficacy in their leadership abilities than men despite their actual competence or leadership
capacity, which is a term used to describe leadership knowledge, attitudes, and skills (Dugan &
Komives, 2007; McCormick et al., 2002). This is compounded by the fact that women in the
workforce tend to self-rate their workplace contributions lower than their male counterparts and
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 12
are, thus, less likely to sufficiently self-promote personal contributions which may contribute to
inaccurate evaluations or perceptions from others. Inaccuracies, then, may lead to inequitable
promotional opportunities for women to advance in their careers (Applebaum et al., 2013;
Heilman, 2001; Hutson, 2010).
Additionally, women are less likely to have sufficient directly related leadership
experience and less opportunity to demonstrate skills due to occupational segregation in lower
level positions that lead to less visibility in the workplace (Boatwright, et al., 2003; Burt, 1998;
Kilian, Hukai, & McCarty, 2005; Tharenou, 1999; Vaccaro et al., 2015). In other words, women
are less likely to have enactive mastery experiences, or personal successes, with leadership that
positively contribute to self-efficacy, and they lack opportunities to demonstrate knowledge to
advance in their careers. Lower self-efficacy leads to low motivation and can contribute to stress
and anxiety, causing individuals to disengage in challenging learning tasks (Putney &
Broughton, 2011; Zeldin & Pajares, 2000). Thus, it is important to consider the challenges
related to self-efficacy beliefs and motivation to better understand how women navigate and
thrive in male-dominated occupations.
Women’s motivation has been shaped by many other factors, including lacking a sense of
belonging within traditionally male-dominated occupations such as leadership (Marra et al.,
2009; Zumbrunn, McKim, Buhs, & Hawley, 2014). Women’s sense of belonging is influenced
well before entering the workforce and influences their career decisions and occupational
expectations. Some contributing factors stem from societal perceptions or stereotypes of
gendered roles and bias expectations among leaders who inherently favor men and may
undervalue women’s approach to leadership and contribute to women perceiving less career
opportunities or more barriers to advancement (Dannels et al., 2009; Ely et al., & 2011;
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 13
Tharenou, 1999). Status and power associated with occupations is socially constructed, and
society has historically negatively associated femininity with leadership aspirations. In other
words, an individual’s gender profile, or the perceived degree of femininity or masculinity
society associates with an individual’s demographic characteristics, can determine an
individual’s employability and fit for occupational roles perceived as masculine or feminine
(Boatwright et al., 2003; Hall, Galinsky, & Phillips, 2015; Kang & Bodenhausen, 2015).
Stereotypes may also threaten how women evaluate themselves and understand their
identity, which, in turn, can have an impact on achievement and performance. For the purpose of
this paper, stereotype threat refers to the expectation that one will be judged based on social
identity group membership rather than performance and potential (Roberson & Kulik, 2007) for
vocational and leadership roles. For instance, women often perceive a range of obstacles to
leadership advancement, and stereotypes may influence these expectations (Ezzedeen, Budworth,
& Baker, 2015) due to persistent historical gender stereotypes and the additional challenges that
women in leadership roles face (McThomas & Tesler, 2016). Ibarra and Petriglieri (2016) use the
phrase “impossible selves” to refer to the prescribed leadership identity and behaviors which
seem out of reach to women due to gender beliefs and workplace practices that inherently favor
men and have an impact on women’s engagement in developmental activities that inform their
leader identity.
Additionally, sense of belonging and self-efficacy is influenced by lack of access to role
models and limited social capital. Social capital is conceptualized as the accessible resources and
value an individual can gain relative to their location and interactions in a social network of
individuals or groups (Lin, 2000). Specifically, women have few role models to look to within a
workplace’s leadership ranks to offer a critical model of a leadership style that may be congruent
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 14
with their own self-concepts (Ely, 1994; Ely et al., 2011; Ibarra, 1993). Other issues with limited
social capital include lack of sufficient access to high-status mentors, effective networks, and
sponsorship opportunities, which contribute to exclusion from informal networks within
organizations (Burt, 1998; Catalyst, 2016; Clarke, 2011; Dannels et al., 2009; Eagly & Carli,
2007; Higgins, 2001; Ibarra, 1993; Kilian et al., 2005; Lin, 2000; Maguire, 2016; O’Neil et al.,
2008; Ryan et al., 2015). Maguire (2016) also found that women’s use of social media tools as a
means of developing social capital is limited, and that women perceive limited value in social
media as a tool. This is a major contributor to this problem of practice since the value gained
from social capital promotes access to critical knowledge and career mobility through higher
pay, promotions, and better well-being. These limitations may inhibit women’s progression as
leaders.
Leader Identity Development and Access to Critical Career Resources
Women also face challenges and limitations early in their lives that contribute to lifelong
disadvantages and inhibit leadership identity development. For instance, men have more
opportunities than women before entering the workplace to better understand themselves as
leaders and engage in developmentally critical experiences that offer room for trial and error
(Eagly & Carli, 2007; Guay et al., 2003). In contrast, women often must develop such experience
and understanding of their leader identity in the workplace (Eagly & Carli, 2007; Guay et al.,
2003) which is a significant disadvantage to women’s understanding of their identity
development. Even when women do obtain leadership positions, they are likely to face barriers
that hinder their achievement and continuous development as leaders. For instance, leaders not
perceived to fit the dominant leadership type are generally expected to fail and evaluated more
negatively for mistakes than leaders who fit the dominant leadership type (Brescoll, Dawson, &
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 15
Uhlmann, 2010). Specifically, compared to men in leadership, women are evaluated more
negatively, are at risk of receiving less professional respect from followers, and are more likely
to be promoted to high-risk positions in which they often lack support from a mentor or network
or may lack authority to complete strategic goals and, consequently, may experience shorter
leadership tenures than men (Glass & Cook, 2016; Kilian et al., 2005; Rosette & Livingston,
2012; Ryan et al., 2015; Wolfram, Mohr, & Schyns, 2007). All these challenges negatively
influence women’s self-confidence, career progression, and have an impact on development as a
leader by hindering their experimentation (Bell & Nkomo, 2001; Eagly & Carli, 2007; Foschi,
1996; Guay et al., 2003). In short, these dynamics create a high-risk experience for women in
leadership.
Women also lack early access to critical leadership capital and career knowledge that
lead to persistent limitations and lost opportunities to gain access throughout their careers.
Specifically, women are more likely to lack sufficient insider knowledge related to career
success, and early disadvantages in access to career-related assets have been found to correlate to
lifelong disadvantages in asset accumulation and limited access to further leadership
development experience throughout women’s careers (Dugan & Komives, 2007; Fitzsimmons et
al., 2014; McCormick et al., 2002; Ryan et al., 2015). This is critical because leadership capacity
leads to gains in career and leadership aspirations, work-related outcomes, and the ability to
persevere through challenges and cope with stereotype threat (Day et al., 2009; Hannah et al.,
2008; Machida & Schaubroeck, 2011), all of which influence women’s career advancement to
leadership roles. To further complicate these issues of access, women also have different
experience with the capital necessary for career advancement. For instance, while human capital
(i.e. individual ability, education, and professional experience) may help individuals attain entry-
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 16
level jobs, social capital is more helpful for career advancement to leadership levels as
individuals must have the social network opportunities to apply their individual ability (Adler &
Izraeli, 1994; Burt, 1998; Seibert, Kraimer, & Liden, 2001; Tharenou, 1999). This presents a
challenge for women as they may have requisite human capital for entry-level positions, through
near parity with men in educational and early occupational attainment (Babaeva & Chirikova,
2014; Hill, 2016), yet have limited social capital. In sum, women lack requisite access to
opportunities to develop their identity as leaders, have limited access to social capital and
networks, and are more likely to lack sufficient insider knowledge which contributes to attrition
within the leadership pipeline.
Issues with Career and Leadership Development Interventions
In addition to the above factors, several issues exist specifically across current leadership
development interventions offered at the college level. First, interventions have not strategically
focused on leadership aspirations, which are a critical element for many women (Boatwright et
al., 2003) and that the variety of career development interventions across colleges are often
offered in a disconnected manner (Rivera & Schaefer, 2009). These are critical issues to the
problem of practice because failure to connect individual purpose to career choice during early
adulthood may cause individuals to be at risk of not reaching their potential or hinder the
development of goals that energize behavior (Santrock, 2013). Additionally, Ely et al., (2011)
argued that underlying bias within leadership development courses at the college level reflect
and reinforce the bias within workplace corporations. The development of leaders, including how
leadership is theorized and how managers are trained and socialized, contributes to the
disconnect between leaders and followers and the overall lack of societal trust in leaders (Ely et
al., 2011). Furthermore, while many colleges provide interventions for leadership experience and
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 17
career development, the literature notes many areas of concern relevant to this problem of
practice. Suggestions to remedy this problem of practice are addressed in the next section.
For now, some of the key areas of concern related to delivery and access to such
programs are also summarized. For instance, when a leadership-focused career curriculum is
integrated into existing academic programs, it is typically only for select fields closely tied to
industry sectors such as engineering, business, and technology due to the opportunity to train and
demonstrate student knowledge of employable skills directly related to the field (Barrow, Behr,
Deacy, Mchardy, & Tempest, 2010). This approach may limit equal opportunity for other
students, especially those who are occupationally marginalized, to develop and demonstrate
knowledge of employable skills upon entering the workforce. Additionally, most college-level
leadership development interventions are self-selective, which may maintain the status quo by
reaching only those who already have leadership aspirations, helping them improve leadership
capabilities and counteract social obstacles related to leadership aspirations (Boatwright et al.,
2003). This may be a particular concern for women and in terms of issues related to low self-
efficacy at the college level and lack of access to important career knowledge at developmentally
critical stages, as aforementioned.
Challenges to Career Advancement within the Workplace
Even when women advance in their careers or reach leadership roles, they struggle to
persist. As aforementioned, societal perspectives of leadership continue to influence their
occupational advancement, and workplaces perpetuate socially constructed associations of
occupational roles as masculine or feminine, leading to stereotypes and preconceptions of skills
and position-fit that inhibit women from obtaining leadership positions or opportunities that
provide critical professional growth (Boatwright et al., 2003; Hall et al., 2015; Kang &
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 18
Bodenhausen, 2015; Kilian et al., 2005; O’Neil & Hopkins, 2015; Scheuermann, Tokar, & Hall,
2014). Women often experience prejudiced recruitment and promotional practices within
inherently biased work environments that threaten women and undermine motivation and
performance in the workplace (Emerson & Murphy, 2014; Ezzedeen et al., 2015). These
environments perpetuate issues of occupational segregation, pay inequities, and family-life
management issues that contribute to women’s challenges and perceived opportunities for career
advancement.
Women’s occupational segregation in occupations of levels lower than those of men and
persistent gender pay inequality amongst executive leaders inherently lead to less opportunity for
potential leadership positions and less visibility in the workplace (Boatwright et al., 2003; Burt,
1998; Kilian et al., 2005; Tharenou, 1999; Vaccaro et al., 2015). Additionally, this persistent
segregation may hinder the gaining of critical benefits for career mobility. Specifically, women
miss opportunities to access status and salary benefits associated with holding leadership
positions, which is critical since women are more likely to advance to leadership roles when they
progress within the workforce (AAUW, 2016; Babaeva & Chirikova, 2014; Cocchiara, Bell, &
Berry, 2006; Catalyst, 2016). Further, women face barriers when making work-family choices
that influence persistence and advancement in the workforce. When women leave the workforce
to raise children, their progress towards leadership is inhibited significantly because businesses
do not sufficiently support working mothers’ career paths, and women often perceive limited
career choices, expecting a range of obstacles to their advancement even when they have a desire
for work-life balance (Babaeva & Chirikova, 2014; Ezzedeen et al., 2015). Thus, occupational
segregation, promotional practices and methods to engage talented employees in light of work-
family roles may prohibit career advancement.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 19
In summary, inherent bias and organizational practices related to occupational
segregation and promotional pipelines further marginalize women and contribute to issues in
leadership attainment. The scope of this literature review does not allow for an in-depth review
of the complex issues around dual identities and the impact of racial and sexist bias experienced
by women of color. However, it is important to note that double jeopardy of racial and sexist bias
experienced by women of color increases the severity of this problem, adding to women’s stress
in the workplace and further hindering leadership attainment due to decreased motivation and
damaged self-esteem (Boatwright et al., 2003; Buchanan & Fitzgerald 2008; Kang &
Bodenhausen, 2015). In short, socially constructed perceptions of leaders and gender roles
influence women’s leadership attainment, and when individuals possess multiple socially
devalued or minoritized gender and racial identities they face even steeper barriers to career
advancement.
Solutions and Approaches to the Problem of Practice
The complexity of this problem is a reflection of deep-rooted societal stereotypes,
gendered role expectations and other multifaceted issues. This problem cannot be resolved
without changes at the organizational level that equip workplaces to address inherent bias and
prejudiced promotional practices to equitably support women. The following solutions, however,
are primarily focused on connecting skills and attitudes at the individual level to the barriers at
the environmental level. The section reviews solutions and approaches to the problem of practice
specifically focused on addressing the problem early, at the college-level, targeting pre-career
women and relevant issues for personal leadership development that relate to the issue of
women’s attrition within the leadership pipeline within organizations. Specifically, the solutions
focus on preparing women to assess the work environment by teaching strategies to navigate
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 20
typical barriers they face on the path to leadership and grounding their career planning in a clear
understanding of themselves as emerging leaders.
Some have suggested that, as more women advance to top leadership roles, there will be
better organizational infrastructure to address the existing gender inequities in leadership
(AAUW, 2016). This solution is based on the idea that, when women are represented in top
corporate positions, there is generally less organizational gender segregation, greater access to
the top of organizational hierarchies, and greater likelihood of women being promoted to top
positions (Stainback et al., 2015). Until that gender parity is a reality in the workforce, it is
critical to review current proposed solutions in order to understand efforts that may help expand
the number of women persisting in leadership role and to support the pipeline of future leaders.
Solutions Related to Motivation and Self-Efficacy
As mentioned in the previous section, women face issues with sense of belonging,
perceived occupational challenges, stereotypes, and other factors that influence their self-efficacy
and motivation related to leadership. It is important to consider suggested solutions for these
issues to develop self-efficacy, since self-efficacy beliefs are essential for enabling women to
thrive in male-dominated environments, and leadership efficacy lead to gains in career and
leadership aspirations, work-related outcomes, perseverance through challenges, and coping with
stereotype threat (Day et al., 2009; Hannah et al., 2008; Machida & Schaubroeck, 2011; Zeldin
& Pajares, 2000). Additionally, high self-efficacy for leadership tasks and positive outcome
expectations for elite leadership roles predict women’s interests in and decisions to pursue
leadership goals (Yeagley, Subich, & Tokar, 2010). In order to cultivate women’s self-efficacy,
the literature provides several suggestions. First, while there are various sources for developing
self-efficacy beliefs, vicarious experiences and social persuasions were found to be more critical
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 21
sources for women than men in terms of developing and maintaining self-efficacy beliefs, as
compared to previous achievements, and they better predict outcomes (Marra, Rodgers, Shen, &
Bogue, 2009; Zeldin et al., 2008. Thus, one important suggestion to address self-efficacy is to
focus on vicarious experiences and social networks, such as role models and mentors.
Social networks. Social networks, such as mentors and role models, are critical solutions
to address this problem of practice because they provide access to requisite career knowledge,
and increase opportunities to develop self-confidence. The literature notes that mentoring
positively influences development of leadership skills and self-awareness by providing mentors
and role models who can offer support and advice to help mitigate setbacks women face in
leadership related to failure and mistakes (Guay et al., 2003; Solansky, 2015. Powerful, visible,
and connected mentors and sponsors also provide access to critical career-related capital as well
as access to highly-visible opportunities to showcase skills through networks that correlate with
gaining legitimacy (Fitzsimmons et al., 2014; Ramaswami, Dreher, Bretz, & Wiethoff, 2010).
Educators should encourage formal and informal connections with networks of professional
females who share similar experiences, as frequent, high-quality interactions with successful
female role models can enhance college women’s self-efficacy, self-concept of their leadership
abilities, and reduce implicit self-stereotyping or negative self-beliefs (Asgari, Dasgupta, &
Stout, 2012; Berkery et al., 2013; Hopkins et al., 2008). Further, approaching this problem using
mentors and networks is appropriate since women tend to be interested in supporting the
professional growth of other women, yet lack skills to do so (Veihmeyer & Doughtie, 2015),
and, thus, may be particularly interested in the topic and be able to cultivate future leaders. In
short, mentors and the influence of networks should be considered a significant approach to the
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 22
problem of practice to support women’s progression to senior management and improve access
to organizational knowledge.
Focus on leader identity development. Additionally, a clear sense of purpose or identity
can help individuals develop self-efficacy. Contemporary perspectives of leadership
development emphasize the importance of focusing on developing a leader identity (Avolio &
Gardner, 2005; Day et al., 2009; DeRue & Ashford, 2010; Ibarra et al., 2010; Lord & Hall, 2005;
van Knippenberg et al., 2004) and, more recently, address the need to better understand how
gender dynamics affect leader identity development (Ely et al., 2011; Hogue & Lord, 2007).
Elmore and Oyserman (2011) studied identity-based motivation theory and found that, when a
behavior feels congruent with a social identity such as gender, then challenges individuals
experience are likely interpreted as important rather than impossible. Thus, a clear identity or
strong sense of self may help individuals form coping skills and develop resilience to face
challenges. This is an important factor for women based on the review of causes of the problem
of practice. For this concept, it is helpful to consider related studies in engineering where women
are also occupationally minoritized and face challenges related to identity congruence and sense
of belonging. Walton, Peach, Logel, Spencer, and Zanna (2015) found that cultivating a sense of
belonging grounded in self-identity and expanding access to resources helped women studying
engineering manage stress related to social marginalization and helped them perceive challenges
as more feasible.
Awareness of challenges related to career advancement. Suggestions also highlight
the need to increase individual’s awareness of environmental challenges women are likely to
face early in their careers and throughout the leadership pipeline, helping them develop
awareness and coping strategies. One suggestion is that they need instruction early in their career
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 23
development that addresses the importance of initial salary and negotiation since that cognitive
process affects long term pay and opportunities for career advancement (Bowles & Babcock,
2013; Bowles, Babcock, & McGinn, 2005). Additionally, it is important to instruct women to
negotiate assertively at the onset of their careers for both salary and leadership opportunities
since they are more likely to rise to leadership roles when they advance in the workforce, and
negotiation allows them to advocate for their value and to set personal benchmarks for future
earnings and advancement (AAUW, 2016; Nan, Langowitz, Allen & Godwyn, 2013). These
suggestions can also help women prepare to navigate environmental issues women face in the
workplace. For instance, women are more likely to self-rate their workplace contributions lower
than those of males, which may contribute to unfair evaluations from others and inequitable
promotional opportunities (Applebaum, et.al., 2013; Heilman, 2001; Hutson, 2010). They may
also help mitigate communication differences or challenges in the workplace, as reviewed in the
learner characteristics section.
Additionally, trends in recommendations note the importance of increasing women’s,
ability to use resources to make decisions and develop coping strategies to navigate
environmental barriers in the workplace. In particular, Holder et al (2015) explained that the
ability to use resources and apply adaptive coping strategies can be enhanced by developing
learners’ decision-making and judgment skills as well as their self-awareness. For instance,
strategies to identify environments that are supportive of women may increase their
understanding that family roles do not always necessitate sacrificing leadership roles; these can
be enhanced with strategies for managing multiple roles (Boatwright et al., 2003). These also
include focusing on validating women’s relational identities, increasing awareness of how
relational strengths may support leadership effectiveness, and developing psychological
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 24
resistance to negative leadership evaluations (Boatwright et al., 2003). To this end, it is also
helpful to increase women’s awareness of the climate and common workplace practices within
the environments they are preparing to enter, including efforts by companies to support women’s
career advancement. In particular, it may be useful to increase women’s awareness of
recruitment initiatives and promotional practices, as well as equal rights issues for parental leave,
to help them identify organizations that promote gender diversity, support flexible work practices
for work-life obligations, and support the needs of all employees at different points in their
career and life, (Berkery, Morley, & Tiernan, 2013; Clarke, 2011; Hoobler, Lemmon, & Wayne,
2011). While this paper is primarily focused on the individual level, it is important to mention
these topics as they are suggestions related to identifying coping strategies to navigate workplace
barriers based on enhanced awareness of workplace contexts and practices. In sum, it is
important to not only focus on self-efficacy and identity development at the individual level but
to also build the bridge and connection to learner’s knowledge of the environmental barriers and
climate they are preparing to enter.
General Suggestions to Enhance Leadership Development Interventions in College
In addition to the above areas of focus, specific recommendations emerged to help
campuses better address the important task of developing leaders. Some of the suggested
instructional solutions for leadership include addressing broad business skills, such as project
management and finance, soft skills such as communication strategies, topics such as
negotiation, networking, and managing career transitions, and gendered challenges such as work-
life roles (Barringer & Ireland, 2010; Bullough, Luque, Abdelzaher, & Heim, 2015; Eagly &
Carli, 2007; Ely et al., 2011). The suggestions emphasize the need to help students recognize that
leadership can be learned and developed (Dugan & Komives, 2007) and to promote strategic
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 25
thinking and proactive behaviors related to personal career planning and leadership effectiveness
(Hopkins et al., 2008). Additionally, recommendations emphasize the need to help learners
solidify their identities as leaders grounded in key aspects such as values and purpose (George &
Sims, 2007; Quinn, 2004) and to support them in developing self-awareness of their leadership
capacity by accurately aligning their personal leadership self-efficacy with knowledge and skills
(Dugan & Komives, 2007). Further, implementation suggestions include targeting groups in
consideration of students’ other social identities, such as interventions for women, and building
leadership training into non-traditional forums across campus (Dugan & Komives, 2007). While
there are other recommendations and best practices from the field, these are key trends related to
enhancing leadership development interventions for college students.
In addition to existing professional standards to assess student leadership outcomes
(Dugan & Komives, 2007), both the academic and employment communities suggested solutions
to this problem of practice. Research also noted the need to update business courses where
leadership programs are typically offered. Specifically, Jenkins (2015) used Petriglieri and
Petriglieri’s (2010) description of business schools functioning as identity workspaces for leaders
to argue that courses need different theoretical frames and role models. Jenkins (2015) called for
leadership development programs to engage students and employers in conversations about the
way leadership is defined in training and who gets to lead, and how, within organizations. In
short, suggestions from the employment community and policy makers focus on clarifying career
readiness competencies and holding institutions accountable for post-college employment
outcomes through benchmarks and assessments to measure outcomes valued by both universities
and employers (Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2017; National Association
of Colleges and Employers, 2015a; Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 26
Education, 2014). While there are various perspectives throughout these suggestions, a common
thread is a greater focus on preparing graduates to self-manage, self-assess, and reflect upon and
navigate their career process with a focus on lifelong career management (Association of
American Colleges and Universities, 2017; Bridgstock, 2009; Council for the Advancement of
Standards in Higher Education, 2014) and to better help them develop career-related
competencies specific to leadership effectiveness and the 21st century (Career Readiness
Defined, 2015; Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education, 2014;
Humphreys et al., 2009; Pellegrino, Hilton, & Learning, 2012)
Enhancing leadership interventions on campus and, specifically, increasing women’s
access to quality programs is a critical solution to the problem of practice. Key trends in the
literature emphasize that educators should facilitate women’s access to early, pre-career
professional development and leadership programs, as they have positive gains for women’s skill
development, leadership capacity, career capital, self-efficacy, motivation, and resilience
(Boatwright et al., 2003; Dugan, 2011; Fitzsimmons, et al., 2014; Hoobler et al., 2011;
Zimmerman-Oster & Burkhardt, 1999). These college-level leadership interventions are
important because they can promote engagement in leadership development opportunities and
strategic thinking about career advancement and may influence women’s ability to navigate
organizational barriers post-graduation by exposing them to gender-related workplace dynamics
(Dugan & Komives, 2007; Dugan & Komives, 2010; Gracia, 2009; Hopkins et al., 2008).
Additionally, based on the previously reviewed causes of the problem, interventions
focused on developing a clear sense of self-awareness, anchored in purpose, are especially
helpful to women in helping them remain focused on their goals; they support self-regulation,
and promote being open to learning from failure (Crocker, Moeller, & Burson, 2010; Ely et al.,
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 27
& 2011). These suggestions for enhancing leadership development interventions at the college
level and particular solutions for addressing the problem of practice help develop a better
understanding of current suggestions within the field.
In sum, there are many best practices and solutions currently aimed at addressing the
underrepresentation of women in leadership. Since the purpose of this dissertation is to propose a
college-level curriculum designed to address the problem of practice, the solutions reviewed
primarily focused on suggestions to support pre-career women by addressing motivational issues
and access to knowledge and resources, specifically as they relate to contextual barriers women
face in the workplace. The following section reviews existing curricula related to the problem of
practice.
Other Curricula
This section presents a review of select existing curricula related to this problem of
practice. Overall, there continues to be growth in curricular and co-curricular leadership
programs on campuses to complement positional leader opportunities (Dugan & Komives,
2007). Some of the common interventions at the college level are informal and non-academic
programs, such as workshops offered by career services or student leadership, and more formal
programs built into individual academic programs, supplemental certifications, and four-year
professional program requirements. The selected curricula are representative of these trends as
well as emerging strategies to develop the leadership competencies of undergraduate and
graduate students
Developing Management Competencies in a femaleMBA (fMBA)
The first selected curriculum is a women’s Master of Business Administration (MBA)
program at Oulu University of Applied Sciences in Finland (Lamsa & Savela, 2014). The
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 28
curriculum was chosen for its specific focus on gender equality within management positions
and the target intervention approach for women, emphasizing identity as leaders and career
development. The goal of this femaleMBA program is to strengthen women’s identity as
managers, promote identification of personal leadership styles, and support meaningful career
development with a focus on business management and networking skills. Lamsa and Savela
(2014) described the program as part of the European Union’s objective of promoting gender
equality in work life and a component of a broader femaleForum model, targeting women with
limited access to privately financed MBA programs.
Although curriculum learning outcomes are not provided explicitly in the article,
instructional design adopted Viitala’s (2006) management framework, which includes the
following management competencies: technical competencies, business competencies,
knowledge management competencies, leadership competencies, social competencies, and
intrapersonal competencies. The researchers’ findings and assessment of outcomes reflect gains
in learning and motivation domains, illustrated by respondents’ improved self-efficacy, increased
self-awareness and identity, clearer role and task expectations, recognition of personal strengths
and challenges, opportunities for reflection and analysis of personal behaviors within a safe
learning environment. The study analyzed the development of management competencies using
qualitative interviews with 20 individuals who completed the program, and findings support that
the program improved participant’s business competencies and mastery of management
language. It also contributed to stronger managerial identity development and lead to enhanced
assertiveness as well as gains in credibility within manager roles (Lamsa & Savela, 2014).
This sample curriculum is relevant due to the focus on an all-female cohort, from a
variety of industries, who may be at risk or lack equitable access to education and training. The
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 29
emphasis on leadership identity, meaningful career development, gender equality in
management, and networking skills reflects key competency areas for leader development. The
average age and level of professional experience of the learners in this program are different than
the targeted learners for the proposed curriculum in this paper, as the average age of the
participants was 47 and the breadth of professional experience was on average 24 years of work
experience and 15 years as supervisors, managers, and entrepreneurs (Lamsa & Savela, 2014).
Lamsa and Savela (2014) emphasized the development of management competencies is a
gendered process and that the social context of an all-women’s program provides a safe and
supportive learning environment. This emphasis supports Lamsa and Savela’s (2014) argument
that MBA programs should systematically consider the importance of informal and social
learning contexts and place more attention on the male-angle, or gender bias lens, in
management competency development which impacts learning in MBA programs.
Undergraduate Online Leadership Certificate Program
The undergraduate medical education program at Memorial University of Newfoundland
(MUN) in Canada integrates leadership training, preparing graduates of the medical discipline
with a Physician Leadership Certificate (PLC). According to Maddalena (2016), the PLC
curriculum is an example of undergraduate medical leadership curriculum that develops learners’
knowledge and skills for leadership roles within their field, providing foundational leadership
and management training over four years (Maddalena, 2016). Medical standards support the
instructional focus as demonstrated by the Canadian Medical Physician Competency
Framework’s inclusion of leader competency, which is a shift away from manager competency
and emphasizes the need for formal training and demonstration of leadership skills for clinical
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 30
setting, career management and planning and for knowledge of financial and health-related
human resources (Frank, Snell, & Sherbino, 2015).
As described by Maddalena (2016), the PLC structure is in an eight-module online format
broken down into four phases that align with the four phases of the medical curriculum at the
university. The modules cover basic leadership concepts, healthcare system structure, strategic
planning and human resource topics, project management, and program evaluation in healthcare,
communications and social media (Maddalena, 2016). Leadership case studies are also utilized in
modules with the overall aim of supporting MUN’s goal of developing students’ leadership
competency early to facilitate transfer and integration of leadership principles to professional
practice (Maddalena, 2016). This curriculum provides a helpful example to consider.
The design of the program reflects learning and motivation principles and instructional
strategies appropriate for undergraduate learners. Students complete the modules independently,
supported by instructional strategies within each module that include pre- and post-tests to assess
knowledge. Clearly stated learning objectives, foundational material for topics, and supplemental
materials like slide decks, readings and discussion topics, and case studies facilitate learning.
Additionally, the modules integrate existent online content, both educational and social, and
utilize self-reflective assignments as well as student satisfaction evaluations to inform program
quality (Maddalena, 2016). These strategies reflect contemporary and clear instructional material
along with relevant and useful content that is applicable to topics of interest within the medical
field.
Four-Year Professional Development Requirement
Two examples of professional development programs were selected for review as
samples of interventions universities require for graduation. The Business Profession Program at
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 31
Xavier University is an integrative career education intervention (Clark, 2005). This program
received support from faculty and academic deans to place a hold on graduation petition requests
for students who fail to meet business profession requirement: a four-year tier program with both
required and optional career and professional development interventions (Clark, 2005). Xavier’s
program was led by one faculty member, strategically positioned career center staff,
administrative staff, and business stakeholders who served as the committee advisory board
(Clark, 2005). Evaluation and assessment of the program emphasized the need for early
interventions with regular communication, flexibility, and variety in program availability and
online platforms as well as a simple grading system to facilitate participation (Clark, 2005).
In another example, the University of Queensland’s four-year Backpack-to-Briefcase
program draws upon the career development learning approach of beyond education for lifelong
learning and employability by dividing career preparation in the following tiers: self-assessment,
ethics, goal setting; preparing for internships and other related experiential learning; preparing
for the career search; and beginning your career (McIlveen & Pensiero, 2008). The project
offered both online and in-person employability skills workshops and career mentoring network
(McIlveen & Pensiero, 2008). This program also established a committee of career center staff
and faculty guided by senior corporate and university representatives in addition to an advisory
group of employers to seek feedback on graduates’ transition to the workplace (McIlveen &
Pensiero, 2008). These are just two examples of existing 4-year professional development
requirements, which are primarily seen at small, private schools. There is a much smaller pool of
research focused on career interventions at large public universities and academic areas outside
of business and technical fields, which traditionally are geared more towards professional
training.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 32
Entrepreneurship Education and Training (EET)
Entrepreneurship education and training (EET) is a training curriculum to cultivate
women’s business leadership goals, increase self-efficacy, resilience, and other specific abilities
related to building a network (Bullough et al., 2015). An existing EET curriculum is also an
appropriate intervention to review due to the focus on four key areas of business success,
individual attitudes and intentions, entrepreneurial capabilities, and leadership capabilities
(Bullough, et al., 2015). Bullough et al., (2015) reviewed the effectiveness of EET curriculum by
first presenting the general areas that should be covered in any EET curriculum and providing
information about the applicability of this intervention for various industries, populations, and at-
risk or underserved learners. According to Bullough et al., (2015), EET curriculum focuses on
broad business domain training in areas such as finance, accounting, marketing, human
resources, and project management as well as soft skills that include communication techniques,
leadership skills, and negotiation techniques. Furthermore, training should be provided
specifically to leading change, managing career transitions and work-life balance barriers,
problem solving and decision-making, and creativity skill development.
Furthermore, the EET structure encourages comprehensive pre- and post-assessment,
intentional and applicable instruction, and activities, which are effective assessment measures of
growth of both the individual, in terms of entrepreneurial attitudes and capabilities, and the
business, in terms of revenues and jobs created (Bullough, et al., 2015). Bullough et al. (2015)
argued that business plan development should be included in instruction for both new and
present entrepreneurs to strengthen knowledge of conducting a full business analysis and of the
practical, real-world tasks required of creating and leading a company. The business plan
assignment is a key instructional strategy and assessment tool of an EET curriculum applicable
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 33
to leadership and management competency. While this curriculum example is not particularly
targeted at the learners focused on in this paper, the sample does provide helpful intervention
strategies to consider with regards to topics and applicability to various industries or academic
areas.
In sum, the emerging trends include interventions designed to serve a variety of industry
or academic sectors, all-female learner groups, and initiatives focused on contemporary career
and leadership competencies, including both formal in-class and online formats. The following
section describes specific learner characteristics related to the problem of practice. Then, an
overview of the proposed curriculum design is presented. This contributes to breadth of existing
curricula and expands women’s access, at the college level, to developmentally appropriate and
critical pre-career interventions that support leadership development.
Learner Characteristics Related to the Problem of Practice
Characteristics of Adults
Since the problem of practice focuses on pre-career individuals in college, it is important
to consider key learner characteristics of young adults approximately aged 18 to 25 (Santrock,
2013). This stage has several key markers that are important for this problem of practice. First,
cognitive development becomes more realistic, reflective, and contextual at this stage with
learners engaging in identity exploration, becoming aware of possibilities, developing
occupational knowledge, and making realistic vocational choices as they seek to establish a
career and move up the ladder (Santrock, 2013). The characteristics of a successful adult learner
include being self-directed, results-oriented (Santrock, 2013), and intrinsically motivated to learn
when they perceive learning to be practical and beneficial for professional or personal life
(Cercone, 2008). Additionally, Garcia (2016) noted that the main trait associated with successful
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 34
people is conscientiousness, characterized by purposeful action or a preference for planned
behavior and a drive to achieve. Thus, early adulthood is an appropriate developmental stage to
engage individuals in occupation-related learning and promote planned behavior such as
continuous learning.
Further, motivational and behavioral factors influenced in early adulthood inform career
goals and aspiration, identity development, and persistence. Three tasks that characterize early
adulthood are translating goals into action, developing both task-related and broad work-
readiness skills, and navigating goal-related contextual supports and barriers (Olson, 2014).
Vocational choice is a major element of identity development, and failure to connect individual
purpose to career choice during early adulthood may cause individuals to not reach their
potential or hinder the development of goals that energize behavior (Santrock, 2013). The
process of vocational choice and purposeful identity development is especially critical for
women at this stage. Women tend to make career changes and adjust their work situations to fit
their larger life contexts based on both family and career implications (O’Neil, Hopkins, &
Bilimoria, 2008), and they often rethink career aspirations in college, choosing contexts that are
more flexible to allow for a family (Santrock, 2013). Thus, women may opt-out of occupational
decisions when they perceive barriers to managing career and life roles.
Early adulthood is specifically important, developmentally, for emerging leaders.
According to research, both leader efficacy and leadership capacity are influenced by learning
experiences at the college level (Dugan, 2011), and college interventions can have a positive
impact on women who do not previously express leadership aspirations (Boatwright et al, 2003).
Additionally, the coping characteristics of successful adults are important to consider. The
characteristics include mechanisms such as drawing on beliefs, values, and goals to make-
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 35
meaning of stressful situations (Santrock, 2013). These are critical characteristics because adults
face new challenges, such as unemployment or stress at work, which have an impact on physical
and mental health and can influence career decisions to quit a job or decline a promotion
(Santrock, 2013). Additionally, women who make effective career decisions in adulthood are
influenced by early career self-efficacy and can connect individual purpose to career choice
(Ezzedeen et al., 2015). According to Zeldin et al. (2008), women’s self-beliefs are formed by
family, peers, teachers, and work-related sources. Also, adult women who successfully pursue
their career aspirations and goals have models of women who manage family and career roles,
interact with mentors in their field of interest, and have a supportive environment to practice
abilities (Santrock, 2013). In addition to these characteristics specific to adults, as well as women
in college, it is important to next review the characteristics of successful contemporary leaders
and women in leadership.
Characteristics of Successful Leaders in the 21st Century
There are several key characteristics of successful leaders. Research on leadership, self-
efficacy, and self-regulation demonstrated that individuals in leadership roles typically have high
self-efficacy beliefs, persevere longer amidst challenges, and invest significantly in efforts to
fulfill leadership roles (Bandura, 1997; Bobbio & Manganelli, 2009; Chemers, Watson, & May,
2000; Murphy, 2001). Communication is also a critical characteristic of leaders and necessary
for career advancement (NACE, 2015; Riggio et al, 2003) and studies have shown that
successful leaders are able to communicate business needs, communicate their vision, and
motivate others (Brandt & Uusi-Kakkuri, 2016; McDermott, Kidney, & Flood, 2011; Salas-
Lopez et al., 2011). Additionally, characteristics of successful contemporary leaders have been
found to align with transformational leadership characteristics, and research has found that
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 36
women are more adept at androgynous transformational leadership (Berkery et al., 2013).
Transformational leaders’ highly developed communication and cognitive skills have been found
most effective in contemporary workplaces due to their characteristics of being direct,
trustworthy, influential, and inspirational (Arnold, Turner, Barling, Kelloway, & McKee, 2007;
Berson & Avolio, 2004; Hackman & Johnson, 2009; Wang & Huang, 2009). These
transformational leadership characteristics lead to personal and organizational outcomes such as
increased motivation, self-efficacy beliefs, commitment, job satisfaction, empowerment and
participative climate, and trust between transformational leader and followers (Lopez-Zafra,
Garcia-Retamero, & Berrios Martos, 2012). In sum, successful leaders have high self-efficacy,
persist in challenges, and have developed communication skills typical of transformational
leaders.
There are other skills and characteristics that define successful leaders and contribute to
career mobility. Research has found that corporate managers require complex cognitive skills,
interpersonal skills, and leadership skills to work effectively with highly technical systems, work
competently in teams, and manage effectively (Carnevale & Desrochers, 1999; Enos, Kehrhahn,
& Bell, 2003) and that development of critical management competencies, which encompasses
conceptual, human and technical skills, is influenced by the strength of individual willpower,
mindset and motivation (Cai, 2014). Cai (2014) argued that conceptual skills are the most
critical, as they allow managers to solve problems rationally within complex systems when
supported by appropriate human and technical skills, and a foundation of management principles.
While many of these latter management competencies are advanced for the purpose of the
proposed curriculum design, they are important to understand the landscape of leadership and
characteristics of leaders.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 37
As leaders, women are characterized by highly valuing communication and personally
demonstrating a strong sense of conviction and self-worth (Cheung & Halpern, 2010; Stern,
2008). Research has suggested that women and men in leadership use similar linguistic
strategies, but women monitor their use of language, adjusting what they say more often based
on their colleagues’ goals. This monitoring can be characterized as both a benefit and challenge
as it causes women’s voices to be harder to hear, yet it also serves as a strategy to help them
persist in a male-dominated workplace (Baxter, 2011, p. 231). Women are also more adept at
androgynous style of leadership and transformational leadership (Berkery et al., 2013).
Fitzgerald and Schutte (2010) identified six key characteristics of transformational leadership
that are essential for successful leaders: identifying and articulating a vision, providing an
appropriate model, fostering acceptance of group goals, communicating high performance
expectations, providing individualized support, and high levels of charisma (Fitzgerald &
Schutte, 2010). Current research suggests traits which have historically been considered to hinder
women’s leadership attainment now, in fact, align with contemporary characteristics of
successful leaders (Boatwright et al., 2003; Cantor & Bernay, 1992; Thackray & McCall, 1997).
These include traits such as relational needs and emotional intelligence (Boatwright et al., 2003;
Cantor & Bernay, 1992; Thackray & McCall, 1997) and demonstrate the shifting context of
leadership identity and characteristics and underscore the importance of getting women into
leadership positions.
This overview of learner characteristics and the literature review are not exhaustive nor
does this paper seek to homogenize women of color. Further research and understanding of these
characteristics and developmental experiences are needed to address this problem, especially
since women in the workforce will increasingly be women of color (AAUW, 2016; Babaeva &
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 38
Chirikova, 2014; Cocchiara et al., 2006; United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015). More
recent diversity research has focused on the experiences Latinas and Black women, who account
for the largest groups of women of color in the United States workforce, and emphasized the
need to consider inequities in an inclusive way as questions remain about the representation of
diverse women in management and the experiences of women of color in the workplace
(Cocchiara et al., 2006). While not the focus of this paper, the author acknowledges that the
learner characteristics related to the gap in leadership achievement is complex, with inner group
and individual learner characteristic variations that are critical to address.
Summary
A variety of factors hinder women’s career advancement and attainment of leadership
roles. Some are persistent inequitable access to critical assets for leader development and career
planning throughout the lifespan and issues that influence motivation and self-efficacy, such as
limited opportunities to develop a leader identity. In sum, a multitude of factors influence
women’s development as leaders and their career advancement to leadership roles. Many of
these issues can be addressed through early pre-career interventions offered at the college level
to help mitigate barriers to career advancement in the workplace. Therefore, the following
section incorporates these areas, along with pertinent learner characteristics, to propose a
curriculum to help address this problem and increase access to relevant interventions.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 39
CHAPTER TWO: CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
Curriculum Description
The overall purpose of this curriculum is to promote women’s career advancement to
occupational leadership roles post-college by providing an intervention prior to their entering the
workforce that addresses key knowledge and motivational issues they face that place them at a
disadvantage in the leadership pipeline. Specifically, the curriculum aims to provide them access
to critical assets necessary for career advancement, develop their leadership identities, cultivate
future engagement in leadership development opportunities, and promote proactive behavior and
strategic thinking about career strategies to navigate organizational barriers post-graduation. The
emphasis on reflection and identity development within the curriculum aims to connect self-
awareness at the individual level to awareness and knowledge of the environmental barriers and
challenges women face in the with workplace. The curriculum elements of reflection and self-
assessment, as well as the activities and integration of open-source media and videos, help build
the bridge between the individual and the environmental barriers in order to prepare individuals
to use skills and attitudes to assess and navigate their environment.
This curriculum is designed as an online, asynchronous learning experience open to
upper-division undergraduate and graduate students who can navigate it independently at their
own pace. This design promotes autonomy and continuous self-directed learning through the
online format. The curriculum includes six units that cover topics on leadership development and
strategic career planning, self-awareness and self-assessment, communication skills, building a
network, coping strategies for career advancement, and moving forward as an emerging leader
after college. The concepts of self-reflection, leader identity development, and continuous
learning and career growth are reinforced in each unit. A professional development certificate of
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 40
completion will be available for those who complete all units, assessments and evaluations, and
create their personal electronic portfolio to showcase professional artifacts from the course.
Learner Description and Context
The targeted learners for this curriculum are women in college in both upper-division
undergraduate and graduate level programs. While this is a broad group of learners, it is relevant
to contribute to existing learning opportunities and specifically target these learners since women
constitute the majority of enrolled college students and degree earners in the United States
(National Center for Education Statistics, 2016). The aim is to increase college women’s
engagement in formal leadership programs through a highly accessible online curriculum, thus
reaching learners at risk of being occupationally minoritized and who may otherwise have
limited access to critical leadership development experiences that can help mitigate career
advancement barriers.
Learners ’ Prior Knowledge
This reflection-focused curriculum is purposefully designed to be an online asynchronous
learning experience offered as a non-credit professional development program. Learners must
have internet access, be able to self-reflect, and be willing to engage in a self-directed learning
experience without an instructor. Since this curriculum is designed for upper-division
undergraduate students and graduate students, learners should have basic awareness of their own
career interests. It is helpful, but not essential, for learners to have a current draft of their resume
or curriculum vitae and knowledge of basic online job search strategies. Learners are not
required to have previous positional experience as leaders nor prior engagement in a formal
leadership development program.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 41
This course is intended for individuals with a desire to cultivate their leader identity, to
learn strategies to navigate environmental barriers women face and techniques for continual
leader self-development after college, and to proactively engage in their personal career planning
process. The curriculum content and topics are designed to be accessible to all academic majors
and relevant to a variety of post-college career industries. The design may be particularly useful
to serve academic majors or programs that have limited access to structured leadership education
or vocational courses.
Theoretical Framework and Research-Based Practices
The design of this curriculum draws upon several theoretical frameworks and research-
based practices related to educational psychology, leader development, and career theory and
considers developmental appropriateness for learners as early adults. In sum, this curriculum is
built upon theoretical perspectives that leaders can be developed and that leadership is an
ongoing process of learning and personal development across the lifespan characterized by self-
awareness, self-regulation, and self-motivation (Brower et al., 2000; Day, 2000, 2011; Day,
Harrison, & Halpin, 2009; Northouse, 2007; McDermott et al., 2011; Riad, 2011; Rost, 1991). In
order to better understand this framework, below is a review of the research-based practices and
theories used to design this curriculum.
Identity Development
This curriculum draws from contemporary, post-industrial leadership perspectives. This
contemporary perspective asserts that leadership is process-oriented and can be learned and
emphasizes the importance of focusing on personal leader identity development within the
broader leadership development framework (Day & Harrison, 2007; Rost, 1991). This view of
leader identity or self-concept is applied in this curriculum, as it emphasizes individual
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 42
differences in structuring identities (Baltes & Carstensen, 1991), which provides a contemporary
and multidimensional lens to frame leadership development rather than a one-dimensional, or
trait-based, perspective (Day & Harrison, 2007). This is different than previous views of
leadership as trait-oriented, such as industrial leadership which asserted that leadership was
innate (Northouse, 2007). It is important to note a few key aspects of self-concept as it pertains
to leadership development and identity.
Identity, or self-concept, is knowledge about oneself, and it has an impact on attitude,
behaviors influencing motivation, and goal-directed behaviors (Leary & Tangney, 2003; van
Knippenberg, van Knippenberg, Cremer, & Hogg, 2004). There are various dimensions to self-
concept, including knowledge of one’s competencies, values, attitudes, interests, and aspirations,
and individuals have more clarity in dimensions they deem important (Markus, 1977; van
Knippenberg et al., 2004). Individuals have a distinct identity for their different personal and
social roles (Markus & Wurf, 1987; Stets & Burke, 2003). In short, leader identity is one’s
personal self-concept or how one thinks of oneself as a leader, and it is effectively developed by
having a clear sense of self through understanding personal experiences, values, strengths,
limitations, and goals (Day & Harrison, 2007; Day, Harrison, & Halpin, 2005).
Additionally, self-concepts can be future-oriented in that we have perceptions of possible
selves that we could become, including concepts of our ideal selves and selves we think we
ought to become (Higgins, 1987; Markus & Nurius, 1986). This concept was used to design this
curriculum and is relevant for career planning and leader development conversations as these are
processes through which individuals consider possible future identities. Specifically, reflective
learning has been shown to facilitate the development of a leadership identity (Komives, Owen,
Longerbeam, Mainella, & Osteen, 2005), and how we compare our possible selves to our current
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 43
self-concept can influence motivation and effort, as it encourages focus on our progress or the
process of development (Lord, Brown, & Freiberg, 1999). The curriculum draws upon this
framework and emphasizes reflective learning to ground the leadership identity process.
Self-Regulated Learning (SRL)
As previously mentioned, this curriculum applies the contemporary perspective that
leadership is process-oriented and can be learned by everyone (Northouse, 2007), and reflection
is a key part of the learning process for contemporary leadership (Kezar, Carducci, & Conteras-
McGavin, 2006). Self-regulated learning is important to consider in developing this curriculum,
especially as an asynchronous online curriculum which requires learners to direct and evaluate
their own learning. Self-regulating learners have the cognitive and metacognitive abilities and
motivational beliefs to understand, direct, monitor, and evaluate their own learning (Shell & Soh,
2013; Wolters, 2003). For instance, individuals who are self-regulating are considered to have
high self-efficacy, autonomy, and persistence, and they focus on increasing their level of mastery
(Wolters, 2003).
The frameworks utilized to design this curriculum emphasize that continuous
advancement of adults to increasingly complex functioning as leaders is grounded in reflection
and learning from previous experiences, and it promotes future autonomous behaviors and self-
development throughout careers or lifespan (Day et al., 2009; Drath & Palus, 1994; Kegan,
1994). There are key phases and processes to be aware of with self-regulated learning
(Zimmerman, 2008): the performance phase includes an individual’s ability to track their own
behaviors and outcomes through self-control and self-observation, or metacognitive monitoring;
the self-reflection phase includes self-evaluation of performance and self-reaction and behavior
modification; and, finally, the task analysis phase includes goal setting, strategic planning, and
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 44
self-motivation beliefs consisting of self-efficacy and goal orientation (Bandura, 1991). This
curriculum applies self-regulated learning to support learners in metacognitive monitoring and
self-reflection. Specifically, self-motivation and goal setting aims to promote self-directed career
planning and motivation for continuous self-development as a leader.
Social Cognitive Theory
Another theory that shaped this curriculum is Bandura’s social cognitive theory (SCT),
which emphasizes the critical roles of vicarious and observational learning as well as self-
regulatory and self-reflective processes in psychosocial functioning (Bandura, 1986). The
following assumptions of SCT are essential for learning and motivation related to this
curriculum: personal, behavioral, and environmental factors influence one another in a reciprocal
way; individuals are able to influence their behavior and environment through goal directed
actions; and learning occurs through observation of relevant role models (Bandura, 1991;
Pajares, 1996; Schunk, Pintrich, & Meece, 2014; Zeldin & Pajares, 2000). This is critical
because beliefs about leadership and perceptions of leadership skills influence leadership self-
efficacy and promote future engagement in leadership development opportunities, and college-
level interventions can promote proactive behavior and strategic thinking about career
advancement and personal leadership development (Dugan & Komives, 2007; Dugan &
Komives, 2010; Hopkins et al., 2008).
Literature has illustrated that self-efficacy influences career choice (Hackett & Betz,
1995) and job attitudes (Saks, 1995) and is critical in learning and achievement (Martocchio &
Judge, 1997; Multon, Brown, & Lent, 1996). The framework of social cognitive career theory
has been widely used to understand women’s career development process and can help develop
an understanding of self-efficacy and early factors that influence career decisions and interest to
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 45
pursue elite leadership roles (Scheuermann et al., 2014). This focus on self-efficacy and impetus
to set career goals early is particularly important to address the problem of practice because
women are occupationally minoritized in leadership roles.
Design Justifications and Acknowledgement of Designer Bias
This curriculum helps address the problem of practice in several ways. First, it provides
access to sufficient insider knowledge related to career success which women often lack (Ryan et
al., 2015) specifically focused on promoting persistence in the traditionally male-dominated
occupation of leadership. For instance, it will teach what it takes to successfully advance to
leadership positions, focused on topics critical for women’s career advancement and contextual
barriers. The curriculum also promotes strategic proactive career planning and both self-
assessment and assessment of opportunities and workplace environments through activities such
as the SWOT self-analysis, which helps individuals analyze their strengths, weakness,
opportunities and threats related to a particular position in order to identify goals and areas of
improvement, and the workplace evaluation activity. It is appropriate to address these career-
related skills at this point because failing to provide learning in career- and leadership-related
capital at critical life stages, such as early adulthood and prior to entering the workforce, was
found to lead to lack of access to needed capital (Fitzsimmons et al., 2014). Providing access to
these techniques and topics to pre-career women can support them in navigating environmental
barriers they encounter during their career within workplaces.
The curriculum also addresses access to resources for career management and well-being,
developing a growth mindset, and developing social capacity and networks. In addition to
referring learners to other resources, the curriculum also recommends other learning
opportunities or hands-on authentic experiences which can help promote persistence within
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 46
career advancement (Hernandez, Schultz, Estrada, Woodcock, & Chance, 2013). These topics
are also addressed through activities such as vicarious learning, role models, networking, and
opportunities to practice skills like informational interviewing. Additionally, by providing
additional resources for continuous development in each unit, this curriculum addresses barriers
by providing resources and tools to help women self-regulate future learning and navigate future
environmental contextual barriers that may impact their individual motivation and behaviors.
The curriculum also addresses barriers in relation to sense of belonging and ability to
view self as a leader, which influence career decisions, self-efficacy, and motivation to pursue
leadership roles. This is addressed in several ways. First, the curriculum promotes opportunities
to engage and expand social capital and increase sense of belonging. It also provides
opportunities to reflect on and develop self-concept and identity as a leader and utilizes role
models to show it is possible for females to be successful in leadership. The overall aim is to
help pre-career women develop a sense of belonging and promote a congruent identity with
leadership (Szelényi, Denson, & Inkelas, 2013). This is accomplished through facilitating
connections with other females in leadership to serve as roles models, through vicarious learning
examples in testimonials and video examples, and through opportunities to connect with and
develop relationships with mentors and social networks via networking activities and an
informational interview assignment (Marra et al., 2009). The role models were selected
specifically to ensure learners can to view themselves comparably in relation them and to expand
social capital to help students establish a sense of belonging in the male-dominated field of
leadership (Pajares, 1996; Szelenyi et al., 2013; Zeldin et al., 2008. Additionally, the curriculum
focuses on online social networking sites and activities, such as LinkedIn, and on identifying
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 47
mentors through open source databases to address the fact that women’s use and perception of
social media tools as a means of developing social capital is limited (Maguire, 2016).
The curriculum also presents strategies for self-regulation and promotes self-efficacy
through proximal goal setting by breaking down complex tasks into simpler segments, or short-
term goals, and through role models in the form of testimonials and videos of experts completing
career- and leadership-related tasks (Wolters, 2003). Role models contribute to meaningful
vicarious learning experiences by exposing learners to social networks and providing
opportunities to reflect on identity development and setting goals (Szelenyi et al., 2013; Zeldin et
al., 2008). Additionally, complex tasks such as salary negotiation, creating a personal leadership
vision, and self-assessment for strategic career planning are broken down into manageable
segments with worked examples built through knowledge acquired in each unit. Through
vicarious learning experiences, students will see how successful professionals manage goals and
regulate learning and career advancement, which can help them learn to transfer self-regulation
skills to their own context, improving goal setting and strategic planning (Bandura, 1991; Nelson
et al., 2015; Zimmerman, 2008).
To promote learners’ intrinsic motivation to engage in the curriculum, as well as self-
regulation of their future self-development, instructional design leverages learners’ autonomy
and provides them control over their learning process so they can develop realistic goals for
career success. Literature has suggested that scaffolds that use electronic portfolios to guide
learners in planning, self-monitoring, and self-reflecting are helpful in supporting self-regulated
learning through online learning formats (Azevedo et al., 2004; Meyer et al., 2010). The
curriculum activities and assessments also focus on individual progress and personal goal-
setting, emphasizing effort rather than ability, and were designed to promote mastery learning
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 48
that better enhances student’s self-efficacy (Schunk et al., 2014; Zeldin & Pajares, 2000). As
such, learners have the opportunity to self-monitor and reflect on their progress, analyzing efforts
and previous failures, and considering personal strengths, weaknesses and opportunities in
addition to thinking about feedback received through the informational interview activity.
This curriculum is appropriate for women in undergraduate and graduate programs for
several reasons. First, it scaffolds the leader development process, emphasizing the importance
of lifelong development as pre-career individuals engage in development in connection with
career progression. This is appropriate since a review of research from the fields of
developmental psychology and adult development emphasize the need for students to understand
that leadership can be learned, conceptualizing leader development as a dynamic life-long
process in which individuals increasingly develop capabilities as career experiences progress
(Day, 2011; Day, Harrison, & Halpin, 2009; Dugan & Komives, 2007; Kegan & Lahey, 2010;
O’Connell, 2014; Palus & Drath, 1995). Self-awareness, self-regulated behaviors, and self-
reflective practices are a primary focus throughout this curriculum to promote optimal leadership
development and learning (Avolio, 2005; Burns,1978; Fisher et al., 2000; Luthans & Avolio,
2003). The curriculum appropriately emphasizes pre-career topics that promote self-regulation
and intrinsic motivation for future self-development grounded in self-reflection, self-analysis,
goal setting and conceptualizing self as leader. Learners reflect on and develop a personal leader
identity and develop an electronic portfolio to showcase their identity and vision as emerging
leaders, which also serves to help them reflect upon and manage their development. Based on
social cognitive career theory, curriculum activities draw upon vicarious learning and
observation of role models as well as goal-setting exercises to focus on developing self-efficacy
and interests. For instance, it is developmentally appropriate and critical to address personal
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 49
leader identity because leader identity influences motivation to act as a leader in the future and to
develop leadership skills further (Day, Harrison, & Halpin, 2005; Day, Harrison, & Halpin,
2009; Drath & Palus, 1994; Kegan, 1994). This is reinforced through career-related reflections,
self-analysis, and goal setting activities that promote future autonomous behaviors and self-
development throughout careers.
This online, self-directed curriculum promotes the process-oriented view of leadership
and is appropriate for pre-career adults based on several recommendations from the literature for
interventions at the college level. For instance, it provides a meaningful leadership intervention
using a nontraditional online forum to reach a targeted group of students (Dugan & Komives,
2007). Instructional design should account for typical transitional events during adulthood that
influence learning and may necessitate flexible learning programs for busy schedules and
personal obligations (Santrock, 2013). It is anticipated that the online platform will facilitate
reaching a broad academic spectrum and address students who commute or have commitments
and may benefit from the flexibility of online learning. The breadth of the program is beneficial
to students’ development, as formal long-term programs, such as a certification program or an
academic major/minor, have been found to be more effective in contributing to leadership
efficacy than short and moderate programs, such as one-time workshops (Dugan & Komives,
2007). Additionally, the curriculum connects to trends in the labor market by addressing
employers’ increased calling for more refined definitions of career readiness and enhanced
preparation of graduates. This is appropriate since adult learning interventions are successful
when they enhance connection to labor market trends (Soares & Perna, 2014). For example, the
curriculum outcomes and topics were developed in consideration of benchmarks set by The
Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education which emphasize student
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 50
development of career related competencies such as managing career and identity development,
effective leadership, goal pursuit, professionalism, reflective practices and well-being (Council
for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education, 2014).
Instructional strategies also incorporate a variety of real-life relevant occupational
material, integrating existing digital and open-source material and leveraging topical pieces and
news when relevant. Learners also engage in activities that provide autonomy and choice, such
as networking and creation of a professional portfolio, to enhance learning that helps document
their interests and application of knowledge. This helps the curriculum address the problem of
practice by contributing to higher education’s inherent responsibility to prepare leaders for
workforce and life, narrowly focusing on the leadership achievement gap women face in the
workplace.
Designer Bias
In developing this curriculum, the designer acknowledges there may be biases to
consider. For instance, designer biases may stem from prior experience as a career counselor,
employer relations specialist, and lecturer in student success and career development courses at a
public university, community college, or private university primarily for women. These
professional experiences inform prior knowledge of career-related programming and learning in
higher education and may inform perceptions of college student preparation for the workforce
and career success. Designer bias may also exist due to educational background and training in
counseling and student affairs, educational leadership, or educational psychology.
Curriculum Outcomes
This curriculum draws upon Bloom’s taxonomy of learning (Anderson & Krathwohl,
2001) as a framework to categorize the knowledge and skills learners are expected to acquire by
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 51
the end of the program. The selected curriculum outcomes are grounded in appropriate
theoretical frameworks to foster gains in self-awareness, self-efficacy, self-regulation, and self-
motivation and promote transfer of learning to post-college settings by cultivating personal
behaviors of goal setting, proactive career planning, and continuous self-development as a
leader.
By the end of this curriculum, learners will be able to:
1. Understand the skills, behaviors, and personal development strategies that help leaders
succeed in the 21st century workplace and in their chosen occupational fields
2. Examine workplace barriers women face and the mindsets, coping strategies, and self-
promotion techniques pertaining to career advancement within challenging workplace
climates
3. Evaluate personal development as a leader by self-assessing and reflecting on personal
strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and career goals
4. Understand and apply basic professional communication behaviors and networking
strategies that contribute to workplace success and career advancement
5. Acquire various resources for strategic career planning and leader self-development in
relation to personal self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-motivation
6. Reflect on personal self-concept as a leader by self-assessing values, career interests, and
leadership preferences in order to create an electronic professional portfolio to
demonstrate personal leadership vision
Description of Curriculum Assessments
To monitor student learning throughout the course, various types of formative and
summative assessments are used to determine how well the students are learning (Mayer, 2011)
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 52
and to engage them in their own learning process to promote future learning. The assessments
heavily rely on self-reflective components appropriate for those early in their career development
and focus on self-assessment and increased self-awareness, planning, and thinking about skills
that will be useful in the workplace. Reflective activities also focus on connecting learners’
awareness of their personal skills and goals in relation to assessing workplace environments and
perceptions of occupational barriers. Research illustrates that reflection is an important part of
learning and leadership development and is especially important for groups who have been
marginalized in leadership, as it helps them examine professional identities and strengthens their
leadership identity development (Collay, 2014). Students are prompted with open-ended
questions and reflective exercises that contribute to their learning and, specifically, to their
understanding and conceptualization of leadership, their personal leadership vision, and strengths
and challenges related to future growth.
Summative assessments throughout the course are administered through regular
knowledge checks included at the end of each unit. These are short quizzes to test learners’
knowledge and understanding of topics and to promote application of that knowledge to future
units. The overall goal is to support pre-career individuals by helping them practice relevant
skills and acquire resources for future learning and growth.
In addition, students demonstrate their acquisition of knowledge and behaviors taught in
each unit by completing online self-assessments, worksheets, and creating professional artifacts
guided by worked examples, videos, and rubrics. These formative assessments help students
identify and reflect upon their strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement and prompt
them to reflect on and set general future-oriented personal career goals. For instance, students are
required to self-assess their strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats in relation to a job
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 53
opportunity of their choice using the personal self-SWOT worksheet and guided questions. This
activity is particularly relevant for women, per the reviewed causes and solutions of this
problem, as the focus on assessing threats can provide an opportunity for learners to consider
their perceptions of environmental or occupational related barriers that may threaten their career
advancement in order to develop a plan to further investigate and overcome those barriers. Also,
students complete a growth mindset quiz and a reflective worksheet to better understand their
failures and identify strategies to grow, and, after conducting a guided informational interview
with a professional contact, they reflect on and identify future actions to progress in their career.
Students also take a communication style quiz and reflect on their current understanding of their
communication strengths and challenges and practice preparing for salary negotiation with a
guided worksheet requiring them to set goals for desired salary expectations. In addition to
personal self-assessment, learners will be taught strategies for and have the opportunity to
practice evaluating workplace environments to determine characteristics that are supportive of
women’s career advancement.
Finally, select artifacts students work on throughout the course are compiled to create
their personal electronic portfolios, including their leadership vision statement and completed
resume and LinkedIn profile. This electronic portfolio serves as a summative assessment to
demonstrate growth over time and the impact of this program in relation to self-awareness of
leadership identity, knowledge and comprehension of career planning behaviors, and their
desired outcomes and goals (Deardorff, 2011; Meyer, Abrami, Wade, Aslan, & Deault, 2010).
Goal-setting and self-awareness exercises will also help students monitor, plan, and reflect in the
future. After completing the units and the required electronic portfolio, learners earn a certificate
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 54
of completion which can be showcased on their resume or portfolio in a professional
development or related coursework section.
Description of Curriculum Activities
This curriculum incorporates a variety of activities. The first activity will require students
to read a brief introduction to the course and basic information to help students succeed in the
course and engage in the self-reflective activities to support their own leadership development
and career planning process. Since this curriculum was developed to be an asynchronous
learning experience in which students navigate through the curriculum independently on a
website format at their own pace, each subsequent unit will have several consistent activities and
features to help streamline navigation. First, each unit will include a brief session description and
introduction to the learning objectives for the unit. Reading material will then be presented in
short excerpts appropriate for engagement on a website format. This content will be organized by
introductory information on the unit topics, then suggested tips for their personal leadership
development, and followed by opportunities to practice suggested behaviors through self-
reflective activities. In addition, each unit will include self-reflective activities with guided
reflection questions, a knowledge check, a unit wrap-up summarizing the big ideas and an
advanced organizer to prepare students for the next unit. This consistency will help students
navigate the curriculum activities and help them anticipate expectations throughout the course.
To support the introductory information provided in each unit, activities will make use of
existing professional development and leadership material online and students will be provided
with worked examples, guided rubrics, and role models as learning aides. For instance, activities
will require students to watch and read free media from sources like LinkedIn and YouTube
demonstrating strategies for creating a LinkedIn profile, networking, and negotiating, and online
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 55
self-assessment formats will be used for a values-card sort, the Transformational Leadership
Survey, and a communication style quiz. Students will also engage in reading testimonials with
women in leadership roles as way to model knowledge, skills, and behaviors. This will help
display modeling from experts on topics such as identifying a leadership vision and techniques
for assessing work environments and navigating barriers, setting career goals and managing their
learning as professionals, and coping strategies for negotiation and networking. This also
reinforces vicarious learning experiences such as observing how others self-regulate their
learning through watching videos and through conducting an informational interview with a
professional in their field of interest. The reflective activities in each unit are a key characteristic
of this course and will be woven throughout the units to support acquisition of knowledge and
behaviors. Students will be taught about the importance of reflection and be provided with a
variety of ways to practice self-reflection and self-regulatory strategies. These activities will
include various self-assessments to evaluate personal values, strengths, challenges, and their
identity as an emerging leader. Additionally, students will set and monitor career-related goals
using guided worksheets, assignment rubrics, open-ended questions, and goal setting prompts.
In summary, learners will engage in a variety developmentally appropriate activities in
this curriculum to present concrete examples and promote the transfer of knowledge. These
activities include reflections and writing exercises, knowledge checks in the form of multiple
choice unit quizzes, and reviewing worked examples, worksheets/rubrics, and behavioral
strategies presented through videos and modeling. These activities will help mitigate barriers
women face in their careers related to self-efficacy, sense of belonging, access to social
networks, and assertive communication and negotiation by promoting realistic goal setting and
self-regulated career planning behaviors. Furthermore, these activities will help learners develop
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 56
an identity as a leader through encouraging connections with social networks and practicing
networking techniques, observing women in leadership as role models, and through self-
reflective activities focused on personal vision and values as a leader. Additionally, each unit
will include other reading and media web links to help students identify future learning
opportunities, job aids to support career growth and leadership advancement, and strategies for
identifying role models and potential mentors.
Topics
The six units address the following areas: fundamentals of leadership development and
strategic career planning, self-awareness and self-assessment, professional communication skills
for emerging leaders, how to build and expand a network, coping strategies for career
advancement, and moving forward on your leadership path. There are several specific topics that
targeted within the appropriate units. In the first unit, learners review the contemporary skills that
hiring managers seek in leaders so that they can be aware of skills and behaviors they need to
develop. For instance, unit one introduces transformational leadership behaviors that are critical
in the 21st century. Additionally, this unit reviews some of the key ways that companies benefit
when women are in leadership roles. According to Adsit (2012), the process of strategic planning
involves envisioning your future and developing the necessary strategies to achieve that future
and requires individuals to identify the relationships and mindsets that can be leveraged to help
along a career path. These concepts are introduced in this unit and reinforced throughout the
units to promote continuous personal reflection, goal setting, and career management. This unit
also introduces the topics of self-reflection and continuous learning as important components of
personal leadership development, which are reinforced within subsequent units with the help of
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 57
role models and testimonials to help learners develop a clearer understanding of their personal
direction as an emerging leader.
In the second unit, learners focus on the topics of self-assessment as a strategic career
planning tool. Specifically, learners reflect on and gain self-awareness about their own leadership
style by taking the Transformational Leadership Style Questionnaire in addition to exploring
their work-life values through an online values-card sort. This unit also introduces the SWOT
self-analysis technique as a career planning strategy, giving students the opportunity to apply a
technique used by companies to assess themselves and analyze strategies by identifying their
personal strengths and weakness as well as external opportunities and environmental threats in
relation to a specific job opportunity they identify in a mock-job search activity. Students are
also introduced to crafting a personal leadership vision statement grounded in a clear sense of
purpose and self-awareness of the areas discussed in this unit. Recommendations from literature
emphasize the need for interventions to help learners solidify their own identity as a leader
grounded in values and purpose (George & Sims, 2007; Quinn, 2004), and to support students in
developing self-awareness of their leadership capacity by accurately aligning their personal
leadership self-efficacy with knowledge and skills (Dugan & Komives, 2007). Based on the
previously reviewed causes of the problem, these types of interventions are especially helpful to
women as a clear self of self-awareness, anchored in purpose, helps individuals remain focused
on their goals, supports self-regulation, and promotes being open to learning from failure
(Crocker et al., 2010; Ely et al., 2011). As women prepare to enter complex workplace climates
with environmental barriers, it is important to equip them with strategies to navigate and change
these potential barriers to the extent that is within their control.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 58
The third unit addresses the topic of professional communication skills for emerging
leaders. This unit includes reviewing effective communication behaviors that focus on self-
promotion. These topics are addressed because communication skills are critical for career
advancement; professionals entering the workforce need to articulate thoughts clearly and
professionally in both oral and written communication (NACE, 2015). Communication is also a
critical component of leadership (Riggio et al., 2003) as leaders should be able to communicate
business needs and vision to motivate others (McDermott et al., 2011; Salas-Lopez et al., 2011;
Brandt & Uusi-Kakkuri, 2016). Specifically, this unit tackles topics of communication that are
important for women in the workplace. For instance, salary negotiation is addressed to provide
an opportunity to prepare for a mock salary negotiation. Additionally, learners assess their
communication strengths and weaknesses by taking an online communication quiz and by
assessing their resume to consider ways they can more effectively promote themselves. Learners
are also introduced to the topic of shine theory, a strategy used by women in the workplace for
self-promotion and to help communicate support of others, which is important as a strategy for
women as evident based on previously reviewed causes and solutions, as well as the learner
characteristics, which noted that women are less likely to self-promote personal contributions in
workplaces due to both environmental climates and personal self-efficacy factors (Applebaum et
al., 2013; Heilman, 2001; Hutson, 2010).
The fourth unit addresses the topic of networking, specifically focusing on the value of
mentors and social networks for career advancement. Since women often lack social capital, this
unit reviews behaviors that contribute to effective networking and provides opportunities to
develop an online social platform using LinkedIn and to conduct an informational interview to
practice networking skills and grow a network of contacts. Emphasizing networking and
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 59
developing mentors is particularly critical for women to cultivate their sense of belonging in
leadership (Pajares, 1996; Szelenyi et al., 2013; Zeldin et al., 2008). Additionally, social network
sites such as LinkedIn are a prevalent topic since it has been found that women are less likely to
use or perceive social media tools as a valuable means of developing social capital (Maguire,
2016).
The fifth unit more closely looks at career barriers women face and at coping strategies
they use to persist and advance in their careers. One of these strategies is the concept of
developing a growth mindset, which learners practice through analyzing their personal failures
and reflecting upon learning from those situations. The overall aim is to promote continuous
learning, reflection, and self-development; thus, the assumption is that as learners start to
experience career and professional successes post-college, their self-efficacy will increase and
they will engage in challenging tasks with increased persistence and mental effort (Schunk et al.,
2014). The topic of developing a leadership vision is revisited in this unit to reiterate how a clear,
purposeful vision can help individuals persist through challenges in their careers.
In the sixth and final unit, learners focus on the topic of crafting their personal leadership
vision statement drawing from their reflections and self-assessment exercises. This topic is
important to address because thinking of oneself as a leader and having a more crystallized
leader identity increases the likelihood that an individual will seek out experiences as a leader
and engage in continuous leader development in the future (Day, Harrison, & Halpin, 2005; Day,
Harrison, & Halpin, 2009; Drath & Palus, 1994; Kegan, 1994). Additionally, learners are
introduced to electronic portfolios as a tool to communicate and present their leadership vision to
their network, and they will create their own electronic portfolio. This unit also expands learners’
awareness of workplace challenges by providing a guided opportunity to evaluate a work
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 60
environment based on what that environment needs to look like in order for them to be
successful. Lastly, students receive opportunities for future self-development as leaders. While
learners are referred to other opportunities throughout the course based on each unit’s topics, this
final unit specifically focuses on how to identify workplaces that promote women’s career
growth and other learning opportunities that can help individuals advance to leadership roles. In
culmination, learners complete a final reflective exercise and consider their current
understanding of their development as leaders.
The topics are intended to be applicable across academic disciplines and were selected to
address select skills and behaviors that promote proactive strategic career planning behaviors and
learning and motivational topics to help women navigate future professional barriers. The
overarching goal of topic selection was to help learners develop self-efficacy, increase career
planning and coping strategies, learn to motivate themselves and manage their continuous
development and identities as leaders. Based on the suggested solutions reviewed earlier,
platforms and instructional approaches that allow students to extend metacognitive learning, self-
assess, and reflect on their learning progress are very relevant. The topics integrate modeling and
facilitate access to existing open source media which learners can continue to utilize after the
course to identify potential role models and mentors and to enhance their network.
Assessment and Evaluation
This is a proposed curriculum, developed based on research, which has not yet been
implemented and, thus, has not been evaluated. Therefore, the following section provides a
suggested evaluation plan to assess this proposed curriculum. Kirkpatrick’s (1979) four-level
framework for program evaluation is considered a comprehensive model to evaluate programs
(Abdulghani et al., 2014) and is an appropriate strategy to frame this proposed evaluation plan.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 61
In short, the four levels of this evaluation framework focus on reaction, learning, behavior, and
results (Kirkpatrick, 1979, 2006). Each level is explained below along with a suggested plan for
implementation to measure each level for this proposed curriculum.
Level One: Reaction
Evaluation at the first level focuses on assessing participants’ reactions or perceptions of
the training program by measuring their satisfaction and information about how they felt about
the instructor, curriculum, and activities (Kirkpatrick, 1979; Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2006.
While understanding participants’ reactions include feelings of satisfaction, it is important to
note that satisfaction rating is not necessarily indicative of learning (Rouse, 2011). This first
level of evaluation is the most basic; however, Rouse (2011) noted that it is helpful in gaining
direct feedback from participants, and Kirkpatrick (2006) pointed out the importance of this level
of evaluation since assessment at this level is, sometimes, the only feasible option due to
accessibility and convenience of collecting results.
For this first level, participants’ reactions should be measured directly upon completion
of the program, focusing on a small group of learners as a pilot group to evaluate reactions. A
questionnaire should be developed to assess students’ experience to measure their attitudes and
perceptions of the value of the course and aspects such as organization, content, and materials, as
this information can help improve the curriculum’s content and delivery. The Student Evaluation
of Educational Quality (SEEQ) developed by Marsh (1982) is an appropriate model to adapt for
evaluation at this level due to high levels of validation and reliability (Grammatikopoulos et al.,
2015) and because of the theoretical basis in adult learning which is appropriate for teaching in
higher education (Coffey & Gibbs, 2001). The SEEQ items assess program effectiveness through
formative evaluation by collecting students’ evaluation of the course, instructor, and educational
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 62
experience on a five-point Likert-scale from “very poor” to “very good” as well as through
summative evaluation with an open-ended question for general feedback (García-Peñalvo et al.,
2014; Marsh, 1982).
Since this curriculum was developed to be an asynchronous learning experience in which
students navigate through the curriculum independently at their own pace, some of the SEEQ
dimensions and items are less applicable for this curriculum delivery. Following the SEEQ
model, Garcia et al. (2014) proposed items tailored to fit the technological approach of their
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) with consideration of open social learning and open
educational resources. The SEEQ model by Marsh (1982) and the adapted dimensions and items
by García-Peñalvo et al. (2014) are both helpful in preparing an evaluation plan and the selected
following dimensions from their questionnaires are examples that could help develop a
questionnaire for this proposed curriculum: learning/value, organization/breadth,
content/assignments, personal attitude, and workload/difficulty. To best evaluate this proposed
curriculum, the items below are samples that could be created in the aforementioned dimensions
using the generic term “course” and the five-point rating scale:
● I found the course intellectually challenging and stimulating
● My interest in the subject has increased as a result of this course
● Course materials were well prepared and clear
● Material presented adequately presented current developments in the field of leadership
development
● Material presented adequately presented current developments in the field of career
planning
● Required readings/texts were valuable
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 63
● Assignments and reflections contributed to understanding and appreciation of subject
For the purpose of this proposed curriculum, this level should also be measured by
administering a pre-assessment prior to instruction and re-administering it as a post-assessment
after completion of instruction. This questionnaire should be developed with items that measure
self-efficacy based on the Bandura’s (2006) scale guidelines. Self-efficacy beliefs are critical to
assess because they help determine how much effort people will put into an activity, how long
they will persevere through obstacles, and their resilience (Bandura, 2006). Prior to the first unit,
a pre-course assessment will be administered asking participants to rate their current degree of
self-efficacy for selected activities that relate to regulating career planning and future
development as a leader. These same items will be administered as a post-assessment at the end
of the program. Based on the topics addressed in this curriculum, and with consideration of
appropriate categories used in the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy-Short Form (Betz et al.,
1996), the overall aim of the instrument should be to measure self-efficacy related to self-
appraisal, goal selection and career planning, assertiveness, enlisting social resources, career
management, and self-regulatory skills to better understand their attitudes towards situations that
make it difficult to advance to leadership positions. It is suggested that an efficacy scale ranging
0-100 (“cannot do at all” to “highly certain can do”) is a stronger predictor of performance than a
shorter interval scale, although 0-10 would be reasonable as well (Bandura, 2006; Pajares,
Hartley, & Valiante, 2001). The following are sample items to be adapted and included in the
questionnaire for participants:
● Make and keep professional relationships
● Get people in my workplace or professional community to help me with a problem
● Stand up for myself and express my opinions in a workplace
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 64
● Negotiate if I am not satisfied with a salary offer
● Manage my stress in the face of career obstacles
● Persist in my career planning process towards top leadership positions
● Evaluate personal failures and determine actions for future growth
● Accurately assess my abilities related to an occupation
● Select career goals related to an occupation I am considering
● Use web based career-related resources to get information
● Manage a personal electronic portfolio to help with career planning
● Assess and articulate my self-identity and vision as a leader
● Learn the skills needed for specific leadership occupations
According to Grammatikopoulos et al. (2015), it is important to utilize multiple
evaluation sources to better understand effectiveness. Therefore, in addition to measuring the
students’ evaluations of effectiveness, it is also suggested that the evaluation plan utilize an
advisory board or panel of experts to evaluate effectiveness and give recommendations about the
curriculum. The advisory board could consist of experts on campus, such as stakeholders in
leadership and student involvement, career development, and learning and institutional
assessment. Additionally, hiring managers and human resource specialists should be involved to
provide perspective from the workforce and relevant recommendations since they are on the
receiving end of the pipeline for which higher education is preparing future leaders. The panel of
experts could be provided access to the course and given a questionnaire about its content,
organization, and relevance of materials, and it would also be helpful to implement an interview
component. Both the questionnaire and interviews should engage the advisory board involved
and engaged with the curriculum by asking for input on topics such as the curriculum content
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 65
and advice on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that should be addressed throughout the
course. This may be a particularly helpful form of evaluation if a campus decided to implement
this proposed curriculum in collaboration with alumni and employer partners who recruit
regularly from the campus since, according to Kirkpatrick (2006), the purposes of an advisory
board is to show how a program contributes practically to training efforts, to bring awareness to
the needs of the learners, and to generate support of the program by involving the board in the
planning process.
Level Two: Learning
The second level of Kirkpatrick’s evaluation framework, learning, focuses on measuring
the extent to which participants acquired knowledge, skills, and attitudes as a direct result of the
program (Kirkpatrick, 1979, 2006). Learning at this level will be measured using a variety of
formative and summative assessments. Formative assessments will be low-stakes and will
particularly focus on self-reflective components purposefully intended to support the learning of
pre-career individuals and encourage thinking about skills that will be useful in the workplace by
prompting participants to practice those skills and acquire resources for future learning and
growth. For instance, learners will journal online in response to self-reflective prompts about
their current understanding and view of leadership and their understanding of personal values
and transformational leadership behaviors after completing a corresponding communication style
quiz, self-assessments, and a transformational leadership survey. Learners will also be prompted
to reflect on and set general future-oriented personal career goals. Formative assessments will
help students identify their strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. These assessments
will require self-reflection after learners follow worked examples and worksheet.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 66
Summative assessments throughout the course will be administered through regular
knowledge checks included at the end of each unit. These are short quizzes to test learners’
knowledge and understanding of topics addressed in each unit and to promote their application of
that knowledge to future units. In addition, worked examples and rubrics for resume writing,
creating a LinkedIn profile, and negotiation preparation will be used to help students evaluate
their learning and facilitate their preparation for a negotiation. The final summative assessment
will be compiling artifacts from the course into a personal electronic portfolio to measure how
participants’ plan, monitor, and regulate their career planning. This is relevant for learning in this
course because electronic portfolios have a positive impact on self-regulated learning, placing
students at the center of their learning and scaffolding metacognitive skills such as goal setting
and reflection (Meyer et al., 2010). Learners will receive a checklist to create an electronic
portfolio and will demonstrate their knowledge of the components of an effective leadership
vision statement, resume, and LinkedIn profile. In addition to evaluating student learning using
the provided formative and summative assessments, any modified implementation of this
curriculum that includes additional training online or through supplemental in-person trainings
should measure knowledge learned at this level at the timing of the workshop or training.
Level Three: Behavior
The third level of evaluation determines what behavior changes took place due to
participation in this curriculum by focusing on the extent to which knowledge, skills, and
attitudes have been transferred (Kirkpatrick, 2006; Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2006). This is an
important level of evaluation since application or transfer is not guaranteed even when learning
has occurred at level two and when satisfaction of participants is high from level one
(Kirkpatrick, 1979; Rouse, 2011). According to Kirkpatrick (2006), 3 months after the
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 67
completion of a program is a sufficient timeframe to assess whether changes in behavior
occurred, and multiple forms of evaluation can help in collecting information to better
understand behavior changes. These guidelines inform the evaluation plan proposed below.
A 360-degree evaluation approach could be implemented for this program to evaluate this
level. First, this approach would consist of interviews with the participants to assess whether they
use the knowledge, skills and attitudes learned through the program. An evaluation plan could be
implemented at both 3 months and 1 year after learners complete this curriculum to provide
enough time to pass to evaluate how their behavior changed due to course participation. The
following sample questions could be administered to evaluate this level based on the framework
from Kirkpatrick (1979) using patterned interviews as an effective method to assess whether
participants apply knowledge or the reasons transfer did not occurr (Kirkpatrick, 2006):
● What specific behaviors were you taught and encouraged to use through the program
related to career planning?
● If you are not doing some of the things you were encouraged and taught, why not?
● Do you plan to change your behavior in the future as a result of the program?
● Do you intend to participate in leadership self-development activities?
Second, interviews could be conducted with supervisors, colleagues, or other appropriate
professional contacts in the learner’s life who can speak to behavioral changes observed after
completion of the course. The proposed interviews should be based on observable behaviors that
a supervisor or professional contact could witness and quantify using the guiding framework of
Kirkpatrick (2006) and a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from “never” to “always”. The
following are sample items from the proposed instrument:
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 68
● The participant engages in discourse or reflects on their personal strengths and areas of
professional growth
● The participant regularly discusses their career goals and interest in leadership positions
● The participant engages with social groups at work or in their field of interest and
demonstrates effective professional networking behaviors
● The participant regularly promotes oneself in professional settings
● The participant engages in leadership self-development activities, professional
development training, and other learning opportunities
The goal of this approach to evaluation at this level is to measure whether the learned
knowledge, skills and attitudes were transferred to the workplace and reflect positive changes in
behavior. Since level three evaluation will be implemented 3 months and 1 year after completing
the curriculum, it can be assumed that learners will have finished their degree program and may
be employed at a new work setting with new professional contacts. It is, thus, important to
prioritize interviewing contacts who observed the learner prior to and after the program to ensure
they are able to speak to observed behavioral changes in comparison to the learner’s behaviors
prior to taking the course. However, gathering multiple perspectives with the feedback
instrument may be beneficial to better understand the application of behaviors after the program.
Level Four: Results
The fourth level of evaluation assesses the results or overall impact of the program and
considers the outcomes of the participants (Kirkpatrick, 2006; Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2006).
It is suggested to measure whether overall outcomes were met using a before-and-after measure,
6 months to 1 year after completion of the program, with a control group if possible (Kirkpatrick,
2006). The overall impact of this curriculum would be reflected in the increase of women in
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 69
occupational leadership roles. Additionally, this level should measure participants’ career goals
and changes in career goals as they progress, as well as what they are doing professionally such
as their occupational outcomes. Since it may be difficult to evaluate learners after college
graduation, this level will be measured in different ways to better understand their decisions and
results after the program.
For the purpose of this proposed curriculum, the overall program results should be
measured using a before-and-after measure and should use a control group of similar learners
who did not participate in the program, if feasible. A questionnaire should be developed with
items that measure participants’ aspirations or goals related to leadership roles and their
continued engagement in self-development (e.g., To what degree do formal or elite leadership
positions interest you?), which could be administered through interviews at increments of 6
months to 1 year after the program. Since the participants will have been introduced to a growth
mindset and learning opportunities that promote career growth and advancement to leadership, it
is anticipated that, if students feel the impact of this curriculum, they would be intrinsically
motivated to engage in personal development as leaders and pursue career-related opportunities
at a higher rate than their peers.
In addition, participants could be asked to show how they applied knowledge or
behaviors learned in the course using their reflective electronic portfolio as a summative
assessment to demonstrate what they have been doing professionally after the course related to
development as a leader and professional growth over time (Deardorff, 2011; Meyer et al.,
2010). The electronic portfolio will be a compilation of students’ work throughout the course,
and will illustrate their progression related to self-awareness of leadership identity, knowledge
and comprehension of career planning behaviors, and their desired outcomes and goals.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 70
Participants’ purposeful self-regulatory behaviors of planning, doing, and reflecting can be
illustrated by what they accomplished and engaged in since the program, their reflections and
goal setting, and by their authentic use of multimedia to create electronic portfolio artifacts
(Meyer et al, 2010). For example, if participants participate in leadership and career development
related activities after the program, it is assumed they would add these items to their resume,
LinkedIn profile, or portfolio to demonstrate engagement. Alternatively, participants could
demonstrate personal goals to illustrate intent to engage in self-development and career planning.
To assess whether this proposed curriculum helps colleges meet their goal of developing
leaders, it is also important to consider career outcomes in terms of occupational advancement
and attainment of leadership roles. Evidence of career outcomes and occupational leadership
attainment post-graduation can be gathered using follow-up questionnaires administered to
participants as well as cross-referencing employment with resources such as LinkedIn, alumni
databases, and campus corporate partnerships to verify hiring and promotion. The information
would need to be analyzed to consider whether there is a significant correlation between
participation in this curriculum and career and occupational outcomes. However, since
occupational outcomes and leadership attainment can be influenced by many factors outside the
realm of this proposed curriculum, it is important to include items in the questionnaire that
account for these factors to assess impact at this level and better understand the participants’
career decisions and occupational outcomes. Since career progression and advancement to
leadership roles, especially elite management roles, inherently require significant post-graduation
workplace experience, it is suggested that this be administered beginning no earlier than 1 year
after program completion and be administered periodically. For the purpose of evaluating this
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 71
proposed curriculum, it may be helpful to collaborate with institutional research departments to
develop or refine items included in existing alumni surveys.
Scope and Sequence Chart
I=Introduced
R=Reinforced UNITS OR MODULES
M=Mastered

CURRICULUM
OUTCOMES
Unit 1:
Fundamentals
of Leadership
Development
and Strategic
Career
Planning
Unit 2: Self-
Awareness
and Self-
Assessment
Unit 3:
Professional
Communication
Skills for
Emerging
Leaders
Unit 4:
How to
Build
and
Expand a
Network
Unit 5:
Coping
Strategies for
Career
Advancement
Unit 6:
Moving
Forward on
Your
Leadership
Path
1. Understand the
skills, behaviors, and
personal development
strategies that help
leaders succeed in the
21st century
workplace and in
their chosen
occupational field
I R R R R M
2. Examine
workplace barriers
women face and the
mindsets, coping
strategies, and self-
promotion techniques
pertaining to career
advancement within
challenging
workplace climates
I R R R R M
3. Evaluate personal
development as a
leader by self-
assessing and
reflecting on personal
strengths,
weaknesses,
challenges, and career
goals
I R R R R M

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 72
4.Understand and
apply basic
professional
communication
behaviors and
networking strategies
that contribute to
workplace success
and career
advancement
I

R R R M
5. Acquire various
resources for strategic
career planning and
leader self-
development in
relation to personal
self-awareness, self-
regulation, and self-
motivation
I R R

R M
6. Reflect on personal
self-concept as a
leader by self-
assessing values,
career interests, and
leadership
preferences in order
to create an electronic
professional portfolio
to demonstrate
personal leadership
vision
I R R R R M

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 73
CHAPTER THREE: CURRICULUM DESIGN
Unit 1 Overview: Fundamentals of Leadership Development and Strategic Career Planning
In this unit, students will learn about the basics of leadership development in the 21st
century and be introduced to the value of using strategic career planning to help frame their
leadership development as emerging career professionals. The content of the unit will introduce
students to key elements of transformational leadership style and contemporary dispositions that
are essential for successful leaders in the workplace. The unit will also focus on practical tips for
their personal leadership development, including reflection, strategic career planning, and the
importance of identifying future learning opportunities for continuous growth. One of the
overarching goals in this unit is to reinforce these concepts as recurring components of each unit
in this course. Students will engage in the process of strategic career planning and focusing on
their own development as leaders by reflecting on their own perspective of leadership and their
current future-oriented career goals.

Unit Objectives
Learners will be able to:
1. Examine contemporary skills, dispositions, and transformational leadership behaviors
that hiring managers seek in employees and future leaders (CO1, CO4)
2. Evaluate their misconceptions about the current state of women in leadership and
examine how women successfully navigate challenging workplace climates and
historically male-dominated occupations (CO1, CO2)
3. Recognize the importance of engaging in personal reflection, self-awareness, and
strategic career planning as part of leadership development and career advancement
(CO1, CO2, CO5)
4. Practice reflective skills by considering their current perspectives of leadership and
current occupational perceptions related to their career goals (CO1, CO3, CO6)

The unit outcomes align with the following curriculum outcomes:
• CO1: Understand the skills, behaviors, and personal development strategies that help
leaders succeed in the 21st century workplace and in their chosen occupational fields
• CO2: Examine workplace barriers women face and the mindsets, coping strategies, and
self-promotion techniques pertaining to career advancement within challenging
workplace climates
• CO3: Evaluate personal development as a leader by self-assessing and reflecting on
personal strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and career goals
• CO4: Understand and apply basic professional communication behaviors and networking
strategies that contribute to workplace success and career advancement
• CO5: Acquire various resources for strategic career planning and leader self-development
in relation to personal self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-motivation
• CO6: Reflect on personal self-concept as a leader by self-assessing values, career
interests, and leadership preferences in order to create an electronic professional portfolio
to demonstrate personal leadership vision

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 74
Unit Activities
Students will navigate independently through course activities and content:
• Session description- Learners will read a brief introduction to the unit and review the unit
outcomes
• An introduction to leadership development- Learners will read about contemporary
leadership development and the status of women in leadership to address what leadership
looks like in the 21st century and roles leaders hold in the workplace, why it is critical to
have women in leadership positions, and why leadership development is important for
career advancement
• Tips for Your Personal Leadership Development- Learners will prepare to learn about
three specific tips they can apply to their own leadership development process by first
reading a basic introduction that reinforces the concept that leadership development in
this course is focused on activities for the purpose of managing self and career path
• Interviews from Leaders - Learners will read interviews with women in leadership that
model how women view career development and engage in career planning activities,
and how women successfully navigate complex work climates and traditionally male-
dominated occupations including leadership. These interviews will help frame the
subsequent tips for their own leadership development and will allow students to examine
how diverse female leaders engage in continuous learning and growth, and how they
employ different strategies to grow as leaders
• Tip #1 Successful leaders have a clear sense of purpose and think strategically think
about career plans. Learners will review the importance of clarifying a personal sense of
purpose and applying components of strategic career planning and will be introduced to
the concept of using a professional electronic portfolio as a tool to manage their growth
• Tip #2 Reflection- Students will learn about the importance of reflection for their
leadership development, and learn how they will practice reflection during this course to
reflect on experiences and failures in order to learn and grow
• Tip #3 Identifying learning opportunities for future leadership development and career
growth- Learners will be provided with external readings and media that serve as
additional learning opportunities to support their growth, and this will be a recurring
feature in each unit to promote learners’ future development in specific areas
• Knowledge Check- There will be a unit quiz to assess the students’ knowledge and
understanding of concepts introduced in the first unit about contemporary leadership
development and the value of women in leadership
• Learners will complete reflection exercises with journal prompts on their current
understanding of leadership development and personal career goals
• Unit Wrap-Up: Learners will review the key takeaways from this unit and read a brief
introduction to the upcoming unit

Unit Assessments
• Prior to the first unit, learners will complete a pre-course assessment on their current
degree of self-efficacy and leadership aspirations, particularly their interest in formal or
elite leadership positions and their self-efficacy for managing a personal strategic career
plan and navigating their development as leaders
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 75
• Learners will complete a unit knowledge check to test their knowledge and understanding
of contemporary leadership development and the value of women in leaders as addressed
in this unit
• Learners will complete journaling to self-reflect on their current understanding and view
of leadership and transformational leadership behaviors, and by reflecting on general
future-oriented personal career goals

Big Ideas from the Unit
• Contemporary leadership development is an ongoing process of personal development
that requires personal self-reflection, strategic career planning, and continuous learning
• Strategic career planning includes the actions of assessment (where you are), setting
goals (where you want to be), and creating an action plan (how to get there)
• Leaders hold both formal and informal roles in companies, while formal or elite
leadership roles typically require post-college work experience and may require an
advanced degree
• Organizations with transformational leadership cultures are the most effective in the 21st
century and more capable of adapting to change
• Behavioral traits historically associated with women align with contemporary
characteristics of successful leaders
• The fastest-growing businesses have more women in senior roles and leadership teams
are more effective at addressing consumer and stakeholder needs when women hold
director-level roles

Advance Organizer for Next Class
The next unit will provide an in-depth focus on self-awareness and self-assessment strategies that
support career planning. Students will engage in activities and self-reflection to increase self-
awareness about personal leadership style and work-life values, and they will acquire strategies
for utilizing the SWOT analysis technique as a self-assessment tool for strategic career planning.

Unit 1 Web Content: Fundamentals of Leadership Development & Strategic Career
Planning
Session Description (New Web Page)
In this section, you will learn the basics of leadership development in the 21st Century
and be introduced to the value of using strategic career planning to help frame your leadership
development. This unit will also provide an overview of the current state of women in leadership
in the workplace, and examine how women successfully navigate challenging workplaces and
historically male-dominated occupations. To get the most out of this session, be sure to read all
content and provided media and engage in the self-reflection activities.

At the end of this unit, learners will be able to:
1. Examine contemporary skills, dispositions, and transformational leadership behaviors
that hiring managers seek in employees and future leaders
2. Evaluate their misconceptions about the current state of women in leadership and
examine how women successfully navigate challenging workplace climates and
historically male-dominated occupations
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 76
3. Recognize the importance of engaging in personal reflection, self-awareness, and
strategic career planning as part of leadership development and career advancement
4. Practice reflective skills by considering their current perspectives of leadership and
current occupational perceptions related to their career goals

An Introduction to Contemporary Leadership Development (New Web Page)
This course will focus on your personal leadership development, or the process of
learning and reflection to help you manage yourself and your career. Before entering the
workforce, it is important to stop and consider the current dynamics of leadership development
and the skills and dispositions required to be successful in today’s workplace. The information in
this unit will help you prepare to navigate workplaces successfully and support your career
planning process.
The following sections will briefly cover the following 3 topics related to contemporary
leadership development:
A. What leadership looks like in the 21st century and roles leaders hold in the workplace
B. Why it is critical to have women in leadership positions
C. Why leadership development is important for your career advancement

What Does Leadership Look Like in the 21st Century? (New Web Page)
It is important to understand some of the basic views of contemporary leadership
development:
• Leader development is an ongoing process of personal development (McDermott,
Kidney, & Flood, 2011).
• Contemporary, post-industrial leadership views of leadership emphasize that leadership
can be learned by everyone and is not trait-based (Northouse, 2007; Rost, 1991).
• Reflection is a key part of the learning process for contemporary leadership (Kezar, 2006)
and reflective learning facilitates the development of a leadership identity (Komives,
Owen, Longerbeam, Mainella, & Osteen, 2005).
• Reflection requires that you give serious thought to a subject, connecting it to previous
experiences and applying learning to future actions (Dewey, 1933; Kolb, 1984).
• For leadership development, types of reflection activities may include things such as
personal journals, worksheets, directed readings, case studies, personal narrative papers,
discussions, and portfolios (White, 2012). You will learn more about this late and have
the opportunity to practice self-reflective activities throughout this course.

Leadership in the 21st Century, Page 2 (New Web Page)
Leaders exist at all level of organizations. Individuals can lead through various positions
or job functions– you do not have to hold a top position to be a leader. Keep in mind that the
most successful managers lead, and the most successful leaders manage (JSB Group Ltd, 2017).
Here are some roles leaders hold in the workplace to help you visualize the type of roles might
be preparing for later in your career.
• Informal leadership roles are associated with individuals who do not hold a position or
job title of authority; they influence people, things, and cultures through actions (Eagly &
Karau, 2002)
• Formal leadership roles are typically associated with a job title that gives authority, such
as manager, director, or supervisor. Elite leadership roles are formal leadership positions
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 77
as top executives, such as chief executive officers (CEOs), presidents, and board
members of Fortune 500 Companies. (Eagly & Karau, 2002).
• These formal leadership roles typically require several years of professional, post-college
experience and may require an advanced degree (Eagly & Karau, 2002).

Why is it Critical to Have More Women in Leadership Positions? (New Web Page)
Before you focus on your own leadership development and career planning process, take
a moment to consider the many ways that having women in leadership contributes to the success
of businesses and workplace effectiveness:
• The fastest-growing businesses have more women in senior roles (Babaeva & Chirikova,
2014).
• Leadership teams are more effective at addressing stakeholder concerns when women
hold director roles because diverse leadership skills better allow them to reflect the
consumer population (World Economic Forum, 2015)
• Greater gender diversity in leadership correlates to higher sales, greater growth, and
higher returns on invested capital and equity (Babaeva & Chirikova, 2014; World
Economic Forum, 2015). The World Economic Forum (2015) reported a 47% economic
gain and better corporate sustainability performance for companies with women in
executive roles compared to companies with no women at the top.

Women in Leadership, Page 2 (New Web Page)
Women bring valuable leadership styles to the contemporary workplace:
• Certain behavioral traits commonly found in female managers are more effective when
dealing with employees: empathy, supportiveness, and relationship building (Boatwright
et al., 2003; Cantor & Bernay, 1992; Thackray & McCall, 1997)
• Transformational leadership characteristics are critical for today’s effective leaders and
research has found that women are more proficient at transformational leadership style
(Berkery et al., 2013)

Transformational leadership will be revisited later in this course to help you better understand
your style as an emerging leader. For now, it is helpful to know that:
● Transformational leadership is a motivational leadership style which involves having a
clear vision and inspiring employees towards that shared vision by understanding their
needs and helping employees reach their potential (Fitzgerald & Schutte, 2010)
● Transformational workplace cultures are better able to adapt to change and more effective
in the contemporary workplace (Bass & Riggio, 2005; Fitzgerald & Schutte, 2010).
For more information about transformational leadership, read the article found on the following
site: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/four-elements-transformational-leadership-10115.html
(Schieltz, n.d.).

Women in the Workplace At-a-Glance (New Web Page)
Women having critical leadership knowledge and skills that contribute to the workplace.
While women in leadership positively and significantly impact the success of businesses, women
continue to be underrepresented at every corporate level, most significantly in senior or elite
leadership roles (Babaeva & Chirikova, 2014; United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015).
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 78
• Women hold 45 percent of entry level jobs, 32 percent of senior level roles, and 17
percent of chief officer positions (Yee et al., 2015), and 5.8% of CEOs are women
(Catalyst, 2016).
• American corporations promote men at 30 percent higher rates than women during early
career stages, and entry-level women are more likely to spend five or more years in the
same role compared to men (Kramer, 2015; Yee et al., 2015).
As the numbers indicate, women continue to face greater barriers to career advancement along
the pipeline to top leadership positions as compared to men (Babaeva & Chirikova, 2014; United
States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015). Therefore, this course will bring some of these barriers
to your awareness and focus on strategies to help you prepare to navigate complex environments.
One of the overarching themes in this course is focusing on your personal leadership
development to support your career advancement.

Why is Leadership Development Important for Career Advancement? (New Web Page)
In essence, leadership development is essential for your post-college career success and
career advancement. While formal leadership roles may require several years of professional,
post-college experience and/or require an advanced degree (Eagly & Karau, 2002), your journey
to leadership begins now. In fact, when employers look for new college graduates to take on
jobs, they look for leaders who can work as part of a team and they look for evidence of
leadership skills on a job candidate’s resume (National Association of Colleges and Employers,
2015).
Here are some of the other 21st Century skills that hiring managers seek from applicants
in the workforce which relate to this course:
• critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and innovation
• professionalism, adaptability, and a learning or growth mindset
• required professional experience and technical competencies for management/executive
roles (ManpowerGroup, 2015; Pellegrino, et.al., 2012).

Tips for Your Personal Leadership Development (New Web Page)
Leadership development is essential for your post-college career success. Leadership
development is the process of gaining strategies or complex methods that help you understand
and engage in leadership experiences (Day et al., 2008). While leadership development activities
are relevant for various contexts, such as leading and managing others or an organization as a
whole, this course focuses on the context of managing yourself (JSB Group Ltd, 2017).
This course focuses on your personal leadership development and promotes your career
planning process by introducing the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that contribute to an
individual’s ability to engage in leadership behaviors effectively (Dugan, 2011). The course will
also provide tips and opportunities to practice self-reflection and activities that support you in
managing yourself and your career.
Let’s start by considering insight from leaders about their views of leadership and career
development. Then, you will review three key tips for your own personal leadership
development.

Interviews with Leaders (New Web Page)
Take a closer look at how women in leadership and historically male-dominated occupations
view career planning and how they have successfully advanced in their careers, navigating
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 79
complex work environments and issues such as stereotypes. Read the interviews found on the
following links:
• http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/susan-goldberg-editor-in-chief-national-
geographic/ (Whiting, 2017)
• http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/lauren-epshteyn-mobile-marketing-google/
(Warchol, 2016)
• http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/Jessica-Barone-Facebook-Content-Specialist/
(Mcauliffe, 2017)
• http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/gloria-chou-consul-state-department/
(Warchol, 2016)

Tip 1: Successful Leaders Have a Clear Purpose and Think Strategically (New Web Page)
Successful leaders have a clear sense of purpose, think long-term, and strategically think
about their career plans and assess what they need to learn in order to achieve their career goals.
Individuals who are successful in today’s workplace invest time in career planning. Think of
strategic planning as a road map to your future success, a process of envisioning your future and
developing the necessary strategies to achieve that future (Adsit, 2012; Garcia, 2016). Personal
strategic career planning requires a disciplined, future-oriented thought process that leads to
decision-making and actions (Garcia, 2016). Adsit (2012) describes the process of strategic
planning as requiring the actions of:
1. assessment (where you are)
2. setting goals (where you want to be)
3. creating an action plan (how to get there)
These three actions require individuals to be self-aware and employ strategies and strategic
career planning activities that help in identifying one’s own leadership style and work-life
values, analyzing individual strengths and opportunities through self-assessment, and crafting a
personal leadership vision that is purposeful and provides direction. In subsequent units, we will
walk you through these components of strategic career planning.
Strategic career planning activities will be required components of this course,
culminating in the creation a personal electronic portfolio (ePortfolio). The ePortfolio is a
valuable professional tool to monitor your personal growth and leadership development and to
demonstrate knowledge, skills, and attitudes required in the workforce to help you along your
leadership path.

Tip 2: Successful Leaders Reflect on Experiences (New Web Page)
Reflection is a critical skill for a leader, and successful leaders reflect on experiences and
failures often in order to learn and grow. Research illustrates that reflection is an important part
of learning and leadership development. Reflection helps you to examine your own professional
identities, which is especially important for groups like women who have been marginalized in
leadership as it strengthens their leadership identity development (Collay, 2014).
Reflection requires giving serious thought to a subject, connecting it to previous
experiences and applying learning to future actions (Ash & Clayton, 2009; Dewey, 1933; Kolb,
1984). The practice of reflection leads to greater self-awareness and it promotes the learning and
growth of leaders (Kail, 2011). Too often, leaders and executives do not stop to allow time for
reflection; this leads to missed learning opportunities and the tendency to make the same
mistakes or to ignore failures (Gardner, 2015; Kail, 2011).
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 80
Leaders and professionals who reflect may make better decisions as reflection promotes
consideration of other viewpoints and possible consequences, and can help challenge perceptions
of oneself or expectations (Densten & Gray, 2001). Learn more about why leaders need
reflection and how successful business leaders use reflection to continually learn through the
articles found at the following links:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2015/12/28/become-a-better-leader-with-
disciplined-reflection/#963791955dbb (Gardner, 2015).

How to Practice Self-Reflection (New Web Page)
Types of reflection activities may include personal journals or discussions, or structured
activities such as worksheets, directed readings, case studies, personal narrative papers, and
portfolios (White, 2012). In this course, reflection will be structured through readings and guided
reflection questions, career-related worksheets, and a personal portfolio that includes a
leadership vision.
In the future, it is important to foster reflection activities as part of your style as an
emerging leader and professional. You might try scheduling a time in your day or week to
reflect, or use a journal for regular free-writing. Gardner (2015) suggests starting with these four
questions when reflecting after an experience:
1. What happened?
2. What did I learn in general?
3. What did I learn about me?
4. What will I do to improve in the future?

Self-Reflection Activity: Your Leadership Development and Career Plan (New Web Page)
Now it is time to apply what you have learned to your own career. Beginning in this unit,
you will complete personal reflections and other career related activities to support your growth
as a leader.
As a reminder, the self-assessments and reflective activities in each unit are required for
course completion and to earn a professional development certificate. These activities will help
you prepare components of your professional electronic portfolio.

Reflection Question (New Web Page)
First reflection topic. Before you consider where you want to go, it is important to focus
on where you are now. With that in mind, reflect on the following prompts and record your
responses:
1. When I think about the path to occupational leadership roles, the following perceptions or
expectations come to mind:
2. When I think about my personal experience observing and interacting with leaders, the
following characteristics or phrases come to mind (list at least 3):
3. When I conceptualize my current understanding of transformational leadership, what are
my thoughts?

Reflection Question (New Web Page)
Second reflection topic. To kick off your career planning process in this course let’s start
with general, future oriented statements about your professional goals. Keep in mind, these goals
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 81
will change over the course of your career. At this early stage in your career, these goals can be
simple, but should reflect your personal view of success or your expected outcomes.

Step 1: Review these examples of general, future oriented goals:
“my goal is to be promoted to the top leadership position in an accounting firm”
“my goal is to have a successful business career”
“my goal is to be a leader within my community”

Step 2: Now, craft at least one future-oriented goal statement:

Additional Resources & Future Learning Opportunities (New Web Page)
It is important for women to think purposefully about career advancement by proactively
identifying learning opportunities that support their personal leadership development and growth
(Hopkins, O’Neil, Passarelli, & Bilimoria, 2008). In each unit during this course, you will be
provided with additional resources and learning opportunities that can support your future
development outside of this course. You may find it helpful to utilize a bookmarking app of your
choice to save resources for quick access in the future.
The following resources are specifically related to this unit and may be used to support
your continuous development as a leader and your future career planning, specifically related to
reflection and learning as addressed in this unit.
Read about how top business leaders use reflection to impact their learning in the article
found on the following site: http://www.inc.com/empact/bill-gates-warren-buffett-and-oprah-all-
use-the-5-hour-rule.html (Simmons, 2016).
Get familiar with helpful apps for professional women which are featured on the
following site: https://www.ofmercer.com/blogs/omindex/17325093-the-12-best-apps-for-
professional-women (OfMercer, 2015).

Knowledge Check (New Web Page)
After reviewing all readings and media, check your current understanding of concepts
addressed in this unit short quiz. You may revisit previous sections of the course at any time.
Completion of this quiz is required.

1. Which statement is true?
a. Organizations with transformational leadership cultures are the most effective in
the 21st century and more capable of adapting to change
b. Effective leaders are self-aware and practice reflection
c. Leaders hold both formal and informal roles in companies
d. Strategic career planning supports the process of leadership development
e. All of the above (Answer: E)

2. Which statement is false?
a. The fastest-growing businesses have more women in senior roles
b. Men are more proficient at transformational leadership style (Answer- B)
c. Leadership teams are more effective at addressing consumer and stakeholder
needs when women hold director roles
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 82
d. Behavioral traits that historically hindered women’s leadership attainment now
align with contemporary characteristics of successful leaders

Big Ideas from Unit (New Web Page)
● Contemporary leadership development is an ongoing process of personal development
that requires personal self-reflection, strategic career planning, and continuous learning
● Strategic career planning includes the actions of assessment (where you are), setting
goals (where you want to be), and creating an action plan (how to get there)
● Leaders hold both formal and informal roles in companies, while formal or elite
leadership roles typically require post-college work experience and may require an
advanced degree
● Organizations with transformational leadership cultures are the most effective in the 21st
century and more capable of adapting to change
● Behavioral traits historically associated with women align with contemporary
characteristics of successful leaders
● The fastest-growing businesses have more women in senior roles and leadership teams
are more effective at addressing consumer and stakeholder needs when women hold
director-level roles

A Look at the Next Unit (New Web Page)
Congratulations, you have completed unit 1! Now that you have learned the fundamentals
of contemporary leadership development, the next unit will provide a more in-depth focus on
self-assessment and self-awareness as strategic career planning strategies. You will be introduced
to elements of effective leadership vision statements and be provided opportunities to increase
your personal self-awareness about your leadership style and work-life values.

Unit 2 Overview: Self-Awareness and Self-Assessment
In this unit, students will be introduced practical strategies for self-assessment in order to
increase their personal self-awareness and prepare to effectively engage in strategic career
planning. This will include an overview and application of the self-SWOT analysis as a strategy
for self-assessment and career planning, and an introduction to increasing personal self-
awareness in order to craft a personal leadership vision that provides career direction a sense of
purpose. Students will engage in a values-card sort and complete the Transformational
Leadership Survey as two self-assessments.

Unit Objectives
Learners will be able to:
1. Examine basic strategic career planning strategies for self-assessment that increase self-
awareness (CO2, CO5)
2. Identify their own leadership style and work-life values, and examine how self-awareness
relates to an effective leadership vision statement (CO5, CO6)
3. Conduct a job search for management-level leadership positions in current field of
interest (CO1, CO5)
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 83
4. Reflect on and evaluate personal development as an emerging leader and examine
occupational perceptions by applying knowledge of SWOT analysis as a self-assessment
technique for strategic career planning to prepare for a selected job (CO1, CO3, CO5)
5. Practice reflective skills by considering how personal values and transformational
leadership factors relate to their current understanding of their personal direction as an
emerging leader and professional (CO5, CO6)

The unit outcomes align with the following curriculum outcomes:
• CO1: Understand the skills, behaviors, and personal development strategies that help
leaders succeed in the 21st century and in their chosen occupational fields
• CO2: Examine workplace barriers women face and the mindsets, coping strategies, and
self-promotion techniques pertaining to career advancement within challenging
workplace climates
• CO3: Evaluate personal development as a leader by self-assessing and reflecting on
personal strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and career goals
• CO5: Acquire various resources for strategic career planning and leader self-development
in relation to personal self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-motivation
• CO6: Reflect on personal self-concept as a leader by self-assessing values, career
interests, and leadership preferences in order to create an electronic professional portfolio
to demonstrate personal leadership vision

Unit Activities
Students will navigate independently through course activities and content:
• Session description- Learners will read a brief introduction to the unit and review the unit
outcomes
• Interviews from Leaders: Learners will be promoted to watch two videos with leaders in
CEO positions discussing how self-awareness relates to career planning, how women
successfully approach career planning, and how contemporary leaders navigate career
planning with purpose in the 21st Century
• Tips for Your Personal Self-Awareness and Self-Assessment- Learners will be reminded
that career planning is unique for each individual as they prepare to learn specific tips and
methods of self-assessment which they can apply to increase their self-awareness
• Tip #1 Self-awareness or leadership style and work-life values - Learners will complete
an values-card sort activity and the Transformational Leadership Survey, then engage in
reflection exercises with journal prompts related to these two self-assessments
• Tip #2 Self-Assessment with SWOT analysis- Students will learn about the components
of SWOT analysis, engage in watching a 2- to 3-minute video on learning how to conduct
a personal SWOT analysis and complete their own self-SWOT assessment
• Additional Resources & Future Learning Opportunities- Learners will be provided with
external personality and career interest self-assessment resources related to this unit that
can serve as future opportunities to support their growth
• Knowledge Check- There will be a unit quiz to assess the students’ knowledge and
understanding of self-awareness concepts introduced in this unit, specifically SWOT
analysis
• Unit Wrap-Up: Learners will review the key takeaways from this unit and read a brief
introduction to the upcoming unit
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 84
Unit Assessments
• Learners will complete a unit knowledge check to test their knowledge and understanding
of this unit’s lesson
• Learners will complete a self-SWOT assessment worksheet and reflect on their strengths,
weaknesses, as well as external opportunities and perceived threats in relation to a job
opportunity of their choice
• Learners will complete two self-assessments (values-card sort and Transformational
Leadership Survey) and journaling to self-reflect on their current understanding of their
values and their transformational leadership behaviors in relation to their leadership
development

Big Ideas from the Unit
• Strategic career planning requires individuals to self-assess where they are and become
more self-aware before they are able to set goals for the future
• Individuals can use SWOT as a strategic career planning tool to self-assess personal
strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) and external opportunities (O) and threats (T)
• In order to develop a leadership vision, individuals need to have clear self-awareness and
be able to articulate their career drivers: what are you passionate about, what are your
values, what are the talents you can offer

Advance Organizer for Next Class
The next unit will focus on the specific leadership-related skill set of effective communication.
Unit three will provide an in-depth look at professional communication skills that are essential
for emerging leaders and for women to advance in the workplace, including strategies for
promoting oneself effectively in the workplace and in critical job-advancement situations of
resume writing and salary negotiation.

Unit 2 Web Content: Self-Awareness and Self-Assessment
Session Description (New Web Page)
In the first unit, we introduced the concept of strategic career planning as a critical
element of your career development and growth as a leader. In this unit, you will be introduced
practical strategies that can help you to self-assess and become more self-aware, allowing you to
more effectively create a clear strategic career plan. To get the most out of this session, be sure
to read all content and provided media and engage in the leadership development and career
planning activities.

At the end of this unit, learners will be able to:
1. Examine basic strategic career planning strategies for self-assessment that increase self-
awareness
2. Identify their own leadership style and work-life values, and examine how self-awareness
relates to an effective leadership vision statement
3. Conduct a job search for management-level leadership positions in current field of
interest
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 85
4. Reflect on and evaluate personal development as an emerging leader and examine
occupational perceptions by applying knowledge of SWOT analysis as a self-assessment
technique for strategic career planning to prepare for a selected job
5. Practice reflective skills by considering how personal values and transformational
leadership factors relate to their current understanding of their personal direction as an
emerging leader and professional

Interviews with Leaders (New Web Page)
As you may recall, one of the key components of strategic career planning is to assess
where you are in order to support you in determining where you want to go. Later in this unit,
you will learn specific strategies that can be applied to your personal strategic career plan to help
you increase your self-awareness and achieve this goal.
Now, take a closer look at how women successfully approach planning for their careers
and how leaders navigate career planning with purpose in the 21st Century. Watch the interviews
found on the following links:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftGq9n7RTjA (Sarder, 2015)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6g8y3EDHkw (Duke University, 2013)

Tips for Your Personal Self-Awareness and Self-Assessment (New Web Page)
There are a variety of strategies individuals use for self-assessment in order to increase their
self-awareness and provide clarity for their personal strategic career plan. However, the
strategies you employ should help you:
1. generate a passionate vision that supports you in navigating your future with consistency
and a clear purpose and
2. implement an action plan that leverages your strengths and minimizes weakness and
helps you reduce threats and take advantage of opportunities (Garcia, 2016).

The tips in this unit will help you walk through the next components of strategic career
planning by helping you to self-assess and become more self-aware, and providing clarity about
your strengths, challenges, and opportunities.

Tip 1: Become Self-Aware of Your Leadership Style & Work-Life Values (New Web Page)
In the first unit, you were introduced to key characteristics of contemporary leaders and
transformational leadership. One of those characteristics is the ability to identify and articulate a
vision (Fitzgerald & Schutte, 2010). In order to develop an effective leadership vision, you need
to first have clear self-awareness and be able to articulate your career drivers: what you are
passionate about, what are your values, what are strengths or talents that you bring to the table.
Later in this course you will be guided through the steps of writing a complete personal
leadership vision. In this unit, you will focus on self-awareness about these career drivers that
influence your approach to leadership by identifying your own leadership style and work-life
values.
Self-Assessment Activity: Values Card Sort (New Web Page)
Step 1: complete a values-card sort activity. Complete the values-card activity found at
the following site: http://assets.cce.umn.edu/cardsort/values/ (University of Minnesota, n.d.).
You will be presented with a stack of cards. Each card describes something that may represent a
personal value for you. Consider each card, then place each card under one of the three
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 86
categories provided to you: Most important, Somewhat important, Not important. You will also
have the option to create a new card. If there is a value you would like to include, type it on a
card and put it in the appropriate category.
Step 2: self-reflect on the values-card sort activity. Record your responses to the
following reflection questions:
1. What were your values in the “Most important” category?
2. How might your values influence your direction as a leader or your career decisions?

Self-Assessment Activity: Transformational Leadership (New Web Page)
Step 1: complete the Transformational Leadership Survey. In the first unit, you were
introduced to the concept and qualities associated with transformational leaders. As emerging
professional and leaders, you may have limited experience in formal leadership roles. It is
important to self-assess your current leadership styles and to expand your awareness of new
leadership skills as you continue to grow.
Print, complete, and self-score your results using the resource and information found on
the following site: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/transformational_survey.html
(Clark, D.R., 2004). Be honest about your choices as you complete this survey, and consider
work and academic environments where you’ve been in formal and informal leadership roles.
Step 2: self-reflect on the leadership assessment. Respond to the following reflection
questions:
1. Based on your survey results, what Transformational Leadership factors do you use the
most and which do you use the least?
2. What new insights does this provide about yourself as an emerging leader?

Tip 2: Self-Assessment with SWOT Analysis (New Web Page)
In additionally to self-awareness of your values, leadership style, and career interests,
strategic career planning also requires self-assessment of an individual’s strengths and
opportunities (Garcia, 2016). There are a variety of ways to tackle this, but one of the most well-
known approaches in the business world, and taught in many graduate programs, is the SWOT
analysis strategy.
SWOT is an acronym used to identify an organization’s strengths (S), weaknesses (W),
opportunities (O), and threats (T). In future formal leadership roles, SWOT could be a valuable
tool for your organizations and teams to analyze your organization’s strategic plan and evaluate
strengths and opportunities (Garcia, 2016). SWOT is also a valuable tool for your strategic career
plan as the concept can be applied as a personal development technique to self-assess and reflect
about where you are and where you want to go (Garcia, 2016).
Now, learn more about conducting a personal SWOT analysis by watching the video on
the following site: https://youtu.be/PBOtnyt7BP4 (MindToolsVideos, 2014).

Opportunity to Practice: Use SWOT Self-Assessment for Career Planning (New Web Page)
In the first unit, you drafted a general, future-oriented statement of your main
professional goals or expected outcomes. These general statements are similar to a mission
statement, which is a good starting point to help you brainstorm for your career journey and
career planning (Garcia, 2016).
Now that you have reviewed the components of SWOT and how to use it as a self-
assessment tool, it is time to practice using the self-SWOT method to think more strategically
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 87
about your career in preparation for a select job of your choice. Why? Thinking strategically
about your career plans can help you look ahead towards where you want to go, assess where
you are now in comparison to a targeted job opportunity, and help you consider and prepare to
navigate potential challenges along your career path.
Follow the steps on the next page to apply the self-assessment method using SWOT.

Activity: Use SWOT Self-Assessment for Career Planning (New Web Page)
Step 1: conduct an online job search for a “dream” job opportunity. Conduct a job
search for a leadership-related or mid-level position in your current field of interest using an
online job board of your choice, or the job board found on the following site:
http://www.careercontessa.com/jobs/ (Career Contessa, 2017). Remember to be future-oriented
during your job search: Your goal is to find a job opening that reflects the type of position you
might apply to in the future, perhaps within the next 2-5 years. Course Tip: Hold on to this job
opportunity for another activity later in the course!
Step 2: Conduct a Self-SWOT Analysis using your selected job opportunity. Now, apply
the SWOT technique using your selected job opportunity. Record your responses to the questions
on the next page for each SWOT category in order to self-assess your personal strengths and
weaknesses in relation to your selected job, and to assess external opportunities and threats in
relation to that occupation.

SWOT Reflection Questions (New Web Page)
For this activity, topics and reflection questions are based on the source found on the
following site: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05_1.htm (Mind Tools
Editorial Team, n.d.).

Strengths
1. What skills, education, training or experience do you have that is most relevant to this
job?
2. What are your greatest talents or achievements that align with this job?
3. How do your personal values relate to this job or the company?
Weaknesses
1. In relation to the job description or typical tasks associated with this occupation, which
tasks do you have the least knowledge of or experience with?
2. What personal work habits or preferences do you think might limit your fit for this
position?
3. In relation to the job qualifications or expectations, which skills or experiences are you
least confident about?
Opportunities
1. Do you have any personal contacts whom could provide advice related to this job or
field? If so, who?
2. Consider your responses to the ‘weaknesses’ question above. What leadership
development training, work experiences, or online resources could you take advantage of to
better prepare for this job opportunity?
3. Conduct basic online research about your selected company and the field. What trends do
you see emerging? How can you take advantage of these trends?

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 88
Threats
1. Do you foresee any barriers in preparing for this job opportunity? If so, what are these
barriers?
2. When you think about your selected job, what obstacles do you currently perceive in the
specific work environment or within the industry?
3. Consider your responses to the ‘weaknesses’ question above. How might any of your
current weaknesses threaten your opportunity to obtain this job?

Additional Resources & Future Learning Opportunities (New Web Page)
The following resources and learning opportunities can be used to support your
continuous development as a leader and may be helpful in your future strategic career planning.
In particular, if you are looking for other ways to become more self-aware or gain clarity on your
career preferences and interests, consider these optional self-assessments.
The below tools are self-directed assessments. It is helpful to read both the instructions
and the supplemental descriptions provided with your results after taking the assessments.
Consider discussing results with a career counselor on your campus or a career coach.
● The self-assessment found on the following site may help you consider how aspects of
your personality influence personal and work-related preferences:
https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test (NERIS Analytics Limited, 2017).
● The self-assessment found on the following site may help you identify your interests and
how they relate to the world of work: https://www.mynextmove.org/explore/ip (National Center
for O*Net Development, 2017).

Knowledge Check (New Web Page)
After reviewing all readings and media, check your current understanding of concepts
addressed in this unit short quiz. You may revisit previous sections of the course at any time.
Completion of this quiz is required.

1. True or False: Effective strategic career planning does not require individuals to self-
assess where they are and become more self-aware before they are able to set goals for the
future. (Answer: False)

2. Which statement is true?
a. SWOT is a business technique used to evaluate an organization’s internal
strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) and its external opportunities (O) and threats (T)
b. Individuals can use the SWOT process to self-assess strengths and shortcomings
to better prepare for a post-graduation career
c. SWOT is valuable for decision-makers to assess an organization competitive
world
d. SWOT can help answer questions such as: “What do we do well? What do we do
poorly?”
e. All of the above (Answer: E)

Big Ideas from the Unit (New Web Page)
● Strategic career planning requires individuals to self-assess where they are and become
more self-aware before they are able to set goals for the future.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 89
● Individuals can use SWOT as a strategic career planning tool to self-assess personal
strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) and external opportunities (O) and threats (T).
● In order to develop a leadership vision, individuals need to have clear self-awareness and
be able to articulate their career drivers: what are you passionate about, what are your
values, what are the talents you can offer.

A Look at the Next Unit (New Web Page)
Congratulations, you have completed Unit 2! Now that you have learned practical self-
assessment strategies to support your self-awareness and strategic career planning, the next unit
will focus on the specific leadership-related skill set of effective communication. Unit three will
provide an in-depth look at professional communication skills that are essential for emerging
leaders and for women to advance in the workplace, including strategies for promoting oneself
effectively in the workplace and in critical job-advancement situations of resume writing and
salary negotiation.

Unit 3 Overview: Professional Communication Skills for Emerging Leaders
In this unit, students will be introduced to communication skills that are critical for
navigating the 21st century workforce and advancing as leaders. While there are various skills
and strategies that promote effective communication, the focus of this unit is on understanding
personal communication style and strategies for communicating assertively and promoting
oneself in job-search and professional contexts. The overall goal is to help learners discover
critical communication skills and workplace-related strategies that can be applied to navigate
challenges within the leadership pipeline.

Unit Objectives
Learners will be able to:
1. Examine behaviors that contribute to communicating effectively in the workplace and
develop a basic understanding of strategies for promoting oneself effectively and
navigating challenging workplace climates (CO1, CO2, CO4)
2. Identify components of salary negotiation preparation in order to prepare to respond to a
mock salary offer (CO1, CO2, CO5)
3. Reflect on and self-assess their resume and consider ways to revise their resume content
to better promote themselves (CO3, CO5, CO6)
4. Practice reflective skills by considering how their current understanding of their own
strengths and challenges with communication impact their approach as an emerging
leader (CO3, CO4, CO6)

The unit outcomes align with the following curriculum outcomes:
• CO1: Understand the skills, behaviors, and personal development strategies that help
leaders succeed in the 21st century and in their chosen occupational fields
• CO2: Examine workplace barriers women face and the mindsets, coping strategies, and
self-promotion techniques pertaining to career advancement within challenging
workplace climates
• CO3: Evaluate personal development as a leader by self-assessing and reflecting on
personal strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and career goals
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 90
• CO4: Understand and apply basic professional communication behaviors and networking
strategies that contribute to workplace success and career advancement
• CO5: Acquire various resources for strategic career planning and leader self-development
in relation to personal self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-motivation
• CO6: Reflect on personal self-concept as a leader by self-assessing values, career
interests, and leadership preferences in order to create an electronic professional portfolio
to demonstrate personal leadership vision

Unit Activities
Students will navigate independently through course activities and content:
• Session description- Learners will read a brief introduction to the unit and review the unit
outcomes
• Introduction to communication barriers women face in the workplace – Learners will
review how women in leadership successfully communicate and how this unit aims to
provide strategies to help them navigate workplace communication barriers
• Overview of effective workplace communication- Learners will review behaviors that
contribute to effective communication, watching a video about effective workplace
communication strategies
• Interviews with leaders – Learners will read interviews with women in leadership
discussing their approach to communication-related topics in the workplace and they will
read an article with specific strategies that support the career advancement of women
• A closer look at communication styles- Learners will read an article about four
communication styles and complete the Communication Styles Quiz to gain insight about
their approach to communication
• Students will reflect on their communication quiz results and the strengths and challenges
of their communication style in relation to specific experiences
• Tips for assertive communication and strategies that support career advancement -
Learners will be introduced to assertive communication and be prompted to learn four
specific tips they can apply for their own career advancement and be provided with
opportunity to practice suggested strategies through reflections and activities
• Tip #1 Use shine theory to communicate support of others and to self-promote in the
workplace- Students will learn about shine theory and review three strategies to apply it
in the workplace
• Tip #2 Highlight communication skills and effectively promote yourself on your resume-
Students will be directed through an activity to highlight their communication skills on
their resume, utilizing two related articles and a resume rubric for self-assessment. It is
expected that learners have a current resume, but a supplemental webinar will be
provided for learners who need additional help
• Tip #3 Apply effective communication and assertiveness to prepare for salary
negotiation- Learners will be provided with an external video tutorial on salary
negotiation and be guided in preparing for a mock salary negotiation based on their
selected job opportunity. Students will reflect on their salary negotiation expectations
• Additional Resources & Future Learning Opportunities- Students will be provided
additional readings and resources to support their future learning about related
communication topics such as interviewing and assertive email communication
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 91
• Knowledge Check- There will be a unit quiz to assess the students’ knowledge and
understanding of communication topics reviewed in this unit
• Unit Wrap-Up: Learners will review the key takeaways from this unit and read a brief
introduction to the upcoming unit

Unit Assessments
• Learners will complete a knowledge check to test their knowledge and understanding of
this unit content
• Formative assessments will require learners to complete a communication style quiz
online
• Online journaling prompts will also be used as an assessment, requiring learners to reflect
on their current understanding of their communication strengths and challenges, assess
their resume with provided rubric and self-reflection, and prepare for a negotiation and
their salary expectations

Big Ideas from the Unit
• Assertive communication requires individuals to directly express their thoughts and needs
while advocating for and promoting oneself and others
• Shine theory, or amplification, is a workplace strategy to support the career advancement
of female colleagues by repeating suggestions given by others to highlight their
contributions
• Your resume can be used to highlight your achievements and keep track of
accomplishments in order to help you promote yourself for a specific job opportunity.
• Salary negotiation requires you to do market research about what is being offered for
someone with your experience and requires to you to be prepared to talk about your value
• Negotiating salary early in your career can promote personal advancement to leadership
positions

Advance Organizer for Next Class
The next unit will focus on how to build and expand a professional network to promote personal
career advancement through opportunities such as mentors and informational interviewing, and
digital networking techniques such as LinkedIn and electronic portfolios.

Unit 3 Web Content: Professional Communication Skills for Emerging Leaders
Session Description (New Web Page)
To successfully navigate the 21st century workforce and become effective leaders,
individuals need to acquire broad, transferable communication skills and be able to communicate
ideas clearly and effectively (NACE, 2015; Pellegrino et al., 2012). While there are various skills
and strategies that promote effective communication, the focus of this unit is on understanding
your communication style and strategies for communicating assertively and promoting oneself in
job-search and professional contexts. The overall goal is to help you discover critical
communication skills and workplace-related strategies that can be applied to navigate challenges
within the leadership pipeline. To get the most out of this session, be sure to read all content and
provided media and engage in the self-reflection activities.

At the end of this unit, learners will be able to:
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 92
1. Examine behaviors that contribute to communicating effectively in the workplace and
develop a basic understanding of strategies for promoting oneself effectively and
navigating challenging workplace climates
2. Identify components of salary negotiation preparation in order to prepare to respond to a
mock salary offer
3. Reflect on and self-assess their resume and consider ways to revise their resume content
to better promote themselves
4. Practice reflective skills by considering how their current understanding of their own
strengths and challenges with communication impact their approach as an emerging
leader

Introduction to Communication Barriers Women Face in the Workplace (New Web Page)
Communication is a critical leadership characteristic for career advancement (NACE,
2015; Riggio et al, 2003). As leaders, women have been found to be more adept at
transformational leadership (Berkery, et al., 2013), and transformational leadership
characteristics, such as highly developed communication skills, align with successful
characteristics of contemporary leaders (Arnold, Turner, Barling, Kelloway, & McKee, 2007;
Berson & Avolio, 2004; Hackman & Johnson, 2009; Wang & Huang, 2009). In short, women
have the communication skills to succeed as leaders. However, women face unique barriers
related to communication within workplace environments.
Throughout this unit, you will be introduced to effective communication behaviors for
the workplace. Specifically, this unit will focus on assertive communication strategies and
specific techniques that women use to successfully navigate challenging workplace climates,
such as self-promotion, shine theory and negotiation. You will also gain awareness of your
personal communication approach.

Overview of Effective Workplace Communication (New Web Page)
To help frame the focus of this unit, it is important to first have a basic understanding
about transferable skills and behaviors that contribute to communicating effectively in the
workplace and to review how these strategies can support the career advancement of women.
Review steps to help you become a better communicator. Watch the video found on the
following site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzUjwmK5_M8 (LinkedIn Learning
Solutions, 2015).
Next, you will focus on learning how women successfully approach the topic of
communication and related barriers in the workplace.

Interviews with Leaders (New Web Page)
Now, take a closer look at how women successfully approach communication and
techniques that help women navigate professional challenges and workplace climates. Watch the
interviews found on the following links:
• http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/susan-nelson-corporate-communications-
mcdonalds/ (Leach, 2015)
• http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/tiffany-kirklin-application-developer-IBM/
(Cameron, 2015)

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 93
Next, read the article found on the following site:
http://money.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2015/07/30/8-career-tips-for-young-women-
who-want-to-be-the-boss (Akhtar, 2015). In sum, the article (Akhtar, 2015) suggested women
employ strategies for assertive communication, promoting yourself, and tracking your
achievements.
On the following page, you will begin to focus on your personal communication behaviors
by first exploring different communication styles and then assessing your own communication
preferences and potential challenges.

A Closer Look at Communication Style (New Web Page)
Transformational leaders have highly developed communication and cognitive skills
(Hackman & Johnson, 2009) and employ transformational leadership characteristics such as
direct communication (Nielsen, et al., 2008; Arnold, et.al., 2007). Later in this unit you will
consider strategies for assertive or direct communication to promote yourself. In order to support
your development and awareness of effective professional communication behaviors, it is first
helpful to first be familiar with various communication styles and to recognize the strengths and
challenges of your own communication behaviors. This will help you become more self-aware
about your own communication style in order to communicate meaningfully and authentically as
a professional and emerging leader. The following three-step activity will help you understand
communication styles better and prepare you to communicate more effectively with others.
Step 1: Read about communication styles. Read the article found on the following site:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2015/08/06/which-of-these-4-communication-styles-
are-you/#73197dd91ecb (Murphy, 2015).
Step 2: Gain insight about your approach to communication. Complete a
communication style assessment found on the following site:
http://www.leadershipiq.com/blogs/leadershipiq/39841409-quiz-whats-your-communication-
style# (Murphy, 2017).

Reflection Questions (New Web Page)
Step 3: Self-reflection. Consider your communication quiz results, and the strengths and
challenges of your communication style, and the provided readings and media. Then reflect on
the following questions:
1. Identify one experience (professional or academic) where you effectively communicated.
What skills did you use to successfully communicate? What were the signs that you had been
effective?
2. Now, identify one experience (professional or academic) where you were ineffective at
communicating - what specific challenges did you face? What strategies could you have applied
in order to be more effective?

Tips for Assertive Communication that Support Career Advancement (New Web Page)
While there are many components of effective workplace communication, our focus will
be on how to apply assertive communication techniques to help prepare you for common
workplace barriers to career advancement.
Assertive communication entails being direct in expressing your thoughts and needs
while advocating for yourself and respecting others (Robinson, Segal, & Smith, 2016). By
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 94
expressing your ideas in an assertive and direct manner, you can improve the clarity of
communication while also promoting your own confidence (Robinson et al., 2016).
Next, you will learn about assertive communication strategies that you can apply in the
workplace to promote others and yourself, and strategies for self-promotion through salary
negotiation and resume writing in order to advance your career.

Tip 1: Shine Theory for Self-Promotion (New Web Page)
Use shine theory to communicate support of others and to self-promote in the workplace.
Studies show that high-achieving women leaders place high value on communication (Cheung &
Halpern, 2010) and they personally demonstrate a strong sense of conviction and self-worth
(Stern, 2008). However, women are less likely to effectively self-promote their contributions to a
company (Applebaum, et.al., 2013; Hutson, 2010) which impacts how women are perceived or
evaluated by others and contributes to inequitable promotional opportunities for women to
advance in their careers (Heilman, et.al., 2001).
What can you do to overcome these obstacles? Let’s consider the concept of shine theory,
or amplification, as a strategic communication technique women and their allies can practice in
the workplace to facilitate self-promotion and recognition of the contributions of others.

How do Successful Leaders Use Shine Theory? (New Web Page)
Shine theory, or amplification, is a strategy to support the career advancement of female
colleagues and it is particularly helpful in occupations traditionally dominated by men (BBC
News, 2016). Shine theory involves repeating suggestions given by others to ensure they are
heard and to give credit to the author to highlight their contributions as their own (BBC News,
2016). For specific strategies and examples read the article found on the following site:
https://medium.com/@theBoardlist/3-ways-to-utilize-shine-theory-at-your-workplace-
85994df53b7a (theBoardlist, 2016).

Tip 2: Self-Promotion and Your Resume (New Web Page)
As you may recall learning in the first unit, when employers look for new college
graduates to take on jobs they look for evidence of leadership skills on a job candidate’s resume
and they seek leaders who can work as part of a team (National Association of Colleges and
Employers, 2015). This is why it is critical to promote yourself effectively on your resume and
demonstrate your communication skills.
Your resume can be used to highlight your achievements and keep track of
accomplishments in order to help you promote yourself for a specific job opportunity. While the
skills required will vary based on the position you are applying for, it is helpful to consider
typical leadership skills and qualities that employers look for on a resume. To self-assess your
current skills and those you need to gain, review the article found on the following site:
https://www.thebalance.com/leadership-skills-list-2063757 (Doyle, 2017).
You will need a copy of your current resume to practice this tip. If you do not have a
current resume, first consult with your career development center and counselors on your
campus. Also, consider reviewing the resources found on the following site:
http://www.aauw.org/2016/03/15/resume-and-cover-letter-steps/ (Flynn-McKevitt, 2016).

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 95
Resume Activity and Reflection (New Web Page)
Step 1: Review your current resume content. Consider whether you are effectively
promoting yourself with your current resume format and content. Use the rubric found on the
following site to self-assess your current resume content and format:
https://wmich.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/u195/2013/NACE-Resume%20Rubric.pdf
(Diepenbrock, n.d.).
Step 2: Self-reflection. Reflect on and respond to the following questions:
1. Based on the self-SWOT analysis you conducted in unit two for your targeted job
opportunity, identify at least two ways in which you can revise your language or resume
content to highlight current skills or experiences relevant to the qualifications/job
description of your identified job opportunity.

2. Based on the self-SWOT analysis you conducted in unit two and your targeted job
opportunity description, what experiences or skills do you still need to develop to prepare
for this opportunity to feel more confident promoting yourself?

Tip 3: Prepare for Salary Negotiation (New Web Page)
Now that you have become more familiar with your own communication style and
reviewed strategies for communicating assertively and effectively promoting yourself, it is time
to focus on preparing for salary negotiation and ways to use assertive communication.
Why is this important? Women are more likely to rise to leadership roles when they
advance in the workforce, and salary negotiation provides an opportunity for women to promote
their workplace value and set personal benchmarks for future earnings and career advancement
(AAUW, 2016). Women need to apply assertive communication and negotiation skills at the
onset of their careers in order to support their future salary and leadership opportunities (Nan,
Langowitz, Allen, & Godwyn, 2013).

Opportunity to Practice Preparing for Salary Negotiation (New Web Page)
First, watch the video found on the following site and review the below checklist based
on the same vide source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUAcoetDgH4 (Raynier, 2016).
Now that you have been introduced to strategies for negotiating effectively, it is time to
apply what you learned to walk-through real negotiation preparation strategies which you can
use in future salary negotiations. The below negotiation checklist can support your process as
you practice in this course and when you prepare in future salary negotiations.

Negotiation Preparation Checklist (Raynier, 2016):
• Be prepared to talk about your value. Think about how you have or will contribute to a
company. Consider keeping a list of accomplishments in order to be assertive and
confident.
• Do market research. What is the market paying for someone with your level of
experience? Be sure to consider more than one resource when researching.
• Give a specific number for your salary expectations. You should identify two numbers
based on your market research: 1) your target or ideal number, which is slightly higher
than your expectation and the number you will give to the hiring manager as your salary
expectation and 2) the number you would be willing to settle for, which is aligned with
your market value and a number you will internally know as your bottom-line.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 96
• Go into the negotiation with leverage. If you are negotiating a new job offer and you
currently have other offers on the table, consider sharing this with the hiring manager. If
you are currently employed with a company and seeking a raise, explain your value and
achievements in a clear and concise way to support your market research.
• Time negotiation appropriately. For a new job offer, your salary expectations should be
brought up only when prompted by employer or after they have made an initial offer. In
other instances, it is appropriate to introduce the topic during a performance review.
• Remain confident and polite. Your communication approach and ability to show mutual
respect during a salary negotiation is essential to your success.

Negotiation Preparation Worksheet and Reflection Questions (New Web Page)
Now that you have reviewed the salary negotiation checklist, it is time to apply what you
have learned to your own career through a mock salary offer. Reflect on the following prompts
and record your responses. This helps you prepare for future salary negotiation conversations.
Step 1: Conduct a job search. Conduct a job search for an opportunity you could
reasonably apply to within the next year. If the position you identified in unit two fits this
description you may use that position. Otherwise, search for a new job opportunity in your
current field of interest.
Step 2: Prepare to discuss how you will add value to the company or the position.
Review the job description qualifications and position responsibilities in detail. Consider how
you meet their expectations and ways in which you could add value to the company.
Step 3: Identify your target salary. A challenging component of negotiation is
identifying your target salary. This requires you to conduct market research and be well
informed. To be more confident in future negotiation situations, let’s practice how you will
conduct research and identify your target salary.
As mentioned in the video, it is ideal to consider multiple sources of information to
determine what the market is paying someone with your experience for the given position. First,
use your selected job opportunity and choose one of the resources found on the following sites to
conduct more specific market research about your target salary:
• https://www.bls.gov/ooh/ (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015)
• www.salary.com (Salary.com, 2017)
Next, narrow in on your expected salary for the job you have selected by conducting a free
salary report found on the following site: http://www.payscale.com (PayScale Inc, 2017).

Self-Reflect and Identify Target Salary (New Web Page)
Step 3: Self-reflection. Now that you have gathered the previous information, you are
prepared to identify a target salary. Respond to the following reflection questions:
1. What are 3-5 specific ways in which you could contribute immediately to the position
and the company based on the job opening?
2. What is your bottom-line number or the salary you would be willing to settle for? This
number should be aligned with your market value based on your research.
3. What is your target or ideal salary number? Remember, this number should be slightly
higher than your expectation. This is the number you will give to the hiring manager.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 97
Additional Resources & Future Learning Opportunities (New Web Page)
The following resources and learning opportunities can be used to support your
continuous development as a leader and may be helpful in your future strategic career planning.
These are key since effective leadership development and career advancement requires you to
proactively identify learning opportunities that support personal leadership development and
growth (Hopkins, et.al, 2008). To help you get started, below are resources for assertive and
strategic communication strategies which you may wish to consider in the future.
An app for more assertive emails. Read the article found on the following site:
https://www.themuse.com/advice/youre-actually-not-sorryand-this-app-will-help-you-stop-
saying-it-so-much-in-email (Lastoe, n.d.).
Interview preparation. Read the articles found on the following sites:
• https://qz.com/608398/be-prepared-we-gotasked-10-ceos-to-tellgive-us-their-killer-
interview-questions/?utm_source=atlfb (Karaian, 2016) and
• http://lifehacker.com/print-this-checklist-to-better-prepare-for-your-next-jo-1462506055
(Dachis, 2013).
Salary negotiation. Review the many resources found on the following site:
http://www.shenegotiates.com/resources/ (She Negotiates, 2016).

Knowledge Check (New Web Page)
After reviewing all readings and media, check your current understanding of concepts
addressed in this unit short quiz. You may revisit previous sections of the course at any time.
Completion of this quiz is required.

1. Match the following strategies with the appropriate term or concept: Encouraging full
participation, redirecting interruptions, and repeating the points that other women have
made to be sure to give them credit are all strategies for using _______ in the workplace.
(Answer: Shine theory)

2. True or False: Women who negotiate salary early in their career may be more likely to
rise to leadership roles and advance in the workplace (Answer- True)

3. Which of the following was not a suggested strategy to prepare for salary negotiation?
a. Be prepared to talk about your value and how you will contribute to a company
b. Do market research to identify what the market is paying for someone with your
level of experience
c. Give a specific number for your salary expectation
d. Give a salary range for your salary expectation (Answer: D)
e. For a new job offer, your salary expectation should be brought up only when
prompted by an employer or after they have made an initial offer

Big Ideas from the Unit (New Web Page)
● Assertive communication requires individuals to directly express their thoughts and needs
while advocating for and promoting oneself and others
● Shine theory, or amplification, is a workplace strategy to support the career advancement
of female colleagues by repeating suggestions given by others to highlight their
contributions
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 98
● Your resume can be used to highlight your achievements and keep track of
accomplishments in order to help you promote yourself for a specific job opportunity.
● Salary negotiation requires you to do market research about what is being offered for
someone with your experience and requires to you to be prepared to talk about your value
● Negotiating salary early in your career can promote personal advancement to leadership
positions

A Look at the Next Unit (New Web Page)
Congratulations, you have finished unit 3! Now that you have learned effective
workplace communication strategies to promote yourself, the next unit will focus on how to
build and expand your professional network in order to support your career advancement. You
will learn strategies such as mentorship and informational interviewing, and examine digital
networking techniques using LinkedIn and electronic portfolios.

Unit 4 Overview: How to Build and Expand a Network
In this unit, students will learn effective career networking behaviors and how women
successfully apply strategies to build their personal network. This will include how to identify
and approach mentors and sponsors, and how social media is a valuable tool. The unit will
introduce practical networking strategies and also provide opportunities for students to practice
networking techniques by conducting an informational interview. The unit will particularly focus
on strategies pertaining to barriers women face in the workplace, such as lack of access to social
networks. Overall, the unit will address how to expand a professional network to promote
personal career advancement by leveraging opportunities with mentors as well as digital
networking with LinkedIn.

Unit Objectives
Learners will be able to:
1. Examine how mentors and professional networks promote career advancement (CO2,
CO4)
2. Examine behaviors that contribute to effective networking and strategies that help women
overcome barriers related to networking within challenging workplace climates (CO1,
CO2, CO4)
3. Apply knowledge of effective digital networking to create a LinkedIn profile (CO1, CO4)
4. Demonstrate the ability to engage a professional network through informational
interviews with women in leadership and reflect on the experience in relation to personal
career goals (CO3, CO4, CO6)

The unit outcomes align with the following curriculum outcomes:
• CO1: Understand the skills, behaviors, and personal development strategies that help
leaders succeed in the 21st century and in their chosen occupational fields
• CO2: Examine workplace barriers women face and the mindsets, coping strategies, and
self-promotion techniques pertaining to career advancement within challenging
workplace climates
• CO3: Evaluate personal development as a leader by self-assessing and reflecting on
personal strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and career goals
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 99
• CO4: Understand and apply basic professional communication behaviors and networking
strategies that contribute to workplace success and career advancement
• CO6: Reflect on personal self-concept as a leader by self-assessing values, career
interests, and leadership preferences in order to create an electronic professional portfolio
to demonstrate personal leadership vision

Unit Activities
Students will navigate independently through course activities and content:
• Session description- Learners will read a brief introduction to the unit and review the unit
outcomes
• Introduction to Networking Barriers Women Face in the Workplace- Learners will
review the value of networking for women’s career advancement and the barriers women
face within organizations related to access to networks, role models, mentors, and
sponsors
• Interviews with Leaders- Learners will be provided with interviews, or relevant existing
media, providing models of effective networking behaviors and how women navigate
workplace barriers related to networking
• What is Networking- Learners will read an introduction to networking and how it relates
to achieving career planning, and then will read an article about effective networking.
• A Closer Look: Mentors and Sponsors- Learners will be introduced to mentorship and
watch a three-part video series on how to find a mentor
• Tips for Your Developing Your Personal Network - Learners will be introduced to the
two tips focused on in this networking unit, and be provided with opportunities to
practice the tips
• Tip #1 Strengthen your digital presence to expand your social network- Students will
learn how social media is a valuable tool to develop social capital, particularly for women
whom tend to underutilize and undervalue social media as such a tool. Then students will
learn how to build an effective LinkedIn profile through an online video on LinkedIn’s
website, and they will be directed to create/update their personal profile
• Tip #2 Leverage informational interviews to expand your network- Students will learn
about informational interviewing and read articles that introduce techniques for
informational interviewing, including how to request an interview, what questions to ask,
and sending a thank-you note
• Opportunity to Practice: Students will be guided through an activity to conduct their own
informational interview and reflect on the experience
• Additional Resources & Future Learning Opportunities- Learners will be provided
additional resources to support their future networking and identification of mentors
through professional associations and online databases
• Knowledge Check- There will be a unit quiz to assess the students’ knowledge and
understanding of effective networking, mentors and sponsors, and digital networking
topics reviewed in this unit
• Unit Wrap-Up: Learners will review the key takeaways from this unit and read a brief
introduction to the upcoming unit

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 100
Unit Assessments
• Learners will complete a knowledge check to test their knowledge and understanding of
content in this unit
• Learners will respond to journal prompts to self-reflect on their experience conducting an
informational interview with a professional in their field of interest, including their
understanding about ways to networking and maintain relationships as well as feedback
received from the professional about their personal growth and future actions
• Learners will self-assess their LinkedIn profile using a rubric and will respond to journal
prompts for self-reflection

Big Ideas from the Unit
• Effective networking can have a positive impact on your career goals by facilitating the
job search process, and increasing your access to social support and insider knowledge
• A mentor is someone who coaches and advises you, and these relationships should
develop naturally and be mutually beneficial
• A sponsor is someone who directly advocates for you, such as suggesting you for a
promotion
• Informational interviews help you gain insight into what is required to be successful or
advance in your field of interest and allow you to expand your network of contacts
• A LinkedIn profile should include a professional picture, a clearly written headline,
details about your education and skills, and highlight your experience and
accomplishments

Advance Organizer for Next Class
The next unit will examine career-related barriers faced by women and introduce effective
coping strategies to help you persist within the leadership pipeline. The unit will focus on
strategies for developing a growth mindset and reflecting on personal failures, and you will
revisit the concept of a personal leadership vision statement and how it relates to
transformational leadership.

Unit 4 Web Content: How to Build and Expand a Network
Session Description (New Web Page)
In this unit, you will learn about barriers women face in the workplace related to
accessing networks, effective networking strategies to prepare to navigate these barriers,
including how to identify and approach mentors and sponsors. You will also practice networking
techniques such as conducting an informational interview and preparing to use social media to
expand your network and establish your digital network with LinkedIn. To get the most out of
this session, be sure to read all content and provided media and engage in the self-reflection
activities.

At the end of this unit, learners will be able to:
1. Examine how mentors and professional networks promote career advancement
2. Examine behaviors that contribute to effective networking and strategies that help women
overcome barriers related to networking within challenging workplace climates
3. Apply knowledge of effective digital networking to create a LinkedIn profile
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 101
4. Demonstrate the ability to engage a professional network through informational
interviews with women in leadership and reflect on the experience in relation to personal
career goals

Introduction to Networking Barriers Women Face in the Workplace (New Web Page)
You have probably heard that networking is an important part of your career success and
that networks can help you during a job search. Women leaders particularly benefit from social
networks of influential individuals who provide support throughout their career (Salas ‐Lopez,
Deitrick, Mahady, Gertner, & Sabino, 2011). These networks often consist of mentors who
advise or coach, or sponsors who advocate on behalf of the individual for new opportunities
within an organization (Salas ‐Lopez et al., 2011).
It is important to invest time in developing your network skills and to build professional
relationships, and it is also important to recognize that networking may often present a challenge
for many women in workplace environments. For instance, women often face barriers within
organizations due to inherent organizational bias and the lack of women within leadership roles
that contribute to less access to high-status mentors and role models in leadership ranks; women
often have limited access to critical social networks, mentors, and sponsorship opportunities in
workplaces and are less likely to have the support of a mentor or network during critical times in
their careers and when being faced with challenges as leaders (Ely, 1994; Ely et al., 2011; Ibarra,
1993; Kilian, Hukai, & McCarty, 2005; Ryan et al., 2015).

Interviews with Leaders (New Web Page)
Take a closer look at how women view networking, mentors, and social media in relation
to their career success and the strategies they use to navigate barriers in the workplace and
traditionally male-dominated occupations. Read the interviews found on the following links:
• http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/paige-brewster-account-manager-pinterest/
(Duhatschek, 2017)
• http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/lindsey-kollross/ (Valeriote, 2013)
• http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/natalya-brikner-ceo-aerospace-engineering-
accion/ (Whiting, 2017)

What is Networking? (New Web Page)
Read the article found at the following link to learn seven tips for effective professional
networking: https://www.thebalance.com/top-career-networking-tips-2062604 (Doyle, 2016).

A Closer Look: Mentors and Sponsors (New Web Page)
Research has found that seeking support from mentors is key to the success of emerging
women leaders (Salas ‐Lopez et al., 2011). Leaders should have personal mentors and mentor
others, and one of the key roles of senior executives should be to sponsor women for leadership
positions (Mattis, 2001; Salas ‐Lopez et al., 2011). What is a mentor? A mentorship relationship
can be developed with a variety of individuals: colleagues, friends, supervisors, family members,
community contacts. According to women in one study, the key components of the mentor-
mentee relationship are (Salas ‐Lopez et al., 2011):
• viewing the mentor as a role model
• developing a trusting relationship between the mentor-mentee
• a willingness to receive critical feedback from the mentor
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 102
• maintaining confidentiality about mentor-mentee discussions

How do Successful Leaders find Mentors and Sponsors? (New Web Page)
Watch the three-part video series on how to find a mentor found on the following links:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nv4j6n0iZc (How to hustle, 2015b).
2. https://youtu.be/qXrRj25QJ5s (How to hustle, 2015a).
3. https://youtu.be/uOOicdKTfNY (How to hustle, 2016).
Next, review these key takeaways:
• Look for opportunities and potential mentors within your company and within
professional organizations
• Think broadly about who you can learn from- consider both men and women, and
colleagues in other departments
• A mentor is someone who coaches and advises you, and these relationships should
develop naturally and be mutually beneficial
• A sponsor is someone who directly advocates for you, such as suggesting you for a
promotion
In the next sections, you will learn specific strategies for networking.

Tips for Developing Your Personal Network (New Web Page)
Now that you have reviewed the components of networking and how to find mentors and
sponsors, it is time to learn practical strategies to help you effectively network. There are many
strategies for effective networking. We will focus on three key areas to help you expand your
personal network and provide concrete tips for each topic:
1. Strengthen your digital presence and expand your social network
2. Leverage informational interviews to expand your network
3. Identify other networking opportunities

Tip #1: Strengthen Your Digital Presence to Expand Your Social Network (New Web Page)
Networking online through social media and maintaining a professional digital presence
can help you expand your network and can support you with your job search. Did you know that
women’s use of social media tools for developing social capital is limited, and that women
perceive limited value in social media as a tool (Maguire, 2016)? This is important to know as
you prepare to transition into professional roles in workplace environments where women often
have less access to effective networks, high-status mentors, and role models (Ely, 1994; Ely et
al., 2011; Ibarra, 1993).
Social media is a valuable tool to navigate this barrier by offering a platform outside of
the workplace that expands your access to a social network. This is especially important if there
are limited women in leadership ranks within your organization for you to network with. In the
final unit of this course you will explore how electronic portfolios can further strengthen your
digital presence. For now, we will focus on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is an online social networking
platform for professionals that helps you to do the following (LinkedIn, n.d.):
• Create a virtual resume with your LinkedIn profile to build your digital presence
• Keep in contact with colleagues and classmates, and find new contacts for networking
• Discover professional opportunities and get the latest news about industries and
companies of interest to you

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 103
LinkedIn Profile Activity and Reflection (New Web Page)
LinkedIn (LinkedIn Corporation, 2017) provides a variety of resources to help you create
your profile and network successfully. Next, you will learn more about these resources and
practice creating an effective LinkedIn profile.
Step 1: create a LinkedIn profile. Watch the video found at this link to learn about how
to create your LinkedIn profile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8WZxYFaSmI (LinkedIn,
2013). Then use the handouts found at this link to develop your personal LinkedIn profile:
https://university.linkedin.com/linkedin-for-students (LinkedIn Corporation, 2017).
Step 2: self-assess your LinkedIn profile. Now, use the rubric found at this link to self-
evaluate your LinkedIn profile:
https://www.careercenter.illinois.edu/sites/default/files/LinkedinRubricFINAL.pdf (The
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2016).
Step 3: reflection questions. Record your responses to the following questions after
creating your personal LinkedIn profile:
1. Based on your self-evaluation of your profile using the LinkedIn Profile Rubric, identify
at least two ways in which you can revise or add to your LinkedIn profile to highlight
current skills or experiences relevant to your field of interest.
2. Why is LinkedIn an important tool to in your future professional career?

Tip #2: Leverage Informational Interviews to Expand Your Network (New Web Page)
In short, the purpose of an informational interview is to help you gain insight into what is
required to be successful or advance in your field of interest, and help you expand your
professional network of contacts. Informational interviews also provide the opportunity to
interact with professionals or role models to learn from their leadership style and the behaviors
that contribute to their success.
Read an overview of informational interviews and the key steps for the interview process in
the article found at the following link: https://career.berkeley.edu/Info/InfoInterview (University
of California Berkeley, 2017).

Informational Interview Activity (New Web Page)
It is time to apply what you have learned about networking and informational interviews
to support your growth as an emerging leader.
Step 1: Prepare to request an informational interview. Read the article found at the
following link to prepare to effectively ask for an informational interview:
https://www.themuse.com/advice/how-to-ask-for-an-informational-interview-and-get-a-yes
(Bell, n.d.).
Step 2: Identify an individual and request an informational interview. For this activity,
you should ideally aim to identify an individual who is a woman in a leadership role within your
field of interest. This is a good opportunity to use the LinkedIn profile account you worked on
earlier to connect with a contact of your choice and request an informational interview. Use the
handouts found at this link to network and communicate effectively using LinkedIn:
https://university.linkedin.com/linkedin-for-students (LinkedIn Corporation, 2017).
Alternatively, you may use your personal network of phone or email contacts if you have a
specific individual in mind you would like to interview whom is not available to connect with on
LinkedIn.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 104
Informational Interview (New Web Page)
Step 3: Prepare for your informational interview. In order to be respectful of the agreed
upon time-frame for the interview, be sure to select an appropriate amount of questions for your
interview, approximately five questions is appropriate. For this activity, you are required to
address the following questions during your informational interview in order to gain insight to
how professional women have been successfully and navigated barriers within their careers:
● What skills and experience have helped you be successful within your field or
organization?
● What steps do you take to identify new mentors or sponsors and how do you maintain
effective relationships with your professional network?
● I’d like to improve my communication and networking skills. Do you have any feedback
for me about my approach during our interview, or what advice do you have to improve
my communication in future networking settings?
You may prepare additional questions based on the information you would like to obtain
during your informational interview about the individual’s career, their experience navigating the
leadership pipeline, or their professional advice for women embarking on their professional
journey. If you need more guidance on appropriate questions, review the article found at the
following link to select additional questions for your informational interview:
https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-steps-to-a-perfect-informational-interview (Zhang, n.d.). Be
prepared to take notes at your informational interview.
Step 4: Follow up with a thank-you note. It is important to show your gratitude to the
individual you interviewed. This is a strategy successful individuals often use to maintain
professional relationships. Take a moment to send an email or hard copy thank-you note to show
your appreciation for their time and career insights. If you need further guidance on this step,
review the sample thank-you notes in the article found at the following link:
https://www.thebalance.com/informational-interview-thank-you-letter-example-2063970 (Doyle,
2017).

Informational Interview Reflection Questions (New Web Page)
Step 4: Record information from and reflect on your informational interview. Record
the following details from your informational interview:
● Name and position/job title of the individual you interviewed:
● List of questions you selected to ask during the interview:
Now, respond to the following reflection questions:
1. Why did you select this individual for your informational interview? How are they
related to your personal career goals and interest in leadership?
2. What suggestions or resources did your interviewee provide about networking and
maintaining relationships? How will you apply their feedback about your personal
communication and networking skills?
3. Reflect on the advice given and information gathered during your informational
interview. What future actions do you need to take in order to further prepare for your
career goals or a leadership occupation? How did this information differ from your
previous perceptions of this occupation or career path?

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 105
Additional Resources & Future Learning Opportunities (New Web Page)
The following resources and learning opportunities can be used to support your
continuous development as a leader beyond this course and may be helpful in your future
strategic career planning. Keep in mind that women should connect with a variety of formal and
informal networks of professionals who share common experiences and industry knowledge
(Hopkins et al., 2008). Below are some resources to help you identify networking and
mentorship opportunities through professional associations and online.
Network through professional associations and events. Professional associations are an
important resource now and throughout your career. You should consider joining associations
related to your field of interest and organizations specific to women and leadership in order to
participate in leadership trainings, networking events, and access job-search resources.
Associations typically offer a discounted membership rate for students and recent graduates.
Suggestions of professional association, organized by industry, can be found using the following
link: http://www.jobstars.com/list-professional-associations/ (Levin, 2016).
Use online resources to access informal networks and mentors. You can get immediate
insight from diverse women leaders and explore opportunities to connect with potential mentors
in a variety of fields through online sources. For instance, throughout this course you are
presented with interviews with leaders available at the following link:
http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/ (Career Contessa, 2017b). A similar repository of
interviews with leaders is available at the following link read the interviews with extraordinary
leaders and use resources for networking found on the following link:
https://www.levo.com/videos (Levo League LLC, 2017). The resources on the following link are
helpful to connect with potential mentors: http://www.careercontessa.com/hire-a-mentor/
(Career Contessa, 2017a). You may also explore potential social networks available at the
following link: https://leanin.org (LeanIn.Org, 2017).

Knowledge Check (New Web Page)
After reviewing all readings and media, check your current understanding of concepts
addressed in this short quiz. You may revisit previous sections of the course at any time.
Completion of this quiz is required.
1. Review each professional scenarios and match it with the appropriate term or strategy.
a) A _____ often increases your visibility, facilitates career opportunities on your behalf,
and connects you to senior leaders within your company or field. This person is deeply
invested in your professional success and will advocate for you using their political
capital and thus may directly impact your salary and long-term success. (Answer:
Sponsor)
b) Monica and Nila are confidantes in the workplace. Monica is an experienced and trusted
adviser to Nila, often acting as a consultant or trainer when Nila seeks advice and works
to navigate the field as a newer professional. Monica is a ____ to Nila. (Answer:
Mentor)
c) Maria makes an effort to reach out to her professional contacts and maintains strong
relationships that positively impact her career goals, facilitate job searches, and increase
her access to social support and insider knowledge. Maria’s behaviors illustrate _____.
(Answer: Effective networking)

2. Which of the following was not a key point from the “How to Find a Mentor” video series:
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 106
a) Look for opportunities and potential mentors within your company and within
professional organizations
b) Think broadly about who you can learn from- consider both men and women, and
colleagues in other departments
A mentor and sponsor help you in the exact same way
c) Mentor and sponsor relationships should develop naturally and be mutually beneficial
(Answer: C)
d) A sponsor is someone who directly advocates for you, such as suggesting you for a
promotion

3. Which of the following are top tips for building a LinkedIn profile:
a) pick a professional picture
b) write a strong, clear headline
c) include details about your education and skills
d) list your experience and accomplishments
e) all of the above (Answer: E)

Wrap-Up: Big Ideas from the Unit (New Web Page)
● Effective networking can positively impact your career goals by facilitating the job
search process, and increasing your access to social support and insider knowledge
● A mentor is someone who coaches and advises you, and these relationships should
develop naturally and be mutually beneficial
● A sponsor is someone who directly advocates for you, such as suggesting you for a
promotion
● Informational interviews help you gain insight into what is required to be successful or
advance in your field of interest and allow you to expand your network of contacts
● A LinkedIn profile should include a professional picture, a clearly written headline,
details about your education and skills, and highlight your experience and
accomplishments

A Look at the Next Unit (New Web Page)
Congratulations, you have completed unit 4! The next unit will examine career-related
barriers faced by women and introduce effective coping strategies to help you persist within the
leadership pipeline, including strategies for developing a growth mindset and reflecting on
personal failures. The unit will also revisit the concept of crafting your own personal leadership
vision statement and examine how it relates to transformational leadership.

Unit 5 Overview: Coping Strategies for Career Advancement
In this unit, students will learn about barriers women face in the contemporary workplace
and strategies to overcome challenges within their control. This unit will focus on practical
strategies that help emerging leaders cope and persist throughout the corporate pipeline,
especially in traditionally male-dominated fields and roles like leadership occupations. Specific
coping strategies are developing a growth mindset and reflecting on personal failures, and
introduction crafting a personal leadership vision statement to clarify sense of purpose and
direction.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 107
Unit Objectives
Learners will be able to:
1. Examine career-related barriers women face and effective coping strategies to navigate
those barriers and promote persistence within the leadership pipeline (CO2, CO4, CO5)
2. Recognize the components of a personal leadership vision statement and how it relates to
transformational leadership (CO1, CO3, CO6)
3. Apply knowledge of resilience and a growth mindset by analyzing and reflecting upon a
personal failure (CO2, CO3, CO5, CO6)

The unit outcomes align with the following curriculum outcomes:
• CO1: Understand the skills, behaviors, and personal development strategies that help
leaders succeed in the 21st century and in their chosen occupational fields
• CO2: Examine workplace barriers women face and the mindsets, coping strategies, and
self-promotion techniques pertaining to career advancement within challenging
workplace climates
• CO3: Evaluate personal development as a leader by self-assessing and reflecting on
personal strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and career goals
• CO5: Acquire various resources for strategic career planning and leader self-development
in relation to personal self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-motivation
• CO6: Reflect on personal self-concept as a leader by self-assessing values, career
interests, and leadership preferences in order to create an electronic professional portfolio
to demonstrate personal leadership vision

Unit Activities
Students will navigate independently through course activities and content:
• Session description- Learners will read a brief introduction to the unit and review the unit
outcomes
• A Closer Look at Barriers Women Face within Leadership Pipelines- Learners will watch
a short video about key leadership hurdles women face in the workforce and read an
article providing career advice to help women navigate the gender gap in traditionally
male-dominated fields
• Tips and coping strategies to overcome professional obstacles- Learners will be prompted
to explore tips to help them overcome career hurdles and persist in their leadership
development
• Tip #1 Consider the value of role models and social networks - Students will be reminded
of the importance of a social networks and role models, and will review ways to network
or learn from those who have successfully navigated workplace barriers to acquire coping
strategies support their persistence
• Interviews with Leaders - Learners will read interviews with leaders about ways they
have overcome career challenges, persisted in a male-dominated occupation, learned
from failures, or managed career and work-life roles
• Tip #2 Develop a growth mindset- Students will read about developing a growth mindset,
then take an online quiz to find out whether they have a growth mindset or fixed mindset
Finally, learners will practice developing a growth mindset by being guided through a
failure resume activity with clear guidelines
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 108
• Tip #3 Have a clear leadership purpose or vision to guide you- Learners will review how
to create a clear leadership vision and be provided with articles showcasing effective
strategies and role model statements of CEOs. This will prepare students to write their
own statement in the final course unit
• Additional Resources & Future Learning Opportunities- Learners will be provided with
resources and readings for future learning about the related topics of self-care strategies
and work-life challenges
• Knowledge Check- There will be a unit quiz to assess the students’ knowledge and
understanding of coping strategies, leadership vision statements, and a growth mindset as
reviewed in this unit
• Unit Wrap-Up: Learners will review the key takeaways from this unit and read a brief
introduction to the upcoming unit

Unit Assessments
• Learners will complete a knowledge check to test their knowledge and understanding of
the content in this unit
• Learners will complete an online growth mindset quiz and complete a corresponding
resume failure worksheet, with a provided worked example, to self-reflect and develop a
growth mindset

Big Ideas from the Unit
• Social support networks, role models, and self-care practices are examples of coping
strategies that help professionals overcome barriers in the workplace
• An effective leadership vision statement describes realistic goals, illustrates your values
and sense of purpose, and represents a key characteristic of transformational leadership
• A growth mindset promotes a drive to learn and resilience that is necessary for success
Growth mindset implies that individuals can grow and that our basic qualities and
abilities can be developed through effort
• A growth mindset and a sense of purpose can help you overcome professional obstacles
and support your personal development as a leader

Advance Organizer for Next Class
The next unit will prepare you to move forward on your leadership path by applying components
of strategic career planning which will include evaluating your personal development as an
emerging leader and creating an electronic portfolio to showcase your leadership vision
statements, resume, and LinkedIn profile.

Unit 5 Web Content: Coping Strategies for Career Advancement
Session Description (New Web Page)
To successfully navigate the 21st century workforce and persist as leaders, it is important
to be aware of the potential barriers faced by women and strategies to cope and persist with
challenges that are within your control. This unit will focus on practical strategies that help
emerging leaders cope with and overcome obstacles throughout the corporate pipeline, especially
in traditionally male-dominated fields and roles like leadership occupations. To get the most out
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 109
of this session, be sure to read all content and provided media and engage in the self-reflection
activities.

At the end of this unit, learners will be able to:
1. Examine career-related barriers women face and effective coping strategies to navigate
those barriers and promote persistence within the leadership pipeline
2. Recognize the components of a personal leadership vision statement and how it relates to
transformational leadership
3. Apply knowledge of resilience and a growth mindset by analyzing and reflecting upon a
personal failure

A Closer Look at Barriers Women Face & Coping Strategies (New Web Page)
To help frame the focus of this unit, it is important to first have a basic understanding
about contemporary barriers that may influence a woman’s career advancement and ways to
reframe these hurdles in order to persist in the leadership pipeline.
Step 1. Review key leadership hurdles women face in the workforce in the video found
on the following site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRpI2SY_3Pw (Linkage Inc, 2016).
Next, consider key takeaways from the video (Linkage Inc, 2016) that focus on the need for
women to:
● Recognize their value and coach their inner critic to increase confidence
● Identify what they want in their professional life, define their purpose and pursue it
● Negotiate and make-the-ask
● Enhance their brand and presence, and prioritize networking as strategic relationship
building
● Prove their value and avoid opting-out or burning-out by strategically scaling and
managing their impact
Step 2. Read the article found on the following site and consider the career advice
provided to help women navigate the gender gap in a traditionally male-dominated field like
technology: http://www.vogue.com/article/tech-startup-career-advice-women (Lincoln, 2017).

Tips and Coping Strategies to Overcome Professional Obstacles (New Web Page)
This unit examines self-care and coping strategies as well as advice from professional
women who are successfully advancing in their careers. The unit will also focus on helping you
practice a coping strategy particularly critical in the 21st Century: developing a growth mindset.
Let’s dive into tips to help you personally overcome career hurdles and persist in your
development as a leader.

Tip 1: The value of role models and coping strategies (New Web Page)
It is helpful to review coping strategies of successful individuals and consider the value
of social support networks. Social support networks and role models can contribute greatly to
your professional success. By networking with or learning from those who have successfully
navigated workplace barriers, you can acquire coping strategies to help you persist. These
professionals and leaders can model various strategies and offer insight into workplace
dynamics, provide career advice about how to cope and persist in the face of challenges or bias.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 110
First, review the self-care strategies found on the following site:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/self-care-
tips_us_5886322fe4b096b4a2333021?section=women& (Holmes, 2017).
Next, recall that the practice of informational interviewing and digital networking which
was introduced in the previous unit are strategies to engage your network and potentially ask
questions about coping techniques and managing career challenges.
In addition to your personal network, you can now get advice and insight from top
leaders instantly online. These readily available resources can provide valuable role models and
examples of how women successfully navigate barriers and cope with challenges in the
workplace.

Interviews with Leaders (New Web Page)
Take a closer look at how women successfully overcome career challenges, persist in male-
dominated occupations, learn from failures, navigate issues with stress and self-care, and manage
work-life roles. Read the interviews found on the following links:
• http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/caitlin-hardy-foss-maritime/ (Kivel, 2016)
• http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/susan-peters-vp-human-resources-ge/
(Warchol, 2017)
• http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/sharon-epperson-cnbc-finance-correspondent/
(Warchol, 2016)
• http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/mandi-damman-general-motors/ (Patterson,
2014)
• http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/maria-yuan-issue-voter/ (Zapata, 2016)
Tip 2: Continuous Learning and a Growth Mindset (New Web Page)
In the first unit, you explored the behaviors of effective contemporary leaders and
characteristics of leadership development. The main points centered around the concept of
continuous learning and growth:
• leadership can be learned by everyone (Rost, 1991; Northouse, 2007)
• reflection is a key part of that learning process and essential for the development of a
leadership identity (Kezar, 2006; Komives et al., 2005)
• hiring managers look for candidates with 21st Century skills such as a learning or growth
mindset (ManpowerGroup, 2015; Pellegrino, et.al., 2012)
Continuous learning, reflection, and a growth mindset are central to professional success in
the 21
st
century and these strategies support the personal development of leaders. In order to
grow professionally and personally, an individual with a growth mindset will regularly reflect
and assess whether or not to do something or learn something in order to advance (Hochanadel &
Finamore, 2015).

What is a Growth Mindset? (New Web Page)
Research (Dweck, 2007, 2016) identifies the following core beliefs from growth and
fixed mindset perspectives.
Growth mindset:
● Our basic qualities and abilities can be developed through effort
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 111
● Individuals can grow, our initial talents and aptitudes can change through experience and
dedication
● Promotes a drive to learn and resilience that is necessary for success
Fixed mindset:
● Our basic qualities like talent and intelligence are fixed traits
● Talent, without effort, creates success
● Does not promote development of talent
Now, read the article and corresponding Mindset Diagram found on the following site:
http://businessmagazinegainesville.com/innovative-thinking-fixed-vs-growth-mindsets/ (Brown,
n.d.).

Can you Develop a Growth Mindset? How? (New Web Page)
Yes, you can develop a growth mindset (Dweck, 2016). Developing a growth mindset can
support your success in the workplace. Research by Dweck (2007, 2016) on mindsets has been
adapted into these takeaways that are applicable for workplace success (Brown, n.d.):
1. Learn from mistakes and embrace challenges, setbacks and obstacles with creativity and
imagination;
2. Receive and invite constructive feedback;
3. Encourage innovation and invite endless and infinite possibilities;
4. Master new skills, acquire new information and commit to a lifetime of learning and
doing.
Before you practice developing a growth mindset, it is important to acknowledge the fixed-
mindset thoughts you may have. These are thoughts that often prevent you from taking risks or
cause you to view setbacks as failures thus preventing you from trying again to learn from past
mistakes (Dweck, 2016).
Find out whether you have a growth mindset or fixed mindset:
http://bit.ly/MindsetTest (Dweck, 2006).

Step 3: Failure Resume Activity (New Web Page)
Now it is time to apply your knowledge of a growth mindset by analyzing and reflecting
upon personal failures or challenges.
First, read the article found on the following site about learning from your mistakes and
writing a failure resume: https://www.fastcompany.com/3020163/to-find-success-first-write-
your-failure-resume (Kelley & Kelley, 2013).
Next, identify two past failures that you would like to focus on for this activity. It is best
to select a failure that you have either avoided analyzing or have not had the chance to focus on
deeply. This activity will provide the chance to consider what contributed to this failure and the
lessons you have learned.
To complete this activity, you will need to apply the 5 Why questioning technique which
is described and demonstrated on the following site: https://www.isixsigma.com/tools-
templates/cause-effect/determine-root-cause-5-whys/ (iSixSigma, 2017). This technique is one
approach for critical self-reflection.

Reflection: Failure Resume Worksheet (New Web Page)
Reflect on and analyze your two chosen failures using the 5 Whys process. Record your
responses to each prompt below.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 112

Brief Paragraph Description of Selected Failure #1:

Apply the ‘5 Whys’ Process:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

What lessons did you learn?
Think about questions such as: What did you learn about yourself or your own thinking? What
biases or preconceptions did this exercise reveal? What did you learn about the problem? What
new thinking or approaches will you take?
●
●
●
●

Brief Paragraph Description of Selected Failure #2:

Apply the ‘5 Whys’ Process:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

What lessons did you learn?
Think about questions such as: What did you learn about yourself or your own thinking? What
biases or preconceptions did this exercise reveal? What did you learn about the problem? What
new thinking or approaches will you take?
●
●
●
●
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 113

Tip 3: Develop A Clear Leadership Purpose or Vision (New Web Page)
At the beginning of this unit you reviewed the barriers women face to leadership. One of
the takeaways suggested that women can overcome barriers by identifying what they want in
their professional life, defining their purpose, and pursuing it (Linkage Inc, 2016). This basically
boils down to the belief that: Individuals become leaders by developing a sense of purpose
(Ibarra et al., 2013). In short, it is important to have a clear leadership purpose or vision to guide
you.
A leadership vision statement is one useful mechanism to express your sense of purpose
to others. Throughout this course, you have learned that transformational leadership behaviors
are essential in the 21st century workplace-- one of the key characteristics of transformational
leadership necessitates that leaders are able to identify and articulate a vision (Fitzgerald &
Schutte, 2010).
So, what is a leadership vision statement and how do you create your own statement that
embodies your sense of purpose?

What is a Leadership Vision Statement? (New Web Page)
A leadership vision statement is a helpful tool in expressing your identity as a leader. A
vision statement describes what you want to achieve, it illustrates your values and your goals,
and it should inspire you to persist since it provides you with an understanding of why you are
doing what you do (Madsen, 2013). Your vision statement will likely change over time as you
continue to develop and clarify or adjust your goals.
Each individual’s vision statement will be unique, just as our identities are unique.
However, most effective vision statements should (Madsen, 2013):
• Be concise and clear
• Describe your realistic goals and what inspires you
• Illustrate your values and commitment
• Direct where you want to be in the future
In the final unit you will create a leadership vision statement. For now, read the article
found on the following site about crafting an effective vision statement to help you better
understand this tool: https://www.liquidplanner.com/blog/create-personal-mission-vision-
statement-year/ (Madsen, 2013).

Additional Resources & Future Learning Opportunities (New Web Page)
To continually advance in your career and grow as a leader, it is critical to identify
further learning opportunities and resources that promote your leadership development and
career growth. Below are selected resources that can further support you in implementing
effective coping strategies to manage stress, practice self-care and navigate workplace
challenges.
Creating an effective vision for an organization. As a leader, you may be tasked with or
involved with the creation of an organizational vision/mission statement. Learn more about
organization visions in the article found on the following site:
https://topnonprofits.com/examples/vision-statements/ (Top Nonprofits LLC, 2017).
Prepare to navigate work-family roles. Consider the work-family challenges many
parents and especially women face, and become informed about parental leave policies and
practices. Use the video and article found on the following sites:
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 114
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGMXtQp24KI (The Aspen Institute, 2016)
• https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/health/maternity-and-paternity-leave-a-guide-for-
expectant-parents/ (Renter, 2016).

Knowledge Check (New Web Page)
After reviewing all readings and media, check your current understanding of concepts
addressed in this unit short quiz. You may revisit previous sections of the course at any time.
Completion of this quiz is required.
1. Which of the following is not true of an effective leadership vision:
a. It always remains the same over time (Answer: A)
b. It describes realistic goals and what inspires you
c. It illustrates your values and sense of purpose
d. It is a key characteristic of transformational leadership
2. Match column A with the column B. A pop-up text window should explain why the
students’ selection is incorrect or correct in order to provide explicit feedback to the
learners.
a. A _______ and a _____ can help you overcome professional obstacles and
support your personal development as a leader. (Answer: growth mindset; sense
of purpose)
b. Social support networks and self-care practices are examples of _________ that
help professionals overcome barriers in the workplace (Answer: coping
strategies)

Wrap-Up: Big Ideas from the Unit (New Web Page)
● Social support networks, role models, and self-care practices are examples of coping
strategies that help professionals overcome barriers in the workplace.
● An effective leadership vision statement describes realistic goals, illustrates your values
and sense of purpose, and represents a key characteristic of transformational leadership
● A growth mindset promotes a drive to learn and resilience that is necessary for success.
Growth mindset implies that individuals can grow and that our basic qualities and
abilities can be developed through effort
● A growth mindset and a sense of purpose can help you overcome professional obstacles
and support your personal development as a leader.

A Look at the Next Unit (New Web Page)
Congratulations, you have completed unit 5! Now that you have developed strategies to
cope with barriers in the leadership pipeline, the next unit will prepare you to move forward on
your leadership path. The last unit in this course will guide you through applying components of
strategic career planning to evaluate your personal development as an emerging leader and create
both a personal leadership vision statement and a personal electronic portfolio to showcase your
vision statement, resume, and LinkedIn profile.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 115
Unit 6 Overview: Move Forward on Your Leadership Path
In this final unit, students will review components of strategic career planning and apply
strategies to move forward on their leadership path. Learners will review a list of structured
opportunities for training and career advancement as well as resources for their personal self-
development and continued learning. Learners will also review strategies to evaluate workplace
characteristics and policies that promote women’s career advancement by preparing to evaluate
workplaces based on what the environment needs to look like in order for them to be successful
there. Finally, learners will draft a leadership vision statement and create an electronic portfolio
to showcase their vision, resume, and LinkedIn profile. Completion of this unit and the electronic
portfolio components will provide the last required elements for the course and professional
development certification.

Unit Objectives
Learners will be able to:
1. Examine workplace characteristics that promote women’s career advancement, and
evaluate and reflect on a workplace environment in relation to personal values (CO2,
CO5, CO6)
2. Review external opportunities to pursue self-development as a leader and strategies
women use to support personal skill development (CO1, CO3, CO5)
3. Craft a personal leadership vision statement based on understanding of the components
and self-awareness garnered from self-assessments and reflections (CO3, CO5, CO6)
4. Examine how electronic portfolios can be used for career planning to digitally
communicate leadership and professional capabilities to your network (CO1, CO4, CO5)
5. Create an electronic portfolio account, using a medium of your choice and the EPortfolio
Checklist, to digitally present your personal leadership vision and to showcase career-
readiness and leadership potential to employers and to receive a professional
development certification of completion for the course (CO6)
6. Practice reflective skills by considering their current understanding of their personal
leadership vision and their development as an emerging leader (CO3, CO6)

The unit outcomes align with the following curriculum outcomes:
• CO1: Understand the skills, behaviors, and personal development strategies that help
leaders succeed in the 21st century and in their chosen occupational fields
• CO2: Examine workplace barriers women face and the mindsets, coping strategies, and
self-promotion techniques pertaining to career advancement within challenging
workplace climates
• CO3: Evaluate personal development as a leader by self-assessing and reflecting on
personal strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and career goals
• CO4: Understand and apply basic professional communication behaviors and networking
strategies that contribute to workplace success and career advancement
• CO5: Acquire various resources for strategic career planning and leader self-development
in relation to personal self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-motivation
• CO6: Reflect on personal self-concept as a leader by self-assessing values, career
interests, and leadership preferences in order to create an electronic professional portfolio
to demonstrate personal leadership vision
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 116
Unit Activities
Students will navigate independently through online course activities and content:
• Session description- Learners will read a brief introduction to the unit and review the unit
outcomes
• A Recap on Strategic Career Planning- Learners will review key components of strategic
career planning and in relation to how this course supported this process
• Interviews with Leaders- Learners will review interviews with women in leadership to
model successful career planning and strategies for self-development, and to demonstrate
how they successfully make career decisions by evaluating workplace policies and
company culture
• Tips to move forward on your leadership path - Learners will be prompted to explore tips
to help them move forward on their leadership path in this final unit and after this course,
and they will have an opportunity to practice tips
• Tip #1 Evaluate the work environment to make informed decisions – Learners will
review strategies for, and have the opportunity to practice, evaluating a work
environment of their choice
• Tip #2 Continue to pursue leadership self-development - Learners will review a list of
training and professional development resources, as well as self-development and future
learning opportunities to support their future career advancement
• Tip #3 Your Leadership Vision Statement- Students will review components of an
effective leadership vision statement, examine examples from CEOs, then complete a
worksheet to create their own vision statement
• Tip #4: Create an electronic portfolio to enhance your brand and showcase your
leadership vision- Students will learn strategies for creating an electronic portfolio and
use a checklist to create their own portfolio
• Students will self-reflect on their ePortfolio to support strategic thinking about their
career planning and leadership-related professional milestones

Unit Assessments
• Learners will self-reflect and follow worksheet guidelines to evaluate a workplace
environment
• Learners will self-reflect and follow worksheet guidelines, as well as worked examples,
to create their leadership vision statement and demonstrate their knowledge of the
components of an effective vision statement
• Learners will follow a checklist to create an electronic portfolio
• Learners will self-reflect on their personal leadership vision, electronic portfolio, and
their development as an emerging leader through reflective journal prompts

Big Ideas from the Unit
This is the final unit of the course. Students will have a personal electronic portfolio, leadership
vision statement, updated resume and LinkedIn profile to support their growth as emerging
leaders. They will also walk away from this course with practical strategies and resources to
implement in the future during their career, such as salary negotiation and networking strategies.
These resources will support their persistence in the workplace as they navigate common barriers
women face.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 117
Unit 6 Web Content: Move Forward on Your Leadership Path
Session Description (New Web Page)
In this final unit, students will review components of strategic career planning and apply
strategies to move forward on their leadership path. Learners will review a list of structured
opportunities for training and career advancement as well as resources for their personal self-
development and continued learning. Learners will also review strategies to evaluate workplace
characteristics and policies that promote women’s career advancement by preparing to evaluate
workplaces based on what the environment needs to look like in order for them to be successful
there. Finally, learners will draft a leadership vision statement and create an electronic portfolio
to showcase their vision, resume, and LinkedIn profile. Completion of this unit and the electronic
portfolio components will provide the last required elements for the course and professional
development certification. To get the most out of this session, be sure to read all content and
provided media and engage in the self-reflection activities.

At the end of this unit, learners will be able to:
1. Examine workplace characteristics that promote women’s career advancement, and
evaluate and reflect on a workplace environment in relation to personal values
2. Review external opportunities to pursue self-development as a leader and strategies
women use to support personal skill development
3. Craft a personal leadership vision statement based on understanding of the components
and self-awareness garnered from self-assessments and reflections
4. Examine how electronic portfolios can be used for career planning to digitally
communicate leadership and professional capabilities to your network
5. Create an electronic portfolio account, using a medium of your choice and the EPortfolio
Checklist, to digitally present your personal leadership vision and to showcase career-
readiness and leadership potential to employers and to receive a professional
development certification of completion for the course
6. Practice reflective skills by considering their current understanding of their personal
leadership vision and their development as an emerging leader

A Recap on Strategic Career Planning (New Web Page)
In the first unit, you were introduced to the concept of strategic career planning. While
the components and strategies individuals implement for career planning are unique, Adsit
(2012) describes the process of strategic planning as requiring the actions of:
1. assessment (where you are)
2. setting goals (where you want to be)
3. creating an action plan (how to get there)
This course has been framed to reflect key components of your strategic career plan,
helping you create a personal road map to your future success and giving you the tools to address
the three essential questions above. In summary:
• You have completed self-assessments about where you are, including assessing your
personal leadership style, communication strengths, and work-life values
• You have brainstormed and reflected on where you want to be, through activities such as
your future-oriented career goals, your negotiation preparation, and evaluating a
workplace environment
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 118
• You have started navigating how you will get where you want to be, through activities
such as your personal SWOT analysis, and in this unit you will complete your action plan
by identifying professional milestones as well as showcasing your leadership vision and
digital brand through an ePortfolio

Interviews with Leaders (New Web Page)
Take a closer look at how women successfully make career decisions by evaluating
workplace policies and company culture, and strategies women use to continuously develop their
skills and support personal growth as leaders. Read the interviews found on the following links:
• http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/susan-peters-vp-human-resources-ge/
(Warchol, 2017)
• http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/jane-poli-johnson-and-johnson-finance-
manager/ (Solan, 2015)
• http://www.careercontessa.com/interviews/jessica-armendariz-search-engine-marketing/
(Taylor, 2014)

Tips to Move Forward on Your Leadership Path (New Web Page)
In order to be a successful leader and advance in today’s workplace, it is critical for
women to take ownership of their careers and pursue learning opportunities for further
development (Hopkins et al., 2008). Throughout this course you have been provided with
resources to envision your future and developed the necessary strategies to achieve that future
(developing a growth mindset, networking techniques, learning from role models and coping
strategies).
This final unit will expand the resources and strategies you have acquired, now focusing
on pathways or training opportunities that support attainment of leadership-related knowledge
and skills required for career advancement. You will also acquire strategies to evaluate
workplaces to determine whether their environments and policies have the potential to support
your success and growth, and you will develop a personal leadership vision statement and an
electronic professional portfolio.

Tip 1: Evaluate the Work Environment to make Informed Decisions (New Web Page)
As you move forward in your career, be prepared to evaluate each workplace based on
what the environment needs to look like in order for you to be successful there. This is an
effective strategy to make informed career decisions about environments when evaluating job
offers.
Now, practice evaluating a work environment of your choice. You may find it convenient
to select the same company that you used as your target job in earlier units as the focus for this
worksheet.
This worksheet will help you evaluate whether an organization and work environment
supports women and provides opportunities to support your success. In this worksheet, activities
are based on this source: https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/women-friendly-
employers (Aaron, 2017).

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 119
Worksheet Page 1: Evaluate a Work Environment (New Web Page)
Step 1: do your research. First, you should consider the big picture and get familiar with
how companies are focusing on gender issues in the workplace. Research how organizations are
supporting their employees and which companies stand-out above the crowd.
To do this, use the resources found on the following sites to examine industries and specific
companies that have been recognized for their efforts or received awards for workplace
initiatives:
• http://www.catalyst.org/awards-practices (Catalyst Inc., 2017)
• http://www.workingmother.com/best-companies (Working Mother, 2017)
• http://www.workingmother.com/2017-nafe-top-companies-for-executive-women (National
Association for Female Executives, 2017)
It is also helpful to do basic online research to review whether there are existing or settled cases
of sexual harassment or gender discrimination lawsuits associated with specific organizations
you are considering as well.
Step 2: look at the leadership ranks and the workspace. Next, focus on your company of
choice, specifically looking at their leaders and the workplace. Use the company website and
resources like LinkedIn to look at staff, and answer the following questions:
• Are there women in leadership positions?
• If so, are women in top positions? How long have they been with the company?
• What does the leadership team look like within your department or area?
If you have an interview with the company, consider the following questions while observing the
physical space and employees during your time on-site:
• Does the physical workspace appear gender-neutral?
• Do you see women when walking around the company?
• Are you able to speak with women during your interview process? If so, how long have
they been with the company and what has their experience been like?
It is important to look at who is in leadership because more women in top leadership roles often
reflects a focus on gender diversity and a more inclusive and supportive environment for women.
Additionally, the workspace can give clues about the realities of the day-to-day environment.

Worksheet Page 2: Evaluate a Work Environment (New Web Page)
Step 3: evaluate policies and programs. Next, research the policies and practices that are in
place to support women. Use the company website, as well as company reviews and rankings
from Step 1, to look for the following:
• Does the company offer programs that focus on topics critical to the success of many
women? These may include programs that support work-life balance and flexible work
schedules, promote pay equity, and focus on leadership training and mentorship.
• Are there diversity or hiring initiatives on the company website? Consider the type of
benefits offered by human resources, as well as leadership training or professional
development opportunities available to employees.
• If you have an interview with the company, do not hesitate to ask questions about
benefits and corporate training initiatives, specifically efforts focused on supporting
women in leadership.
These policies and efforts are critical to consider because they reflect the values of a company.
You should also consider how the company’s values and efforts align with your personal values
and career goals to determine if this organization is a potentially good fit.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 120
Step 4: consider the experiences of current and past employees. It is helpful to consider
how current and past employees feel about working for your prospective company. Use one or
more of the following strategies:
• You can gain insight during a formal interview, by asking questions of your interviewers,
or by connecting with your personal network to speak with someone about the company
through an informational interview. Prepare questions to gain insight about the
individual’s experiences within the work environment, perhaps asking about how women
are valued and fit within the work environment.
• Also, consider information found online. Search company reviews found on the
following site: https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/index.htm (Glassdoor, 2017).

Worksheet Page 3: Evaluate a Work Environment (New Web Page)
Step 5: Reflect on information gathered. to evaluate the work environment. Think about your
personal values, which you identified in Unit 2, and the information you gathered about the
company during this activity. Now, respond to the following reflection questions:
1. What are some reasons why you would consider accepting a job with this company if it
was offered to you?
2. What are some reasons why you wouldn't consider working for this company?
3. List 2-3 questions you still have about the company and work environment that were not
thoroughly answered through your online research:
4. What steps could you take to answer these questions and get the information you need?

Tip 2: Continue to Pursue Leadership Self-Development (New Web Page)
Look for structured opportunities for training and career advancement. First, when you
are evaluating potential workplace environments as you did earlier in this unit, be sure to seek
out workplaces that invest in their employees and their professional development. Additionally,
use online resources to find structured corporate programs and opportunities. These opportunities
may include leadership development trainee programs and mentorship opportunities within
companies that often act as a pipeline to future employment. Research opportunities found on the
following sites:
• https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/companies-with-awesome-training-
development-programs (Thottam, 2017)
• http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/022315/best-fortune-500-
mentorship-programs.asp (Bryant, 2015)

Tip 2 Continued: Resources and Future Learning Opportunities (New Web Page)
In addition to finding workplaces that are supportive of your career growth and
development, it is also important to have an arsenal of resources and strategies that you can
personally leverage for your self-development and growth as a leader. Keep in mind that
throughout this course you have been provided with such resources and learning opportunities
related to each unit that will also be helpful as you progress in your career advancement.
Join women-focused organizations. Consider organizations within your field of interest
and those that have national umbrellas. Such as the organizations and resources found on the
following sites:
• http://www.aauw.org/membership/ (AAUW, n.d.)
• http://www.jobstars.com/list-professional-associations/ (Levin, 2016)
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 121
Take advantage of online skill-building opportunities. Develop technical or field
specific skills through platforms ranging from informal open-source videos to formal trainings
found on the following sites:
• https://www.khanacademy.org/ (Khan Academy, 2017)
• https://www.lynda.com (Lynda.com Inc, 2017)
• http://www.inc.com/larry-kim/9-places-to-learn-leadership-skills-for-free.html (Kim,
2015)
Consider formal education to reach your professional goals. Some leadership positions
will require or prefer you to have an advanced degree or specialty knowledge of a certain
industry. Research typical education and training requirements for occupations to make an
informed decision about formal education programs. Gather this information in a few ways:
• Browse the LinkedIn profiles of folks in your industry to get a sense of their education
and training and/or conduct informational interviews, as you did in Unit 4.
• Conduct research on job requirements and qualifications using the information and tools
found on the following site: like https://www.onetonline.org (ONET OnLine, 2017).
Tap into online resources for women. There are several resources available and some of
the best resources for women are summarized on the following site:
https://www.ofmercer.com/blogs/omindex/15566285-the-best-online-resources-for-professional-
women#_a5y_p=5590427 (OfMercer, 2014).

Tip 3: Craft a Clear Leadership Vision Statement (New Web Page)
In unit five, you learned the key elements of a leadership vision statement. To review: an
effective vision statement is concise, future-oriented, and it illustrates your values and how you
will purposefully focus on your career.
Now, read the personal mission statements of 5 CEOs found on the following site:
https://www.fastcompany.com/3026791/dialed/personal-mission-statements-of-5-famous-ceos-
and-why-you-should-write-one-too (Vozza, 2014).
Leadership success always starts with vision, and effective leaders invest time in thinking
about their values and what they are passionate about in order to direct what they pursue (Ryan,
2009). Now it is your turn to practice by developing your personal leadership vision statement.

Leadership Vision Statement Worksheet and Reflection (New Web Page)
The following reflective questions will help you prepare for the process of creating a
personal vision statement. First, respond to the following questions:
1. Based on my self-assessments in unit two of this course, these are my top values:
2. Based on my self-assessments in unit two of this course, these are key strengths of my
leadership style and communication style:
3. Based on my reflection in unit one of this course, these are my general goals for my
career:
4. The following characteristics come to mind when I think of an effective leader:
5. Now, draft your own vision statement. Your statement should help you answer these
three questions: What am I passion about? What are my values? What makes me great?
In less than 50 words, write your personal vision statement:

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 122
Tip 4: Create an ePortfolio and Showcase Your Leadership Vision (New Web Page)
An electronic portfolio, or ePortfolio, is a valuable professional tool to monitor your
personal growth and leadership development and to demonstrate knowledge, skills, and attitudes
required in the workforce to help you along your leadership path.
There are a variety of electronic portfolio sites that provide easy to update platforms
where you can feature examples of your work to demonstrate knowledge of your field and
communicate your professional goals and leadership vision. Learn more about creating effective
ePortfolios. Learn about ePortfolios and what to include in your own portfolio by reading the
article for found on the following site: https://www.liberty.edu/media/1103/pdf/portfoliotips2.pd
(Liberty University Career Center, n.d.).

Electronic Professional Portfolio Checklist (New Web Page)
Now, create an electronic portfolio where you can showcase the required leadership and
career-related artifacts from this course. You may design and organize your portfolio in any way
you like, as long as the content is clear, professional, and easy to navigate. A personal ePortfolio
is required to receive a professional development certification of completion for this course.
Step 1: Select a website to host your portfolio. There are a variety of options available at
no cost, including the options found on the following sites:
• https://www.weebly.com (Weebly Inc, 2017)
• https://gsuite.google.com/products/sites/ (Google, 2017)
Step 2: Add content to create your ePortfolio. Follow the checklist below to add the
required artifacts and information to your portfolio:
• Clearly title/name your portfolio following this format: FirstName LastName Portfolio
• Showcase your leadership vision statement you created earlier in this unit. This statement
should essentially describe who you are, what you value, and where you want to go.
• Provide your professional resume, either uploaded as a pdf or embedded within the
portfolio platform.
• Provide your contact information:
o Required: LinkedIn profile URL
o Required: A professional email address
o Suggested: A professional photo of you
After creating your ePortfolio, including all material above, proceed to Step 3.

Final Reflection: ePortfolio and Professional Milestones (New Web Page)
Step 3: Complete the final reflection for the course. Record the information required below
for your personal ePortfolio and respond to the reflections questions.
1. You are required to provide a link to your portfolio in order to earn the professional
development certificate for completing this course. Provide the public URL for your
electronic portfolio:
2. Now that you have created your own leadership vision statement and portfolio, and
reviewed key resources and opportunities available to support your career growth and
leadership development, it is time to reflect.
3. Consider the electronic portfolio you created in this unit. Does this portfolio accurately
represent who you are and you leadership vision as of right now?
4. What other documents or artifacts would be helpful to add to your electronic portfolio to
help reflect your leadership vision and career goals?
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 123
5. What other resources or strategic career planning steps do you need to implement to
achieve growth as an emerging leader to prepare for the job you selected in unit two and
to support your personal leadership vision:
6. Based on your understanding of how the four components of SWOT analysis applies to
you individually, develop 3-5 professional milestones (or goals) that you can implement
to help you achieve growth as an emerging leader:

Unit and Course Wrap-Up (New Web Page)
Congratulations! You have now completed all six units of the Women (Em)Power
course. You will receive your electronic professional development certificate for completing the
course once the ePortfolio requirements are complete and the final ePortfolio Reflection &
Milestones Worksheet has been submitted.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 124
CHAPTER FOUR: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION
There is a myriad of factors that inhibit women’s career advancement to leadership roles
outside the scope of this paper. Despite these limitations, however, it is clear that higher
education’s inherent goal of developing leaders for post-graduation roles can help contribute to
the pipeline of leaders and specifically promote women’s persistence towards top leadership
positions. This paper reviewed causes, suggested solutions, existing curricula, and relevant
learner characteristics related to this problem of practice. However, the curriculum designer
acknowledges that the learner characteristics related to this problem of practice are complex and
that there are limitations to this proposed literature review and curriculum design. The literature
review presented is not exhaustive, nor does it seek to homogenize women of color or aim to
over simplify gender identity and self-identification. Further research and understanding is
needed on the learner characteristics and developmental experiences of individuals who are
occupationally minoritized within leadership roles in order to address this problem of practice.
General Considerations and Limitations
Perspectives and theoretical frameworks from educational psychology, leader
development, and career theory were considered to inform a narrowly focused curriculum to
address the needs of pre-career women. However, implementation of this curriculum should also
consider engaging a broader audience of learners. Targeting women as the only learners may
limit the overall impact of interventions of this nature as it inaccurately frames this problem of
practice as women’s issue. Implementing interventions for other groups or for broader learners
would help appropriately frame this problem as a societal issue. This would also address the risk
of failing to educate men by expanding their awareness of critical occupational and leadership
issues prior to entering the workforce, which is especially important as men’s knowledge and
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 125
behaviors within workplace environments play a critical role in this problem.
Instruction and Design Recommendations
There are several specific recommendations for design implementation to support
instructors and campuses. First, reflection is a major focus within each curriculum unit. In order
to guide that reflection in a meaningful way in an asynchronous curriculum, instructors should
consider a couple of strategies. An instructor-guided implementation process should include
explicit feedback to the learners on self-reflective questions and activities. Additionally, the
reflective questions and prompts provided throughout the curriculum design could be
implemented in discussion board format to engage learners in small- or large-group
conversations to reinforce learning under the guidance of the instructor as a moderator.
Instructors could also consider learner reflections as a way to guide conversations with
employers and inform them of the concerns, goals, and perceptions of pre-career individuals as
this could help strengthen the connection to the workplace and better inform decision-makers
about the needs of learners entering their work environment. However, student privacy should be
of the utmost importance.
Second, within each unit, there are provided links to open-source videos and existing
media or articles. If the provided content does not meet the needs of personal implementation,
then instructors could alternatively consider the following suggestions. On a basic level, other
open-source media could be selected to replace the provided content. For instance, a new video
or article could be created to provide a worked example, and, then, the media could be uploaded
to the course site. Or, if a campus offers a student subscription to an online learning repository
such as Lynda.com, then appropriate material could be supplemented for specific topics.
Additionally, a campus could choose to offer an in-person individual counseling or group
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 126
workshops to supplement chosen topics. This would require the involvement of key on-campus
stakeholders, such as student leadership and career development departments, in the
implementation of this curriculum in order to identify and refine existing programming to be
offered as supplemental activities. It is important to note that, if any modifications are made to
the implementation of this curriculum that includes supplemental online or in-person trainings,
then appropriate formative and summative assessments should be implemented to measure
knowledge learning at the timing of the workshop or training.
Third, instructors could implement the Interviews with Leaders activity within each unit
in an alternative manner if the provided material does not meet implementation needs. For
instance, instructors could provide alternative links to existing open-source media that depict
interviews in video or article format of their choice that address the unit topics and learning
outcomes. Learners should be presented with three to five interviews with women in formal and
informal leadership roles. Selected interviewees should ideally represent traditionally male
dominated occupations and fields (i.e., executive directors, CEOs/CFOs, STEM) to expand
learners’ awareness of and exposure to diverse women in leadership and reframe their
occupational role expectations. If existing online content does not suffice for this purpose,
instructors could conduct their own interviews to supplement this content. This could be done by
hosting on-campus industry panels or interviews with leaders in corporations that are then
recorded and uploaded to the online course site. These interviews should be purposefully
conducted with women in leadership roles and traditionally male-dominated occupations to
model coping techniques and strategic career planning behaviors that are appropriate for the
course learning outcomes and targeted learners. Those selected for interviews should be able to
speak to experiences and barriers that women typically face in challenging work environments
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 127
such as identifying mentors, engaging successfully in negotiation, and managing work-life roles.
If appropriate for implementation, instructors could consider specific academic majors or
industry areas relevant for targeted learners. The interview and panel questions should be tailored
to the unit topics as described in the curriculum design. Below are examples of questions that
could be used to supplement provided media content for select units:
• How do you define leadership?
• In your experience, what does career planning look like? What have been the most
helpful activities to help you plan to advance in your career?
• What are your go-to tips for women’s personal development specifically emerging career
professionals?
• How valuable are mentors and role models for career advancement?
• What are some of the challenges you face networking in the workplace?
• What strategies have you used to navigate these barriers?
• How have you identified and connected with mentors or sponsors in your workplace or
elsewhere within your field?
• How do you suggest new professionals use social media for networking and to build
professional relationships?
Fourth, instructors could create new rubrics and self-evaluation tools for students in lieu
of the provided rubrics or implement either a peer exchange or evaluation by a professional staff
member or employee. For instance, during the LinkedIn profile and resume activity, instructors
could create a new rubric to guide learners in self-assessment to meet the implementation needs.
Or, the activities could be modified by asking professionals in the workforce to assess learner’s
LinkedIn profile or resume and provide feedback online using the existing rubric or through a
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 128
supplemental in-person networking event on-campus. The selected professionals for this activity
should, ideally, be women in leadership roles or traditionally male-dominated fields to provide
relevant models for learners. This collaboration would also strengthen the connection to the
workforce environment, providing an opportunity for learners to better understand what hiring
mangers look for on LinkedIn profiles and how social media benefited women as a social media
tool in workplace environments.
Lastly, it is important to note implementation ideas for the knowledge checks at the end
of each unit. Instructors should consider the capabilities of the technology or learning
management system they will use for implementation. It is suggested that these knowledge
checks, or quizzes, include a pop-up text window that appears to explain why the student’s
selected response to each question is incorrect or correct in order to provide explicit feedback to
the learners. The knowledge checks are meant to be low-stakes and should reinforce content of
each unit. The pop-up text window could either (a) provide a direct link back to the section of the
unit that addressed the quiz question to prompt students to review content or (b) clarify incorrect
selections and reinforce knowledge with a text or video explanation. For instance, a pop-up
window for a quiz question about negotiation in unit 3 might read as follows: “Negotiating
provides an opportunity for women to promote their workplace value and set personal
benchmarks for future earnings and career advancement.”
Student Participation and Employer Engagement
It is of the utmost importance that campuses and instructors consider how best to
motivate learners to participate in this curriculum and to promote accountability in completing
the program. While this may differ for each campus or department, the following are a few
implementation ideas to consider. First, campuses could consider integrating this curriculum as
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 129
part of a graduation requirement, or as part of a specific course or academic major requirement.
This could be a strategic decision to help reach individuals who are less likely to engage in a
formal leadership program on campus or to target academic areas that do not offer leadership-
related coursework. Second, this curriculum could be implemented as a partnership across
academic and student affairs departments. This collaborative implementation could expand the
reach of the curriculum and provide campus departments an accessible option to offer training
that can also be supplemented by existing and valuable on-campus programs and interventions.
For instance, stakeholders in academic affairs, student leadership, career development, and
experiential learning as well as transfer and student success centers could take part in
implementation and an advisory board to tailor the curriculum to meet the needs of the campus.
Third, the final electronic portfolio assessment could also be implemented in a manner
that promotes learner engagement and accountability. For instance, connecting or integrating the
ePortfolio for this curriculum with an existing campus portfolio requirement for graduation or a
co-curricular transcript could support accountability. Also, the ePortfolio component could be
tied to engagement with the employment community to increase student interest and
commitment. For instance, providing a networking opportunity or invite-only recruitment event
upon completion of the ePortfolio would not only reinforce student engagement but also bridge
the connection to the workforce and attract employer partners to a group of talented students
with digital portfolios to showcase their skills.
The overall aim of the curriculum design is to build bridges between the individual and
environmental barriers, enhancing pre-career individuals’ awareness of challenging
environmental climates and barriers they may face in the workplaces they are preparing to enter.
The curriculum focused on individuals’ personal self-awareness and identity as emerging leaders
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 130
and their self-regulation and self-motivation in order to promote strategies for continuous leader
self-development and strategic career planning behaviors. For example, the focus on reflection
and identity development works in conjunction with knowledge of the environmental barriers
and challenges within each curriculum unit aims to help individuals apply knowledge and
attitudes gained as a result of the curriculum to assess and navigate their workplace environments
post-graduation. However, the complexity of this problem, and the deep-rooted environmental
issues and inherent bias in workplaces cannot be resolved in isolation at the college level. More
needs to be done at the organizational level to prepare workplace environments and those in
positions of power to support women and to address the behaviors, inherent bias, and prejudiced
promotional practices in order for significant change to occur. If workplace environments go
unchanged, then the problem will persist as environments will fail to be prepared to support
individuals entering the workforce.
In terms of curriculum implementation, dialogue on campuses should include workforce
professionals and those in corporate leadership. This partnership is critical for overall impact. It
is dangerous to consider this problem in isolation and to only consider what individuals need to
do to be successful without reaching across the aisle to engage the workforce during
implementation. While not the focus of this paper, this type of partnership is important as it can
provide a critical opportunity for employers to consider what the environment needs to look like
in order for individuals to be successful there. For the scope of this curriculum, collaboration
between the workforce and college campuses can be approached through implementation in a
few ways. First, recruitment managers and women in leadership roles within corporations could
be sought after to partner with course administrators in order to serve as role models for learners,
through the aforementioned recorded interviews or panels, and to create a built-in network for
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 131
learners to engage with through select curriculum activities. For instance, role models could also
serve as contacts for the informational interview activity or they could provide feedback to
learners in lieu of self-evaluative forms of feedback in the course such as those used for the
LinkedIn and resume self-evaluation activities. These implementation ideas not only aim to
strengthen the curriculum but also serve to build clearer bridges between higher education and
the workforce whom share responsibility and an invested interest in addressing this problem of
practice.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 132
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Appendix
Definition of Terms
Elite Leadership
Elite leadership defines top executive positions commonly found in for-profit industries
such as CEOs, vice presidents, presidents, and board members for Fortune 500 Companies
(Eagly & Karau, 2002).
Leadership Capacity
Leadership capacity is a term used to describe the knowledge, values, and behaviors
related to an individual’s ability to engage in the leadership process (Day et al., 2009; Dugan &
Komives, 2007; Dugan, 2011; Luthans & Harms, 2008; McCormick et al., 2002
Leadership Development
There are many perspectives of leadership development and leaders. For this paper,
leadership development is conceptualized as the process of gaining complex methods of
understanding and engaging in leadership experiences (Day et al., 2008). The contemporary
perspective used for this paper asserts that leadership is process-oriented and can be learned, and
emphasizes the importance of focusing on personal leader identity development within the
broader leadership development framework (Day & Harrison, 2007; Rost, 1991).
Leadership Self Efficacy
For this paper, self-efficacy will be considered within the specific domain of leadership.
In particular, leadership self-efficacy refers to an individual’s beliefs about their own knowledge,
skills, and abilities to be successful in the leadership process (Hannah, Avolio, Luthans, &
Harms, 2008). This is important for this paper because efficacy is a key predictor of capacity and
also moderates whether an individual employs leadership behaviors (Hannah et al., 2008;
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 164
Komives & Dugan, 2010).
Minoritized
As referenced in Vaccaro, Russell, and Koob (2015), minoritized is a term used by
scholars to discuss “those whose sexuality and gender have been consigned to lower status,
visibility, and power” (p. 25). The term minoritized will be used in the context of this paper to
refer to the experiences of women being minoritized within leadership occupations
Self-Regulated Learning
Self-regulated learning (SRL) refers to the self-directive processes and self-beliefs that
enable individuals to transform mental abilities into academic performance skill (Zimmerman,
2008). Self-regulated learning is often described as a function of individuals’ motivation, use of
cognitive strategy, and metacognition. (Wolters, 2003). This paper will consider self-regulated
learning in the domain of leadership development. For the context of leadership development
and elite leadership roles, it’s critical to consider other terms under this area.
Social Capital
According to Brass (1995) (cite others), social capital is conceptualized as an individual’s
position within a social network, such as an organization, and their ability to access information
and support from that positional standing as well as their ability to influence others based on
their standing (Brass, 1995).
Stereotype Threat
For the purpose of this paper, stereotype threat will be discussed in relation to the
expectation that one will be judged based on social identity group membership rather than
performance and potential (Roberson & Kulik, 2007) for vocational and leadership roles.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM FOR WOMEN 165
Transformational Leadership
There are six key transformational leadership characteristics: identifying and articulating
a vision; providing an appropriate model; fostering acceptance of group goals; communicating
high performance expectations; providing individualized support; high levels of charisma
(Fitzgerald & Schutte, 2010). Organizations with transformational leadership cultures tend to be
more effective and better able to adapt to change (Bass & Riggio, 2005).

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Asset Metadata

Creator Manzer, Brittany (author)

Core Title An online strategic career planning and leadership development curriculum for women in upper-division undergraduate and graduate programs

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education (Leadership)

Publication Date 07/06/2017

Defense Date 05/03/2017

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag career advancement,career education,career planning,career success,career theory,curriculum design,educational psychology,elite leadership,gender disadvantages,gender stereotype,leader identity development,leadership capacity,leadership development,leadership pipeline,leadership self-efficacy,Motivation,OAI-PMH Harvest,occupationally minoritized,online learning,pre-career intervention,pre-career women,self-regulated learning,social capital,social cognitive theory,stereotype threat,transformational leadership,women in leadership

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Hirabayashi, Kimberly (committee chair), Hunt, Felicia (committee member), Tambascia , Tracy (committee member)

Creator Email manzer@usc.edu,manzerb@gmail.com

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