Skillsoft Announces Women in Action™ Leadership Development Program

USA - English

• USA - English

NASHUA, N.H. (PRWEB) September 29, 2015 -- Skillsoft, a global leader in learning and talent management, today announced the Women in Action™ leadership program, the industry’s first learning program specifically designed to help women across the workforce build specific competencies and immediately apply newly acquired skills. The new program will enable Skillsoft customers to deliver ongoing learning opportunities for women at all levels of an organization, whether they are emerging leaders or hold positions in senior-level management.

Designed to support the professional development and advancement of women in the workplace, the Women in Action program is:

• Relevant: Focused on the key competencies required for women to effectively develop themselves.
• Time Efficient: Fits into any manager’s day by providing one topic per month featuring short-duration, high impact videos and business book summaries.
• Flexible and Scalable: The cost effective program can easily complement formal instructor led training programs or stand on its own for leaders at all levels.

Organizations are struggling to balance gender diversity in the workplace, particularly at the executive levels. Across the world, less than five percent of public companies listed in global stock exchanges are led by women and only three countries out of the 200 surveyed have a majority of companies managed by women. But despite the absence of women in leadership positions, research shows that organizations that have more women represented in management perform better.

“The opportunity for women leaders in the workforce has never been greater,” said Priti Shah, Vice President of Leadership Product Strategy and Corporate Development at Skillsoft. “Many of our customers are working towards improved gender diversity in their management positions, but most of their learning and development programs are only event-based, like annual conferences or in-class training. The Women in Action leadership program makes the learning and development process a continuous one that is easy and impactful for women by inserting micro learning opportunities into their everyday work schedule.”

Working with Jodi Detjen, acclaimed author of The Orange Line and professor of management at Suffolk University, Skillsoft built the Women in Action leadership program to help women hone in on competencies they naturally excel in to get better at their jobs and push their careers forward. The program consists of high impact videos, business book summaries and full text books targeted at emerging-, mid- and senior-level leaders. The curated content covers competencies such as negotiating, collaborating for impact, building work-life balance, taking risks, strategic thinking and sponsoring and mentoring. Monthly assignments take about one hour to complete and encourage immediate application of learned skills through team discussions, activities and individual reflection. The leadership program is designed to be effective on its own or to complement event-based learning initiatives an organization may already have in place.

“The Women in Action program is valuable because you can take it wherever you are. Most people in business today are busy – they’re traveling, they’re in meetings, they’re working long hours,” said Detjen. “Skillsoft’s program implements a systematic approach to learning that mirrors developmental theory, in which women are able to complete learning assignments in digestible chunks. They can view a short video, ask some provocative questions, engage in topical discussions with co-workers, reinforce the newly acquired knowledge with exercises and continue that process over the course of the year.”

According to a recent survey of more than 450 professionals, two out of three women think work-life balance is the number one challenge for women in the workforce. Today’s organizations must provide women development opportunities to not only help them grow professionally and advance their career, but also are sensitive to their competing interests outside of the workplace.

“Ascending a traditional hierarchical pathway upwards to senior leadership positions in prominent firms, particularly global public companies, may prove to be a barrier to entry for many women given the personal sacrifices that must be made in time away from family, friends, and societal commitments,” said Christa Manning, founder and analyst at Eudemonia, a research and advisory firm focused on workforce support. “Taking a time sensitive approach to developing women in business is likely the most practical approach to enable and empower women interested in pursuing advancement. Skillsoft’s continuous approach to development will greatly benefit women in the workplace by enabling high-impact learning with minimal time commitment.”

Designed to be effective on its own or complement event-based learning initiatives, the new program gives HR and diversity leaders flexible delivery options of learning templates through email, calendar and documents. Skillsoft also offers various levels of professional services to customers to help organizations effectively deliver the 52-week program.

Tweet this: .@Skillsoft announces groundbreaking learning program to develop #womeninleadership http://ow.ly/SFrrZ

About Skillsoft
Skillsoft is a pioneer in the fields of learning and talent management with a long history of innovation. Skillsoft provides cloud-based learning solutions for its customers worldwide, ranging from global enterprises, government, and education to mid-sized and small businesses. Skillsoft's customer support teams draw on a wealth of in-house experience, flexible delivery platforms and a comprehensive learning e-library to develop off-the-shelf and custom learning programs tailored to cost-effectively meet customer needs. Skillsoft's courses, books and videos have been developed by industry leading learning experts to ensure that they maximize business skills, performance, and talent development.

Skillsoft currently serves over 6,000 customers and more than 19,000,000 learners around the world. Skillsoft is on the web at http://www.Skillsoft.com.

Skillsoft, the Skillsoft logo, Skillport, SkillChoice, Books24x7, and learning-centric Talent Expansion are a partial listing of the trademarks or registered trademarks of Skillsoft Ireland Limited in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Hailey Hedge, Skillsoft, http://www.skillsoft.com, +1 360-499-2274, [email protected]