Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure) and People & Performance Ltd, launched a new Women’s Leadership Programme in March 2014 which offers aspiring female professionals a unique opportunity to develop their careers within a challenging and supportive environment. Its dual approach sets it apart from other women’s development courses; it develops the participants and their organisations so they can become more effective leaders, while receiving support from a sponsor within their organisation, who acts as their mentor.

Bridget McIntyre, founder of Dream On, dedicated to providing services to help women achieve their potential, has kindly agreed to help sponsor women in the Eastern Region to attend the Women’s Leadership Programme. Funding a generous 50% towards the cost of attending the course, this opportunity will help one lucky delegate to develop their leadership style, find the right balance at home and work, and be their authentic selves at work.

Lynn Walters, Director of Pure, says: “Simply developing women and dropping them back into the same organisational culture without any additional support is not effective. Our programme’s distinctive dual approach seeks to develop and challenge workplaces so they can enable women’s senior career development, while also developing their skills and confidence.”

Christina Youell of People & Performance says: “By including the sponsor, delegates have a better chance of putting into practice what they learn from the programme, resulting in long-term success. The sponsors will support women by, for example, recognising and addressing workplace behaviour that could impede women’s career progression, and by providing advice and wise counsel.”

We have been fortunate to have received support from some of the regions most respected female leaders who have spoken on the programme:

• Ann Cotton OBE, the Founder and President of Camfed, a Cambridge-based charity that tackles poverty through educating girls in rural Africa.
• Dame Rachel De Souza, CEO of The Inspiration Trust, which works to raise educational standards in Norfolk.
• Minnie Moll, the award-winning Marketing Director of Notcutts Garden Centres and mentor for the Aspire Foundation, which involves women in the corporate sector mentoring women in the not-for-profit sector worldwide.

The Women’s Leadership Programme is taking place in Cambridge and Ipswich between March and October. There are limited spaces available for the Cambridge programme and we will be announcing further dates for late 2014 and into 2015 shortly.