Women In Leadership Developmet What Works
You lead the project nobody else wanted. Your team comes to you when something breaks. You've read the books and sat through the workshops. Then a manager role opens up, and either you don't apply because you're not sure you're ready, or you apply and someone else gets it.
Leadership development for women works best when it helps a woman see herself as a leader and gives her the backing to prove it: real assignments, a senior advocate, and space to practice. The research points less at fixing women (finally) and more at closing gaps in support. Some of that support you can ask for, and the belief you bring to it is yours to work on.
Key takeaways
Women are still promoted to their first manager role less often than men, and fewer have a sponsor.
When women get the same career support as men, the gap in wanting a promotion disappears.
Leadership identity grows through purposeful action, and people affirm it or don't.
Programs that treat women as the problem tend to fall short.
You can start the cycle yourself this week, and ask for the support that keeps it going.
What is women's leadership development?
Women's leadership development is any structured effort to help women grow into bigger leadership roles. That can be a company program, a cohort with other women, a course, or the development you design for yourself.
A useful way to think about it comes from Herminia Ibarra, Robin Ely, and Deborah Kolb. In their 2013 Harvard Business Review article Women Rising: The Unseen Barriers, they describe how people become leaders. You take a purposeful action, such as calling a meeting to restart a stalled project. The people around you either back it or push back. Those responses shape how you see yourself as a leader, and how others judge whether you fit the role. When the backing keeps coming, you get bigger assignments and the confidence to try new things. When it doesn't, confidence drops and you're less likely to reach for the next opportunity.
What holds women back in leadership development?
Much of it is the support around them. The 2025 Women in the Workplace report from LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company found that for every 100 men promoted to manager last year, only 93 women were promoted. For women of color the numbers were lower: 82 Asian women and Latinas, and 60 Black women.
Sponsorship follows the same pattern. Only 31% of entry-level women have a sponsor, compared with 45% of entry-level men. The survey defines a sponsor as someone other than your direct manager who actively advocates for your career or creates opportunities for you
The same report found something new. For the first time in the study, women were notably less likely than men to say they want a promotion: 80% of women want to be promoted to the next level, compared with 86% of men. It would be easy to read that as women wanting less. The report's own finding points the other way: when women receive the same career support that men do, they are just as interested in advancing, and the gap disappears.
Ibarra, Ely, and Kolb call the barriers underneath this "second-generation" gender bias. Nobody sets out to exclude anyone. It comes from everyday practices and assumptions, like who gets introduced to the right people and who gets put forward when a role opens. Each one is small, but together they interrupt the cycle above, because the backing that builds a leader's confidence shows up less often.
One small shift: Next time you doubt whether you want the bigger role, ask yourself a second question. Would I want it if I had the same support my peers get?
Why do so many women's leadership programs fall short?
A 2023 Harvard Business Review article by W. Brad Johnson, David G. Smith and Heather Christensen, Where Women's Leadership Development Programs Fall Short, names the problem well. When a company runs a women's program without any broader effort to advance women, and without holding managers accountable, the program can signal that women are deficient and need fixing. It can also become one more thing women are asked to do on top of their jobs.
In 18 years leading learning and development at a Fortune 500 company, I can say with extreme certainty that when it comes to training, you have to start with the individual. Starting with the individual doesn't mean treating her as the problem.
So if you're deciding whether a program is worth your time, look for the three things Ibarra, Ely and Kolb recommend:
It explains the bias plainly. You come away understanding the patterns around you, so you stop taking them as a verdict on you.
It gives you a safe place to practice. A cohort where you can try a bigger version of your role and talk openly about how it went.
It starts from your purpose. Their words: anchor development "in a sense of leadership purpose rather than in how women are perceived."
On that last point, the authors found that anchoring in purpose helps women focus on shared goals and what they need to learn to reach them, instead of stereotypes about how a woman leader should act.
Do you need a mentor or a sponsor?
You need both, and they do different jobs. A mentor gives you advice. A sponsor uses their own standing to get you considered: they put your name forward, bring you onto the project, and speak for you in the conversations you're not part of.
Sponsorship is where the data show the gap. Your part is the first step in the cycle. In 2019, I wrote a short post telling readers to pick themselves and not wait for someone else to pick them. Picking yourself means taking purposeful action first. Sponsorship is what keeps the cycle going once you do.
Here's how to find a sponsor without making it awkward:
Make the purpose visible. Tell one senior leader what you're trying to accomplish and why it matters to the business, in two or three sentences.
Ask for something specific. "If a role like this opens, would you put my name in?" is easier to say yes to than "Will you sponsor me?"
Follow up with results. Send a short note when the project you mentioned moves. It gives them something to repeat on your behalf.
One small shift: Look back at your last month and count the conversations you had with anyone two levels above you. If the answer is zero, book one.
How do you build your leadership identity?
The support around you matters. So does the belief you carry into each purposeful action.
I left school believing, "You're really not that smart, Tiff." That belief stuck with me for a long time. My first real job was as a policy typist. On my first day, stacks of policies needed typing, and in the corner sat boxes of computers nobody knew what to do with. I got through the policies, opened the boxes, taught myself the computers, and then taught everyone else. That's when I realized I was pretty smart, but my kind of smart was different from others'. I went on to climb from that entry-level typist job to senior director at a Fortune 500 company.
Research backs up how much the belief matters. In two experiments, Crystal Hoyt, Jeni Burnette and Audrey Innella (2012) showed people a successful role model before a leadership task. People who believed leaders are made, not born, came away with more leadership confidence than people who believed leaders are born. When the researchers shifted people toward the "made" belief, those people also did better on the leadership task.
Here's how to work on the belief using The Shift Method, the process I use with clients:
Identify. Write down the belief that holds you back. "I'm not ready yet" is common.
Question. Is there any real evidence to support the belief today, or is it based on a past experience?
Reframe. Write a version that's true and useful. "I haven't done this role yet, and I've learned every role I've had."
Vision. Name what you want to get done as a leader and who it helps. This is your purpose, and it's what you'll talk about with a sponsor.
Act. Take one purposeful action in the next two weeks that moves that purpose forward, and notice who backs it.
One small shift: When "I'm not ready" shows up, ask what evidence you'd need to be ready, and whether you already have some of it.
Where to go from here
When you combine belief with action, you can design a new life for yourself instead of living by default.
If a belief keeps you stuck, that's what my December courses are for. Imposter Syndrome, Perfectionist and Control Freak are self-paced courses for professional women. Each one helps you notice a pattern when it shows up, understand why you developed it, and work with it instead of against it. Join the waitlist at Feed Your Brain | Learning.
Frequently asked questions
What is a women's leadership development program?
A women's leadership development program is a structured effort, often run by an employer or a professional group, to help women move into bigger leadership roles. The strongest programs explain the workplace patterns that slow women down, give participants a safe cohort to practice in, and anchor development in each woman's leadership purpose rather than in how she is perceived by others.
Do women's leadership programs work?
They can help, but on their own they are rarely enough. Ibarra, Ely and Kolb call traditional leadership programs necessary but not sufficient. A 2023 Harvard Business Review article adds that a women's program run without broader action or manager accountability can signal that women need fixing. Programs work better alongside changes in who gets sponsorship and stretch assignments.
What is the broken rung?
The broken rung is LeanIn.Org and McKinsey's name for the gap at the first step up to manager. Their Women in the Workplace 2025 report found that for every 100 men promoted to manager, 93 women were promoted, with lower numbers for women of color. Because fewer women make that first step, fewer are in line for every level above it.
What is the difference between a mentor and a sponsor?
A mentor gives you advice and perspective. A sponsor uses their own influence on your behalf: they recommend you for roles, bring you onto visible projects and advocate for you when you aren't present. Most people benefit from both. Women in the Workplace 2025 found entry-level women are less likely than entry-level men to have a sponsor.
Are women less ambitious than men about leadership?
Not when support is equal. Women in the Workplace 2025 found 80% of women want to be promoted to the next level, compared with 86% of men, the first gap the study has recorded. The same report found that when women receive the same career support men do, they are just as interested in advancing.
How can I develop as a leader if my company has no program?
Start the identity cycle yourself. Choose one purposeful action that moves something important forward, tell a senior leader what you want to lead next, and ask for something specific, like being considered for a role. Work on any belief that stops you from acting, and look for a small peer group where you can talk openly about how it's going
