Programmes for women’s empowerment
A series of focus groups were held at the start of 2014 that led to the development of a number of initiatives aimed at women.
The first consisted of two training programmes designed for specific head office target audiences: junior and senior women employees. Each course was based on two days of training activities. On the first day, the common goal was identifying one’s own areas of weakness in interactions, helping to reveal the causes of self-limiting behaviour and suggesting measures to overcome them. It involved sharing an organisational approach, referring particularly to culture and reflecting specifically on gender dynamics, identifying any gaps between self-assessments and organisational and managerial assessments.
On the second day, the junior participants focused on understanding gender communications and identifying their own personal leanings, reacting to feedback positively, and recognising and managing their emotions. The senior participants, meanwhile, focused on gender issues that could influence their role as human resources managers. Personalised learning programmes were put together at the end of both training courses.
The second programme is the Women’s Mentoring Programme, launched in Paris in September 2014, in which women belonging to the GLG acted as mentors for their talented female colleagues. This initiative gives highly expert and experienced women in the group a valuable opportunity to develop and enhance their leadership skills, within a process of growth and stimulation towards greater and more ambitious goals: in this sense, the course was fittingly launched at an altitude of 150 metres over Paris in the Generali France hot air balloon.
The programme was designed so that less expert personnel are supported by female colleagues with greater experience, with the aim of creating a community that can contribute to improving gender equality. The project involves ongoing interaction between participants and mentors in a non-hierarchical and informal environment, with pairings established on the basis of criteria such as cultural diversity, departmental context and seniority. It focuses on problem-solving processes that make it possible to overcome prejudices and identify gender stereotypes that prevent women from fulfilling their potential.