Editorial
Front Page - Friday, August 20, 2010
Women’s mentoring program continues to help develop leadership
Erica Tuggle
The Chattanooga Women’s Leadership Institute has been providing programs to encourage women to take leadership roles in the home, workplace and community since their establishment in 1996. Marj Flemming is one of the seven founding members of CWLI, and the current managing director of the membership based organization.
- Erica Tuggle
Everyone needs a helping hand sometimes, and assisting someone who is in the same situation you have previously conquered can make a difference. This is the concept behind the Women Mentoring Women program that the Chattanooga Women’s Leadership Institute (CWLI) is hosting for the third consecutive year.
Scheduled for August 27, the program consists of eight two hour lunchtime sessions designed to aid women in developing or sharpening their leadership and mentoring skills so they can, in turn, mentor other women in the community to become stronger leaders, says Marj Flemming, managing director of CWLI.
In 1996, Flemming and seven others founded the CWLI. They began with one program called “Women Who Run,” which is for women interested in understanding what it takes to run for a political office. In the mid ’90s, the fledgling Internet made access to information on topics like this hard to come by, says Flemming, and so the women of the program got to hear from actual sources who had run campaigns about how to finance a campaign, determine campaign issues and evaluate whether running for an office is in your best interest. It was designed for women interested in running for office as well those wanting to become more involved in the political process in any form.
Flemming says, “Then we realized it was neither wise nor useful to only deal with political campaigns. What we needed was women to want to take positions of leadership all across the board: civic, political, volunteer, non-profit and for-profits.”
Now the CWLI has expanded to include several events throughout the year, all focused on providing women opportunities to learn about female leaders in the community and some of the skills they need to step out and become a female leader themselves.
“We give the exposure to women who are already proven leaders, and then exposure to areas where they could become a leader if interested, and then give them opportunities to hear people say this is one of most important things I needed to know that I didn’t know at the time,” Flemming says.
One of these programs is the upcoming Women Mentoring Women program that teaches women what they need to know, how they need to know it and how to go and mentor other women, she says.
This year’s Women Men-toring Women program will be a small group, limited to 15 participants. These women from all types of business backgrounds will come together and hear from other women in the community how to be politically savvy in any environment, how to network effectively and be remembered and how to communicate in a way that is not going to discount what they say and puts across a clear message.
Flemming will be the conductor of the class on effective communications, and she says her class as well as the others will have a 12 to 20 minute lecture time, an exercise group to practice what has been learned and to say things out loud in a safe environment, and then time to figure out how to share this message with other women.
She says, “[In this class] you learn some skills and learn how to pass them on effectively whether someone has asked you to be their mentor or not. When someone says they are going to a presentation meeting and their knees are shaking, you can tell them to practice deep breathing for about 40 seconds, and it will lower their voice so they will be taken more seriously and will calm them so they don’t go in with their heart all aflutter … and that is a mentoring moment. We hope to give them skills for themselves and how they might use that to help other people.”
Applications for the Women Mentoring Women series are online at www.cwli.org and all applicants are evaluated by a committee of CWLI members who make sure those applying are committed to the program and to sharing the knowledge they receive from the program with other women, Flemming says.
The program will also be using 90 percent of same instructors from last year, so a consistent message across the program will remain. Applications/nominations for the 2010 class may be submitted by an individual, company, or organization along with a letter of recommendation. Criteria for selection of participants will include level of interest in mentoring, background, relevant experience and degree of commitment to apply the skills learned in the program to benefit a fellow employee, organization member or business owner.
Previous presenters in the Women Mentoring Women program include Kim White, the president of the RiverCity Company; Carol Newtown, the CFO of Memorial Health Care System; and Beverlee Bartley of Lattimore, Black, Morgan & Cain.
Another event that the CWLI provides are the leadership luncheons that are held three or four times a season. Designed around a huge variety of topics centered on women leaders in different areas, this provides information for members of the CWLI and any others who want to share the message.
Networking events are also a frequent activity of the organization. Their annual event where they bring a female into town that has strong proven leadership skills is open to the community and always has a large turnout. Flemming says this event isn’t like a gala or silent auction, but attendees come strictly because they want to hear the particular message and speaker.
In the next few months, the CWLI is planning to introduce a series of financial seminars to teach women about finance and dealing with finance.
She says, “This is important to know with all the purchasing power women have, and how many women are left as widows or divorced and have to deal with family finance. We will talk about business and family finance, philanthropy and financial statements.”
For those interested in getting involved, visit the CWLI Web site or call 423-266-0382 to speak directly to Marj Flemming.
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