Future Female Leaders spread their wings

When EG launched its Future Leaders project, the intent was – this time around at least – to give women a voice and build their confidence. But after catching up with several of this year’s cohort of Future Female Leaders, it is clear the project is delivering much, much more. “It’s been a metamorphosis,” says Manreet Randhawa, senior portfolio manager at Nuveen. “All of us have had to shed a few skins to see our new selves.” Three-quarters of the way through their training sessions with Ginger Public Speaking, EG’s 12 Future Female Leaders are certainly transformed. The skills they have learnt, the confidence they have gained and the insights they have picked up – not just about themselves but also the wider industry in which they work – are proving to be invaluable. And to find out just how invaluable those new skills are, EG gathered a collection of the future leaders together to find out more about their key learnings from the course so far and how they plan to use their new-found skills going forward. Act natural “One of the biggest things that we’ve learnt,” says Hana Hassan, senior projects director at Willmott Dixon, “is to be really natural. I’ve not done a lot of public speaking, but when I have, I have written a script and learnt it off by heart. What Ginger are teaching us is that that is a road to disaster. They are encouraging us to trust ourselves that we know what we are going to say and to have confidence.” Hopefully, the more visual we all become, the more young girls can look up and see that there is a route in this industry for them Eva Kiivit, regional operations director at Greystar, agrees: “The biggest learning curve for me has been the fact that you can’t plan everything; that you need to take it as it is and go with the flow. We can’t control all aspects of life – we need to control what we can and play around with that.” It’s a huge shift in mindset for the women. During their first training session with Ginger, the women were all asked to get up on stage and talk about themselves for two minutes. It filled most of them with dread. That was certainly the case for Victoria Ireland, partner in residential consultancy at Cluttons, who describes that first session as “pretty intimidating”, before adding that, at the most recent session, “they couldn’t shut me up after five minutes”. But it is these moments of discomfort that are having the greatest impact on the future leaders. “It is really disarming, but you do feel better in a strange way,” admits Randhawa. “You stretch your brain in a very different way.” Make an impact As well as coming up with their stories to tell at the EG Future Female Leaders final event in London on 8 October, the leaders have been learning how to use their whole bodies to engage with an audience, the power of authenticity and how to create a lasting impact – a legacy even. “One of the most interesting things that I am taking away from this is learning to be more expressive when speaking, and to trust yourself that you have something important and relevant to say and that people want to listen to you,” says Cluttons’ Ireland. And that skill of being able to make people listen to you – not just hear you – will travel further than just the length of the Future Leaders programme. Showing more of yourself is a good thing – it gives you more credibility and makes you more memorable “I have learnt patience and to think about how you frame your arguments,” says Emily Hamilton, senior sustainability manager at Grosvenor. “It is about how you bring people along with you on your journey. If they don’t agree with you at first, how do you find different ways to frame that position so it will benefit the people you are speaking to rather than just get frustrated because they are not hearing what you are saying?” “Learning to amplify my voice is a really good thing and is hopefully going to help my career going forward,” adds Willmott Dixon’s Hassan. “A key barrier for women in the industry is not having female role models to look up to, so hopefully, the more visual we all become, the more young girls can look up and see that there is a route in this industry for them.” Leading by example Becoming a role model for others in the industry – regardless of gender – is one of the overriding goals for the future female leaders. “Being true to yourself has really resonated with me,” says Alanna Hasek, senior associate in the real estate team at DLA Piper. “It’s a really important part of being a role model, a real model. ‘Normalness’ is appealing to people. I’m going to be my true self going forward and have the confidence to speak up. “I have realised that sometimes I have been hiding behind a professional veneer in what I have been doing. Showing more of yourself is a good thing. Bringing out your stories gives you more credibility and makes you more memorable. It is about having the confidence to do that.” “I would love to be able to mentor and encourage other women if they are feeling that their voices are not being heard, or if they want to develop their careers,” adds Grosvenor’s Hamilton. “I want to be that person they can come to and ask for help and experience.” Becoming role models and delivering change in the industry, one story at a time, is the ultimate goal of the Future Leaders programme, and the 12 women taking part in the project clearly have making an impact as a key target in their 8 October presentations. “We all want to be able to inspire some change,” says Randhawa. “For my talk, if even a small proportion of the women do the thing that I ask them to do, or even look into it, I will be really thrilled that I had some impact. “I think all of us want to have some small impact that cumulatively makes a difference.” Join EG in supporting our Future Female Leaders by coming along to our big final event at Kings Place, N1, on 8 October. Click here to secure your free place. 12 ways to be a phenomenal public speaker EG’s Future Female Leaders share their top tips for owning the stage and having an impact: Frame your story. Think about how you make your story resonate with the people you are telling it to. If you build a story with the audience in mind, it is more likely to stick. Be aware that there are always numerous points of view and that no single one is necessarily better than any other. You can only control the controllables, forget about the rest. Recognise that you have a story to tell. Then tell it. Unapologetically. Test your ideas using the 3,2,1 approach. Find someone to test your idea on and talk about it for three minutes. Get feedback and refine, and then talk about it for two minutes. Get feedback and refine. Your final one-minute pitch should be dialled down and on a really clear path. Get outside your comfort zone – it stretches your brain and it (usually) turns out all right. Remember that everyone is the same. Strip away the fear, any expectations, people’s titles, etc, and remember that we are all just people. Be authentic. Be patient. Don’t back down, but find ways to explain your view to others in a way that you can bring them along with you. Don’t be afraid of personality, it adds passion and memorability. Your voice is only part of it – think about body language. Use your whole body and the stage to create a presence that will create a real memory in people. Make your opening line sing. Make it as impactful as possible. Grab them hook, line and sinker. The Future Female Leaders’ guide to being an inspiration Be bold, be resilient and find ways to communicate that resonate with people. Have the confidence to make a difference. Be approachable. Be more than memorable – give people something to take away and do something with. In partnership with Main image: Dr John Brackenbury/Solent News/Shutterstock Microphone image: Monkey Business/Shutterstock