Scala’s Network’s Take the Lead Series is a totally unique and intimate executive program designed to prepare emerging women leaders to advance to the next level in their careers. The program sessions combine in-depth roundtable discussion and custom workshop programming with the opportunity to meet and engage with some of Canada’s most successful women.

Take the Lead

Invest in women leaders

Although we have made great strides towards gender parity, women leaders continue to face barriers in many organizations. Yet countless studies indicate that businesses are more profitable and employees are more satisfied and productive under the leadership of gender-balanced management teams. At Scala Network, we believe that investing in the development of women leaders will help businesses to succeed in a time of major upheaval in our workplaces and have a tremendous positive effect on our economy and future generations of women.

Take the Lead is a series of programs that we have developed for women who are ready to take the next step in their careers. In our Leadership Development program, you will gain awareness of your current attitudes and strengths and learn techniques and solutions that will help you to grow as a leader.

Our leadership programs are interactive and collaborative allowing participants to share and network with other women leaders, and to learn from and be inspired by Senior Executive Mentors. In this intimate and supportive environment, we will challenge assumptions, share leadership wisdom, and learn about individual leadership styles, strengths, and personal potential.

We hope that organizations such as yours will invest in their women leaders by nominating someone to attend the Leadership Development program.

Thank you in advance for your support!

Warmest regards,

The purpose of Scala’s networking and collaborative learning model is simple: Ignite discussion

Our guest mentors encourage participation and conversation by:

Providing Fuel for Thought

Leading Round Table Discussions

Sharing Insights, Perspectives & Questions

Scala Network’s mentors are the first to acknowledge setbacks and challenges in navigating their own roads to success. They share their own personal or professional anecdotes and experiences to provide real life perspective on session topics, engaging the group in conversation and creating a connectedness that deepens during the program. Over the course of the program, you will have the opportunity to meet with each of the mentors to exchange ideas, share challenges that keep you up at night, and learn techniques to solve problems and harness your opportunities to grow as a leader.

1Session 1: Program Introduction

In this session, you will meet and network with other participants and our mentors who will be facilitating discussions and sharing personal experience and insights during the program. We will also provide an overview and roadmap for the program, and set the expectations for participating and getting the most of this hands-on learning experience together.

2Session 2: Standing Strong in Your Leadership Strengths

Discover and find language for the unique strengths that are working for you today. Gain insight on what’s holding you back from giving your best more often.

• Are you clear on the specific leadership strengths that are driving your success today?
• Do you know how you uniquely captivate and motivate others?
• How do you influence and inspire?
• Are you aware of what gets in your way?

In this session participants will:

+ Explore a framework that will help you lead brilliantly in today’s complex environment

+ Generate insight on the strengths and limitations of 5 Critical Leadership Competencies

+ Build self awareness of your unique strengths

+ Gain wisdom from the stories and experiences of senior leaders

Participants will take away:

+ A powerful framework that illustrates the different ways you can lead, allowing flexibility and agility to apply the right leadership style in each situation

+ Greater grounding and confidence in your unique combination of leadership strengths

+ New bonds and relationships to build on in future sessions.

3Session 3: Advancing Leadership: How the Skills of Emotional Intelligence Advance the Success of Everything You Do

Do you know what separates successfully performing leaders from average? It’s widely known that Emotional Intelligence is a differentiating factor. But what is it? What does it look like? And how can you get it?

In this session participants will:

+ Learn about the neuroscience of emotions and the science of emotional intelligence.

+ Understand why emotional intelligence is a critical skill set for success in any career or endeavor; especially in leadership roles.

+ Discover a powerfully simple model for learning emotional intelligence that will elevate your influence and effectiveness.

+ Learn how to calm yourself in conflict situations.

+ Build lasting connections and trust with your peers, team and managers.

+ Identify patterns and triggers that either drive or derail your performance.

+ Generate insights on your personal emotional intelligence strengths and gaps.

An emotional intelligence assessment & a one-hour personal debrief is included with the program.

4Session 4: Building Your Leadership Toolbox

Over the course of this program, we encourage participants to reflect on their own personal challenges and development opportunities as a leader. In this session, you will explore ideas and questions with your fellow participants and our mentors and identify skills you would like to add to your personal leadership toolbox.

Session Format:

We will give participants an opportunity to select topics that they would like to explore further, both individually and as a group, and our mentors will lead the discussion to ensure everyone gets the most out of the conversation.

In past Team Development programs, topics for this session have ranged from Having Difficult Conversations, How to Influence & Persuade Others, Work-Life Harmony, Self Confidence, Conflict Management and many more.

5Session 5: Activating Your Leadership

Prior to this session, you will reflect on your learning and create a powerful vision for yourself as a leader and set intentions for what you will accomplish:

+ Build a picture of the leader you strive to be

+ Define the journey that will allow you to achieve that vision

+ Develop your goals and the steps needed to accomplish them

+ Co-create a plan with other leaders on how you can support each other in ongoing fulfillment and success

Session Format:

As we meet for our last session, each person will share their intentions and goals. This is also a great opportunity to tap into additional insights and learning from our mentors and provide any feedback on the program experience. We encourage our participants to continue to network with each other and with the mentors after the program has ended, in order to share learning and seek support in their personal development as a leader.

Winter 2021 mentors

Summer 2020 mentors

Fall 2019 mentors

Summer 2019 mentors