The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)®, a global provider of executive education, has released a new report, “Elevate the System” with its research partners, Institute for Human Resource Professionals, Prasetiya Mulya Executive Learning Institute (prasmul-eli), Society for Human Resource Management, Slingshot Group, and XEd Space. The report was developed through data drawn from 894 survey respondents and 71 interviewees across the Asia-Pacific (APAC).

The report unpacks challenges that have stifled women from attaining senior roles and examines whether gaps in perception between men and women have improved or gotten worse since CCL’s 2020 Overcoming Barriers to Women’s Leadership Research.

“While increased focus on women’s leadership is encouraging, our latest report reveals a critical disconnect. The persistent underrepresentation of women at the highest levels suggests hidden obstacles are impeding their advancement. These obstacles often stem from biases – deeply ingrained societal expectations and systemic barriers that we are not aware of and don’t see on the surface. Addressing the gender gap in leadership requires men, women and organizations to come together as champions for equity, with the courage to make changes to the systems that are holding women back. The gender equity agenda isn’t just about fairness, it’s about unleashing the power and potential of our full talent pool to create a stronger and more prosperous future for all,” said Elisa Mallis, Managing Director and Vice President, APAC at CCL.

Organizations are encouraged to move beyond quotas and targets by measuring female participation more holistically, engaging male allies, and celebrating champions of gender equality.  This combined effort from organizations and individuals will pave the way for a more inclusive leadership landscape, supporting women’s leadership development ultimately enabling their success in leadership positions.

In 2023 the Center for Creative Leadership’s (CCL) North Carolina campus and global headquarters was recognized as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. This spring, CCL was proud to report Eastern Bluebird nesting activity on campus to the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology. The lab works with partners and communities around the world to conserve biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds and nature.

Founded in 1915, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has grown to become a major conservation organization and global center for the study of birds and biodiversity. The lab transforms data into knowledge by pioneering new techniques at the interface of citizen science, machine learning, and data visualizations. Their field and lab studies explore the earth’s biodiversity, the processes that have generated it, and ways to conserve the abundance of life.

“Support of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology helps by enabling discovery of new knowledge to understand and protect nature, innovation of new technologies to reveal that knowledge, teaching to foster new leaders, inspiration to motivate change, and transformation of science to action to make a difference on the ground,” Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Executive Director, Ian Owens stated.

CCL’s Wildlife preservation efforts are part of a broader organizational commitment to environmental, social, and corporate responsibility and fit into CCL’s holistic leadership approach. Reporting the activity of our Eastern Bluebird population to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is part of this approach, highlighting our dedication to benefiting society and the communities we serve worldwide.

Andi Williams, Director of the Nonprofit and Population Health Leadership practices for Societal Impact at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)®, has been awarded the 2024 Shirley Chater Enduring Leadership Award by NurseTRUST.

This prestigious award is presented annually to an individual who is a strong advocate for NurseTRUST and who is known for leadership in their organization and community, for high standards, and for leading through challenging times.

Named in honor of Dr. Shirley Chater, a renowned nurse, healthcare leader, and advocate for nursing leadership, the Shirley Chater Enduring Leadership Award recognizes individuals who embody Dr. Chater’s spirit of leadership, innovation, and dedication to developing nurse leaders to improve nursing, health, and healthcare.

Williams served as Deputy Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellows program from 2009 until 2015 and was instrumental in helping lead alumni ENF members in the transition and creation of NurseTRUST. Williams continues to serve as a leader in their ongoing work.

This recognition is even more special for Williams, as it’s traditionally awarded to nurses.

“I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for this award and the opportunity to serve this community. Shirley’s legacy calls us all to be beacons of enduring leadership. I call on each of you to embrace the journey of leadership with courage, humility, and compassion,” Williams stated during her award acceptance speech.

“Andi not only embodies Dr. Chater’s spirit of leadership, innovation, and dedication to developing nurse leaders, she also epitomizes CCL’s mission to advance the understanding, practice, and development of leadership for the benefit of society worldwide. She served as an instrumental leader at CCL for the RWJF ENF program for nearly a decade, and her leadership was critical to the creation and success of what is now NurseTRUST.org,” said Lynn Fick-Cooper, Chief Equity and Societal Impact Officer.

“To be the first recipient of this prestigious award who is not a nurse herself is a testament to Andi’s unique brand of leadership and deep commitment to the nursing profession. She is the most compassionate, creative, resilient leader I have ever had the privilege to work with across my career.”

The success of the initial pilot program has led to the launch of multiple cohorts, reflecting a shared commitment between CCL and TFA to advancing leadership capabilities within this sector.

This commitment represents a strategic investment toward Saudi Arabia’s Vision for 2030, where the financial sector plays a crucial role in driving the nation’s economic growth.

As the Saudi Arabia seeks to meet its Vision 2030 objectives, TFA has identified the need to expedite leadership development across the financial sector domain. In recognition of this shared vision, CCL has been chosen as the primary partner for leadership development services. Over the past year, both organizations have collaborated with the aim of cultivating robust leadership across the sector.

“The strategic partnership between CCL and TFA aims to bring more value to the financial sector in KSA and help drive the leadership capabilities in service to the ambitious transformation journey of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” says Mana Alkhamsan, Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Academy.

This partnership is not just a collaboration; it’s a strategic alliance focused on shaping the future of leadership in the financial sector. By combining the expertise of TFA in financial education with CCL’s globally recognized leadership development services, we are poised to empower leaders who will drive innovation, foster growth, and contribute significantly to the realization of Vision 2030.

Commenting on the partnership, Hamish Madan, Vice President & Managing Director for EMEA at CCL, says: “Through our strategic partnership with TFA, we aim to support and empower leaders of the financial sector in KSA, and reinforce our commitment to the nation’s growth and journey towards global excellence”.

We look forward to sharing new and exciting developments as CCL and TFA embark on this transformative journey to empower the leaders in Saudi Arabia’s financial sector.

Training Industry, a leading research and information resource for corporate learning leaders, has once again named the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)® a top provider of leadership training.

CCL has been on Training Industry’s global Top 20 Leadership Training Companies List in the each of the following years:

• 2010
• 2011
• 2012
• 2013
• 2014
• 2015
• 2016
• 2017
• 2018
• 2019
• 2020
• 2021
• 2022
• 2023
• 2024

As Training Industry notes, their Top 20 Leadership Training List each year “is based on thorough analysis of the capabilities, experience, and expertise of leadership development providers.” Criteria for inclusion include:

• Breadth and quality of program and service offerings.
• Industry visibility, innovation and impact in the leadership training market.
• Client and customer representation.
• Business performance and growth.

Because of the diversity of services included in leadership training programs, Training Industry does not rank the Top 20 in order of priority.

We’re proud to have earned this award from Training Industry once again, in addition to being ranked as one of Training Industry’s Top 20 providers of leadership assessments, in each of the past 10+ years.

Research Shares Insights on an Array of Topics

The Center for Creative Leadership, a top-ranked global leadership development organization, will be presenting several sessions at this year’s annual conference of the Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology (SIOP). The conference will be held April 17–20, in Chicago, Illinois and virtually.

SIOP is the premier professional association for the science and practice of Industrial-Organizational (I-O) psychology, which focuses on the scientific study of human behavior in organizations and in the workplace. This specialty focuses on principles of individual, group, and organizational behavior and applying this knowledge to solving problems leaders experience in the workplace.

CCL researchers will be presenting and leading discussions on several topics at the conference, ranging from program evaluation to hybrid workplace challenges. Listed below are the session dates and times when CCL will be presenting, along with descriptions for each session:

Approaches to Impact Evaluation in Leadership Development

Thursday, April 18, 8:00 am CST
Panel Discussion, Montreux 1
CCL Presenters: Dr. Jeff Kosovich and Dr. Stephen Jeong

Drawing on the collective expertise of practitioners and researchers in leadership development, this session will examine current practices in measuring the impact of leadership development, introduce 3 approaches to evaluating leadership development interventions, and discuss the application of these approaches. Panelists will share insights demonstrating the value of leadership development through impact evaluation data.

Virtually Possible: Understanding Employee Preferences in Remote Work Environments

Thursday, April 18, 8:00 am CST
Symposium, G Hall 1
CCL Presenter: Dr. Andy Loignon

The 4 empirical papers in this symposium explore pressing questions related to employee experiences in virtual work settings. This timely research investigates some of the more challenging areas related to remote work: managerial communication, autonomy, and the psychological contract; the effects of remote versus in-person interaction quality; interaction quality and workplace loneliness based on remote work preferences; and leadership behaviors and psychological safety in different degrees of virtuality. The findings present valuable insights for both academics and practitioners.

Invited: Conversations at All Stages of I-O

Thursday, April 18, 4:00 pm CST
Special Event, Z Room 1
CCL Presenter: Dr. Andy Loignon

This session consists of I-O graduate students, professionals, practitioners, and academics at different stages of their careers. After a brief introduction, authors will invite attendees to the breakout rooms according to their interests, where different speakers will facilitate conversations around critical moments in the career trajectory for I-Os, which includes navigating the stresses of graduate school, being on the job market for both industry and academia, transitioning into a new academic or industry job, job progression (tenure, promotion), and post-tenure (retirement, late-career issues).

Tech Trekking the Virtual Frontier: A Journey Into Meeting Dynamics and Inclusion

Thursday, April 18, 5:00 pm CST
Symposium, Room 208
CCL Presenters: Dr. Andy Loignon and Dr. Diane Bergeron

Authors explore 3 trends in meetings: the rise of virtual meetings, equality in meetings, and using AI to measure meeting behaviors. Kreamer & Rogelberg explore participation in virtual meetings, highlighting the potential of chat to enhance contributions. Loignon et al. reevaluate meetings as sources of inequalities using AI-enabled technology. Eden et al. explore meeting equity and counterproductive meeting behaviors relative to workers’ ages. These papers contribute to knowledge of meetings as essential sites where work happens, inequalities emerge, and technology can be harnessed.

A Multidimensional Framework for Measuring Change in Leadership Development

Friday, April 19, 9:00 am CST
Poster Session, Exhibit Hall 
CCL Presenters: Dr. Jeff Kosovich and Dr. Stephen Jeong 

This intermediate study describes a novel framework for conceptualizing change in leadership development, focusing on 4 types of change: relearning, reprioritizing, recalibrating, and traditional change. The framework parallels measurement invariance testing and builds on methods pioneered by quality-of-life researchers. Through a multiphase thematic analysis of 222 qualitative responses from a 360-degree feedback assessment, authors developed a coding scheme for identifying these types of change. Progressive improvement in rater agreement provides preliminary validity evidence.

Revisiting Gender Disparities in OCBs: Bridging Research and Practitioner Insights

Saturday, April 20, 2:00 pm CST
Alternative Presentation, Vevey 2/3
CCL Presenter: Dr. Diane Bergeron

Researchers and practitioners will present perspectives on revisiting the gender differences in organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and performance evaluations in short, ignite-style presentations, followed by small group discussions among the audience over posed questions. The small groups will then have the opportunity to share their insights with the broader audience and hear the presenters’ perspectives. This session will discuss the implications of recognizing and rewarding OCBs and how this may improve gender equity in the workplace.