Breaking Boundaries: A Workshop on Preparing Women for Leadership held in collaboration with SDG Leader for Goal 5, K-Electric

The Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business held a workshop for women leaders titled “Breaking Boundaries: A Workshop for Preparing Women for Leadership.” in collaboration with our #SDG5 sponsor K-Electric. Facilitated by lifestyle coach Sharjeel Ahmad, the workshop helped participants look internally and externally at the barriers that hold them back.

The two-day workshop was built around Cognitive Behavioral Therapy modules which offered participants a framework for identifying their feelings, processing emotions and then mastering them for effective leadership. While it is true that women face myriad structural barriers at work from misogynistic attitudes to benevolent sexism and discrimination despite having the skills and talents, workshop leader, Sharjeel Ahmad encouraged that participants look at their spheres of concern, influence and control and identify which situations even deem their response.

One of the most beneficial tools the facilitator shared was the EQ 5-point tool for having difficult situations. It is a method that leaders should apply when having tough conversations. In that you first identify the behavior then communicate how it makes you feel and then propose a way forward and establish agreement from both parties. Through a series of role-playing scenarios the method proved to be an effective way of having conversations.

K Electric’s Head of the Center of Expertise, Faiza Savul, shared KE’s own initiatives from #LeanIn Circles to their pioneering MAMA programme that focuses on pregnancy and wellness of expecting mothers.

Furthermore, there was a panel discussion on the barriers that hold women back. In attendance were Muhammad Rizwan Dalia [K-Electric], Anam Fatima Khan [House of Habib], Saadia Naveed [EBM], Shaista Ayesha [SEED Ventures] and Mehak Masood [Artistic Milliners]. The panel was moderated by Head of Research, CERB, Nazish Shekha.

“I was asked to leave because I was having a baby. I fought back about the three-week maternity leave. Diversity and inclusion are about basic respect. If you have the expectation of productivity from your staff you have to create that ecosystem,” said Shaista Ayesha.

We are grateful to our SDG 5 sponsor K-Electric as well as to our facilitator and ally, Sharjeel Ahmad for holding this workshop and creating a space for women to share and learn from each other. Our workshop participants represented Artistic Milliners, KFC Pakistan, MG Apparel, JS Bank and Liberty Mills Limited.