22 November 2023
PDMS has been actively involved in supporting the Empowering Women to Lead Digital Transformation programme for several years, and we recognise the importance of this programme for women working in digital transformation roles. This year, we are delighted to continue our support by sponsoring the autumn cohort of the Empowering Women to Lead Digital Transformation programme, which is being held in Glasgow for the first time.
About Empowering Women to Lead Digital Transformation
Run by Empowering You, the programme is a cross-industry initiative, backed by industry and government partners including ScotlandIS, the Scottish Government’s Digital Directorate and the Scottish Digital Academy.
The programme runs from September to December and is unique as it’s directed at women who work in digital transformation roles. The aim is to build a collaborative and powerful community of emerging women leaders in digital transformation across all industry sectors. The programme fosters a sustainable network of emerging female leaders in digital roles throughout Scotland.
Participants are selected through an open application process and engage in three months of intensive leadership coaching. This leads to a team project designed to tackle an important social issue where using digital technology is crucial.
Each cohort comprises approximately 20 digital professionals representing diverse organisations from the public, private and third sectors. Having a wide range of experience levels is widely valued, welcoming newcomers such as business analysts and UX designers as well as seasoned leaders like directors and department heads.
The programme incorporates a blend of in-person group workshops and one-on-one coaching sessions. Each day of the group workshops, guest speakers are invited to share their personal leadership journeys with the group.
Programme alumni - Fiona Anderson
Fiona, a Project Manager here at PDMS, attended the programme in early 2022, but due to the pandemic, the course was delivered online. Initially she was a little bit apprehensive about how successful a leadership course and interactions with other participants would be given it was all done on their personal screens.
However, her concerns disappeared as soon as it started, and she met the fantastic team. They were frequently divided into smaller ‘counsel groups’ to discuss issues they encountered, and practiced their listening, coaching and leadership skills on each other.
Fiona commented:
"It was a place to talk about vulnerabilities, experiences and to listen to and offer suggestions on dealing with situations that crop up in work life and beyond”.
Programme alumni - Suzanne Maxwell-Brown
Another of our project managers, Suzanne, attended the programme in person in Edinburgh in early 2023. She felt the course was very collaborative, allowing her and her cohort to explore different real-life scenarios and management practices, drawing on their own and each other’s experiences.
Suzanne added:
"Hearing about specific challenges from those working in the public sector has benefitted my day job as I work with many public sector clients, and I now have a much better understanding of the challenges that are unique to them”.
This year, Claire Welsh, one of our Business Analysts, will be taking part in the autumn programme. Sessions have already begun in early September and she will be sharing some of her learning insights later in the year.
In addition, our Chief Commercial Officer, Catriona Watt, recently attended an Empowering You workshop in Glasgow whe