USW and CBI launch new toolkit to develop the potential of women as leaders

With growing evidence that businesses that have higher gender diversity at boardroom level are more successful, the University of South Wales and the CBI have teamed up to launch a free online toolkit designed to propel more women into leadership roles.

‘Advancing Women’s Leadership – a practical toolkit for businesses’ contains advice and support for firms, developed following research into hundreds of employers and employees, and is aimed at removing barriers and creating opportunities for women at work to achieve their full career potential.

The toolkit can be downloaded here.

It targets six priority areas to remove barriers for women employees:

• Building better workplace cultures
• Embedding flexible working at every level
• Expanding mentoring and networks to support women in work
• Tackling bias and discrimination
• Supporting caregivers and working families
• Building confidence and aspiration for women

Although accessible to all businesses, the resource is particularly geared towards SMEs that may not have the resources found in larger firms to fully support female employees.

It will be launched today (19 May) at the annual CBI-USW Women in Wales: Emerging Leaders Conference at the University’s Cardiff campus. Around 100 leaders and emerging leaders of all genders will be attending the annual event. Guest speakers include USW’s Women in Leadership project leader, Dr Lauren Josie Thomas, and Asha Musoni, Chief People and Transformation Officer at the CBI.

Dr Lauren Josie Thomas, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at USW, said: “The toolkit is the result of three years of collaboration between the University and CBI Wales Women in Leadership Network and Working Group, involving businesses and employees from North to South and East to West Wales. We can only challenge the accepted norms and practices for women in work, and, more widely, society, if businesses take advantage of this excellent resource – change can often be a small adjustment to an individual’s work-life balance, but it can also be more embedded.

“We urge all firms to review the toolkit and understand how they can challenge themselves, and all of their employees, to better support women’s advancement in the workplace and unlock everyone’s talents to the fullest.”

Katie Spackman, Deputy Director at CBI Wales, added: “Unlocking the potential of women in leadership benefits business profitability. It tackles the skills gap and labour market shortages, that are holding back so many firms across Wales. We’re proud to work with USW on the toolkit which contains practical support and information to help progress careers.

“The barriers for women are not always obvious and they can be structural, cultural or embedded in everyday workplace practices. We urge all businesses to share this document internally with their leadership, HR teams and employers, and support our efforts to improve equity and inclusivity for women in business, helping Wales to achieve sustainable growth.”

Asha Musoni, Chief People and Transformation Officer, CBI, said: “This comprehensive toolkit clearly identifies in plain language the barriers and the opportunities for women aspiring to lead in Wales. This is a timely reminder that leadership isn’t only about ambition - it’s about access, support, and culture. At the CBI we believe that when organisations build leadership pipelines that are flexible, inclusive, and sustainable they unlock not only talent but also innovation and growth across the economy.”