On International Women’s Day, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has announced RISE, a program to inspire female leaders at its 141 hotels in Australia and New Zealand to ‘lean in’ to general manager roles.
RISE will provide a career development program for female leaders who have aspirations to become general managers. Key elements of the program include:
Mentor. A current female general manager will guide and support each RISE participant.
Sponsor. A senior male leader as a ‘champion of change’ to provide career advice, whilst also benefiting from ‘reverse mentoring’ from the participants on supporting gender equality in operations.
Career Planning Support. Via face-to-face sessions with IHG’s Learning and Development team.
RISE participants will also be inspired to motivate female leaders in their own hotel, through Lean In Circles. They will also be asked to provide input and feedback to IHG’s Diversity and Inclusion forum, thereby ensuring all programs are evolving and efficient.
“IHG has an enviable reputation as having balanced gender, cultural, lifestyle and generational diversity across the organization, including in our regional leadership team of which I’m a part,” said Karin Sheppard, IHG chief operating officer, Australasia and Japan. “We did, however, recognize the opportunity to grow our female GM population to build increased diversity.
“We are poised for significant growth in Australasia and the wider region, so we need to have a full pipeline of the best future leaders ready to take leadership roles. It is well proven that diverse teams outperform those that lack diversity, which is why we are committed to providing female leaders with the support and motivation they need to reach their aspirations.”