IHG unveils RISE initiative to inspire and mentor female leaders
Launching in time for International Women’s Day, InterContinental Hotels Group has announced its new program, RISE, to inspire female leaders in Australia and New Zealand to ‘lean in’ to general manager roles.
An important component of IHG’s global diversity and inclusion philosophy, RISE will provide a career development program for female leaders who have aspirations to become General Managers, demonstrating the immense value the company places on diversity in creating an engaged and high performing workforce.
Karin Sheppard, IHG chief operating officer, Australasia and Japan said, “IHG has an enviable reputation as having balanced gender, cultural, lifestyle and generational diversity across the organisation, including in our regional leadership team of which I’m a part. We did, however, recognise 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.”
RISE will provide support to these high potential female leaders, through the following key elements:
- 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 programmes are evolving and efficient,” the company wrote in a statement.
“IHG currently has 41 hotels operating under four brands in Australasia: InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express; part of a global network of 5,000 hotels in more than 100 countries and territories.”
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