Women in Leadership: Leverages DDI Content

Catalyst Connection’s new Women in Leadership Series offers a yearlong learning journey and arms women with actionable strategies for accelerating their careers based on the very latest in research and today’s best practices. Powered by DDI content, these sessions provide personal discovery, reflection/insight and application using experiential activities, peer coaching and self-insight tools.

Erica Frischmann, Senior Consultant, at Catalyst Connection, leads the Women in Leadership Series. In her position, Erica specializes in helping manufacturers assess their business strategies and achieve their growth goals through innovation, operational excellence and organizational development. 

Frischmann brings a proven record of success with over 20 years of experience in Human Resources, Consulting and Customer Service.  Prior to joining Catalyst Connection, Frischmann was responsible for developing and executing tactical and strategic human resources initiatives to recruit and retain talent for several high growth organizations. We sat down with Erica to learn a bit more about Women in Leadership:

Made in PA: From your perspective, what are some of the big challenges for women in leadership roles? 

Frischmann: Unfortunately, it is not unusual to see women who could be on a leadership trajectory falter because of a lack of confidence to ask for what she wants in her career, or to go after specific opportunities. In fact, research conducted by the global leadership consulting firm DDI in 2019 shows that only one in four of the high-potential pool are women and only five percent are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Women also face perception challenges when in a leader-ship role. A female leader or manager is sometimes viewed as aggressive, while her male counterpart exhibiting the same behavior is said to be assertive. Women are more likely to say, “we accomplished this task”, while her male counterpart is more likely to tout their own role in a specific success.   

FRISCHMANN BRINGS A PROVEN RECORD OF SUCCESS WITH OVER 20 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN HUMAN RESOURCES, CONSUL-ING AND CUSTOMER SERVICE. 

MIPA: How would you rate the progress of women attaining leadership roles over the past 20 years?

Frischmann: We are really at a time of transition and awareness as diversity and inclusion become critical initiatives for many companies.  As we take a closer look at women and leadership, we see that it is not really a women’s issue; it is a business issue. DDI and The Conference Board collaborated on the Global Leadership Forecast, a survey of over 2,000 global organizations in all industries. DDI compared the top 20 percent high-performing organizations to the bottom 20 percent.

They found that high-performing organizations have twice as many women leaders (37 percent vs. 19 percent) as the lower-performing organizations. The impact? Organizations in which at least 30 percent of leaders are women are 12 times more likely to be in the top 20 percent for financial performance. Success is inevitable once the power of women is unleashed. While we have come a long way in the last few years, the opportunity and forward motion is far from where it needs to be.

MIPA: Related to the Women in Leadership Series, what can participants expect to learn about themselves and their journey? Frischmann: Participants will begin the program by taking an Ignite Your Impact Assessment: Women in Leadership that will objectively create insight into the nine proven competencies that will accelerate and advance women in leadership. Our content is powered by DDI’s international research and best practices and will include two-hour learning sessions that will address issues confronting women at all levels.

Topics allow for discussion and practical application exercises around how women leaders declare their brand, influence their career, leverage failure as a learning opportunity and superpower their network. Applying communication skills and connecting through conversations will be at the heart of the program. Participants will gain their greatest learning from networking with one another as well as Catalyst Connection’s network of female leaders in manufacturing.