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Female Leaders in Science Management

Women Leading Science

Women Leading Science
Image Credit: Planet Flem/iStock

Goals

"Female Leaders in Science Management" is aimed at female leaders within the Berlin University Alliance who hold senior management positions in administration, service, and technical areas.

The program is BLA's first offer specifically geared towards the needs of administrative staff in the Alliance, with the idea to support gender equality in administrative leadership positions and to prepare participants to manage an increasingly diverse workforce. 

In particular, the program supports participants in

  • analyzing prevailing structures and power dynamics in the university and academic-medicine contexts and developing strategies to change them

  • further developing their skills in motivational leadership, constructive conflict resolution, and handling role conflicts, and

  • reflecting on and shaping their own leadership presence.

In addition, the program offers opportunities to expand one’s leadership network across the Berlin University Alliance.

Structure and Content

The full program combines several elements delivered over roughly 13 months:

  • Kick-off meet-and-greet (2 hours). Participants meet one another and the organizing team for the first time and set the tone for their collaboration.

  • Four workshops, each one or two days long. These sessions provide focused, evidence-based input from our trainers, facilitate peer exchange, and foster solution-oriented work on real cases from the participants’ professional contexts.

  • Opening, summit, and closing events (2–3 hours each). These evening events connect participants with outstanding female leaders who share insights from their careers and current roles. The events also serve as intensive networking opportunities.

  • Up to three individual coaching sessions (90 minutes each). Participants may book sessions with professional coaches from our network to deepen issues related to the program’s content.

After the program ends, we help participants launch an ongoing peer-consultation group. They receive a half-day introductory workshop on the method, and the first two sessions are facilitated by a professional moderator.

Target Audience and Registration

“Female Leaders in Science Management” is designed for female leaders within the Berlin University Alliance who hold senior positions in administration, service, and technical areas. Each cohort comprises eight participants.

Please note that the program is currently only offered in German. For further details on current dates and registration, please check here.

Further Details on the Workshops for this Program

Day 1: Mastering Challenges for the Self: Self-Management and Self-Motivation

The first day of this two-day workshop turns the spotlight on the participants themselves: you’ll learn how to sustain and strengthen your performance, motivation, and job-related well-being over the long term. Following the principles of positive psychology, the focus is on recognizing, cultivating, and purposefully deploying your own strengths and resources. You’ll also explore methods for managing your workload sensibly, setting priorities, and drawing clear boundaries.

Day 2: Mastering New Leadership Challenges: Motivating and Empowering Staff in Difficult Conditions

The second day centers on leading and motivating your team. You’ll learn—and critically reflect on—strategies for encouraging employees to act autonomously and proactively even under tough circumstances (e.g., talent shortages, heavy workloads, shifting expectations). The session also equips you to handle dissatisfaction and problems within the team with calm and constructive approaches.

Problematic Structures and Power Dynamics in Academic Organizations: How They Emerge, How to Recognize Them, and How to Influence Them

This workshop gives you a chance to use focused thematic inputs and intensive peer exchange to analyze your past leadership experience, your current roles, and the power resources that come with them within the organization as a whole. Building on that analysis, we will examine the structural framework and your individual situation to assess both the scope you already have and the latitude you can still expand.

The workshop also creates space for a solution-oriented discussion of experiences of powerlessness in the university setting. By day’s end, you will have broadened your existing repertoire of strategies.

Managing Conflicts Constructively and with a Focus on Solutions

In this workshop, participants analyze common sources of conflict in their work environment, reflect on their own approach to conflict, and learn a range of methods and techniques for constructive conflict resolution. These skills are practiced using real-world workplace scenarios. A special emphasis is placed on recognizing and overcoming traditional gender stereotypes in conflict management.

Projecting Confidence as a Leader

In this workshop, participants analyze and reflect on how gender-based role expectations and stereotypes shape their day-to-day leadership practice, with the goal of developing a confident way to handle potential workplace disadvantages. They learn techniques for shaping their verbal and nonverbal leadership presence, persuasively conveying their viewpoints, and responding calmly and quick-wittedly to resistance and disruptions.

Introduction to Peer Consultation

The final component of the program is the launch of an ongoing peer-consultation group at the close of the workshop curriculum. Participants receive a brief introductory workshop on the peer-consultation method, followed by two professionally moderated consultation sessions (2 hours each) in the subsequent months.

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