Bringing Diversity to Our Leadership
Authors: Lakahal S. , Allam M. , Issa R. , Issentayeva D. 
Published: October 2023

Introduction

Driven by the ambition to accelerate women readiness to take on leadership roles, we created a homegrown mentoring program named WISE (Women Inspiring, Supporting, and Empowering each other). WISE fosters engagement, collaboration, and networking among women within our organization. This paper outlines the reasons why we created WISE four (4) years ago, highlights how our program is keeping strong and demonstrates how WISE serves as an effective engagement strategy, enabling gender partnership in advancing female talent in our organization.

Methods, Procedures, Process

We have designed our program around discussions on habits that are usually holding women back in their career development. We are using a book entitled "How Women Rise" (by Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith) to foster self-awareness and discussions in the sessions. We have added practical sessions such as building and practicing an elevator speech, reflecting on habit change using the "Atomic Habits" book from James Clear and engagement with external inspirational female leaders.

We have onboarded more than 80 mentors and 800 mentees globally. The mentees are all female employees, and the mentors are senior and esteemed leaders (both male and female). We have developed an online training program for the mentors and the core team of WISE holds monthly sessions with the mentors to debrief on their experience and share lessons learned.

Mentees enroll in mentoring circles, via a digital platform, based on a preferred time zone and topic. These sessions are a safe space for women to share experiences and access resources related to one of the 12 habits discussed in the book mentioned above. Through these sessions mentees widen their perspective and leave with a sense of action on a small change they can practice helping to grow beyond the habit. These sessions also create a wide opportunity for networking and visibility. These one-hour virtual sessions, along with other networking events, help them to enhance their emotional intelligence; increase their confidence; and accelerate their personal and professional growth. The mentoring circles are facilitated by diverse, experienced, and qualified mentors, within the company. Continuous improvement surveys provide feedback for mentors on monthly basis.

Certainly, WISE success is a result of the passion felt by the women carrying this initiative. This success is resting on the shoulder of the women designing, running, and maintaining the program behind the scenes and on the commitment and quality of the mentors leading the sessions.

Results, Observations, Conclusions

Promoting opportunities for women to succeed in the workplace is essential in today's industry. Programs like WISE play a key role in advancing female talent and empowering women to reach their full potential. At SLB, we are proud of our commitment to diversity and the impact that WISE has had on over 800 women from all functions and operations in 60+ locations, making our workforce stronger than ever. We would love to discuss this exciting initiative further with you at the upcoming ADIPEC event and explore potential partnerships to expand this program.