Lenovo: Building Visibility, Influence and Confidence for Women Leaders Across EMEA

Lenovo partnered with Global Diversity Practice (GDP) to design and deliver Advancing Women Leaders (AWL), a bespoke leadership development journey for high-potential women leaders across the EMEA region. The programme combined self-insight, sponsorship, inclusive leadership development, executive visibility and practical business challenge work to support participants’ readiness for career progression.

Delivered across 2025–2026, AWL brought together a cohort of women managers through a two-day face-to-face experience in Bratislava, four virtual learning modules, WAVE 360 feedback, sponsorship relationships, individual development planning and business project presentations to senior leaders.

The result was a programme that strengthened confidence, visibility, strategic influence and career ownership. It also created tangible value for Lenovo through participant-led projects focused on real organisational priorities.

The challenge

Lenovo wanted to invest in a targeted leadership experience for women leaders across EMEA. It had to go beyond traditional skills training and create space for participants to reflect on their identity, leadership presence, resilience, career narrative and future progression.

The programme needed to support participants working in a complex, matrixed global business, where influence, visibility, executive presence and stakeholder relationships are critical to career growth. It also needed to connect personal development with business impact, helping participants build confidence while contributing to live organisational challenges.

GDP’s approach

GDP designed a blended learning journey that combined high-touch, experiential development with practical tools participants could apply immediately in their roles.

The programme included:

• Pre-programme reflection, career inventory and goal-setting
• WAVE 360 feedback integration, facilitated by Lenovo
• Sponsorship alignment and senior-leadership engagement
• A two-day in-person workshop in Bratislava
• Four virtual modules focused on communication, strategic influence, executive personal brand and career acceleration
• Peer reflection, action planning and practical leadership tools
• Business challenge projects, presented to senior leaders at the end of the programme

The face-to-face workshop focused on identity, resilience, authentic leadership, career visioning, executive presence, leading through complexity, mindfulness and wellbeing. The virtual modules then deepened the cohort’s skills in communication and impact, strategic influence, personal brand, stakeholder engagement and career visibility.

Throughout the journey, GDP created a psychologically safe but stretching environment. Participants were encouraged to examine the barriers and boosters in their careers, practise new behaviours, build strategic connections and articulate the distinctive value they bring as leaders.

Impact

Evaluation data and participant feedback showed strong positive impact across the programme. Lenovo’s participant survey gave these average ratings:

• 4.46/5 for AWL’s impact on overall readiness for career progression
• 4.54/5 for the effectiveness of the programme’s organisation
• 4.85/5 for the opportunity to network
• 4.77/5 for the opportunity to gain visibility
• 4.77/5 for the business challenge project component
• 4.62/5 for the WAVE 360 feedback component

GDP’s own virtual module evaluations were also positive, rating both end-of-session energy and session quality:

• Executive Personal Brand: 5.0/5
• Communication & Impact: 4.8/5
• Career Acceleration & Visibility: 4.0/5

Participants reported clear behavioural application between sessions. They described applying communication frameworks, speaking up more in meetings, tailoring messages to different stakeholders, strengthening their personal narratives and becoming more intentional about strategic visibility.

The business challenge projects became a particularly powerful part of the programme. Participants selected topics connected to real organisational priorities, gathered data, interviewed stakeholders and presented practical recommendations to Lenovo senior leaders.

Client feedback

Reflecting on the programme, a key stakeholder described the partnership and its impact:

Together we made something really beautiful and influenced very much the perception of these participants by senior leaders, maybe even changed their career trajectory.

— Client feedback, Lenovo

Participant feedback also highlighted the emotional and practical value of the experience:

This journey has been much more than a leadership program – it has been a space for growth, reflection, connection, and confidence-building.

— Programme participant

Everything was so greatly organized, each of us felt special.

— Programme participant

I leave this program feeling more empowered, more connected, and even more committed to driving inclusive leadership and creating opportunities for others.

— Programme participant

Why it worked

The programme’s strength lay in its combination of personal insight, practical leadership skill-building and senior business visibility.

Participants were not only asked to think differently about their careers; they were given tools to act differently. That ranged from adapting communication styles and strengthening stakeholder relationships to building executive presence and telling a clearer leadership story.

The cohort model also created connection and accountability. Participants built relationships across markets, shared experiences candidly and supported one another through common challenges around visibility, confidence, workload, strategic influence and career progression.

Senior leadership involvement gave the programme additional credibility and helped participants see that their development was connected to Lenovo’s broader talent and inclusion priorities. The final business project presentations also positioned participants as contributors to strategic business thinking, not simply recipients of development.

The value GDP added

GDP brought together deep expertise in inclusive leadership, gender equity, behavioural change and global facilitation to create a programme that was both human and business-relevant.

Rather than delivering a generic leadership curriculum, GDP tailored the experience to Lenovo’s context, leadership priorities and cohort needs. The programme helped participants:

• Strengthen readiness for career progression
• Build confidence in their authentic leadership style
• Increase visibility with senior stakeholders
• Develop clearer personal and executive narratives
• Practise strategic influence in a complex global organisation
• Apply learning to live business challenges
• Build a stronger peer network across EMEA

Participants experienced the programme as empowering, practical and connected to their future growth. For Lenovo, it helped deepen a pipeline of visible, confident and strategically engaged women leaders.