Who We Are
The Pipeline was established in 2012 to confront a pressing economic challenge. It was evident during the economic crisis that businesses pivotal to the crash suffered from a notable absence of gender diversity in senior leadership.
Our sole purpose is to help organisations achieve greater gender diversity at the most senior levels and achieve their targets for women in leadership. Since 2012 we have delivered evidence-led and outcome-focused programmes, proven to help all our client organisations increase, promote, and retain women.
Why do we do it?
Our co-founders were inspired by Professor Michael Porter of Harvard Business School, who highlighted in 2008 the untapped potential of increasing women's participation at the highest levels as the most crucial lever for the UK economy. Motivated by this insight, we embarked on a mission to validate effective strategies, rigorously holding ourselves and our clients accountable for tangible outcomes.
The challenges facing women are deeply rooted in history, society, and often overlooked or misunderstood. To enact lasting change, organisations must invest in reshaping the narrative around these challenges, rather than solely focusing on women themselves. It's imperative to dismantle barriers and actively uplift women.
Despite women surpassing their male counterparts in qualifications both nationally and globally, the persistent phenomenon of the 'broken rung' in the corporate ladder remains a stark reality. While companies typically achieve gender balance at entry levels, women consistently face obstacles in advancing to middle management and beyond. Understanding the root causes behind this disparity is paramount to disrupting entrenched patterns and fostering true gender equity.
By providing a roadmap for both individuals and organisations so they can understand and address gender imbalance at the executive level, our programmes achieve measurable outcomes.
How we do it?
We engage directly with CEOs, ExCo sponsors, and line managers of the women participating in our programmes because we recognise that women don't operate in isolation; often, it's the entire ecosystem surrounding them that requires transformation. By collaborating with key stakeholders at all levels, we ensure a comprehensive approach that addresses systemic challenges and fosters an environment conducive to women's advancement.
There are some notable tenets to our beliefs:
Understanding how women learn
Understanding how women learn and what drives their behaviours is essential to achieving sustainable change. We have honed a robust approach that leverages role models and proven frameworks such as the Kolb Learning Cycle to guide women through highly challenging situations where quality or actionable feedback is often lacking.
Embedded coaching
We focus on the whole woman. This means that we provide 1:1 executive coaching throughout the programme and have found that this is key to the unrivalled outcomes.
Creating unparalleled levels of trust
One of the fundamentals that allows us to affect such systemic and personal change is creating absolute trust. Women must take a leap of faith not only in us, but also in their fellow programme participants. Our unique onboarding process fosters this trust, allowing women to shed inhibitions and fully engage, fostering deeper connections and transformative impact.
Reigniting their personal agency
In large systems, it's easy to feel powerless. We empower women to realise they hold the reins - to act, to lead. This sense of agency fuels our outcomes, sparking an unstoppable chain reaction as our alumni pay it forward, catalysing change within their organisations and beyond.
What we do
What sets The Pipeline apart is our commitment to measurable impact. Our highly immersive programmes go beyond theoretical concepts, emphasising practical application and continuous improvement.
We work with business leaders to drive data-led actions that increase the number of women from middle management through to the Executive Committee. Our team also works closely with individuals, helping them confront their own roadblocks to career progression.Lorna Fitzsimons
At The Pipeline, we cause organisations to stop and reflect. We have the research, experience and record of delivery to help individual leaders and their organisations to build the type of high-performing teams that move mountains.Margaret McDonagh
