Empowering Women’s Careers at Havas through Femmes Forward

The full story

Intro

Founded in 1835, Havas Group is one of the world’s largest communications companies, with over 23,000 employees across more than 100 countries, united by a single mission: to make a meaningful difference to brands, businesses, and people.

At the heart of this mission is a deep commitment to the employee experience. Havas fosters a culture rooted in Belonging, Learning, Wellbeing, Career, and Impact, core pillars that shape how the company supports its people. Through a wide range of global and local programmes, Havas empowers employees to bring their authentic selves to work, ensures diverse perspectives are embraced, and provides equal opportunities for career growth.

One standout example of this commitment is the Femmes Forward programme, which directly supports the Career pillar.

In 2018, internal representation data revealed a clear gender gap in roles at the senior manager/director level, with women being promoted at a slower rate compared to men. In response, Havas launched Femmes Forward, a tailor-made development programme designed to accelerate the careers of women at this level across the organisation. Powered by the expert facilitation and personality insights of Lumina Learning, the initiative empowers women across the organisation to take ownership of their career paths and step confidently into leadership roles.

Business Need

Havas had made strides in increasing the number of women on their Executive and Operating committees, but it was determined that women at the senior manager/director level were not advancing to their next role at the same pace as men. To find out why, they conducted interviews with women within their organisation and found there were several potential reasons for this.

• Confidence gap: Many women underestimated their abilities and felt less confident than men, even with comparable or superior performance.

• Ambition gap: Many women didn’t leave their current positions due to comfort or fear that balancing a new role and other life responsibilities would be difficult.

• Life stages: Whether starting partnerships or families, many women found themselves reconsidering career goals.

• Culture: In some cultures, men were considered more often for roles than women due to bias.

With this fresh perspective, Havas made a commitment to change the trend. Spearheaded by Patricia Clarke, Global Chief People Experience Officer, her team launched Femmes Forward as a pilot programme, designed to provide women with the tools, inspirations, and support networks needed to develop their careers within Havas. The programme was designed for senior manager and director-level women, typically with 9-12 years of professional experience and positioned for growth within the company. It was initially piloted in London and New York City, allowing Havas to test the format and gather feedback.

Lumina Spark was chosen as a core tool to help address these challenges, offering an accurate and inclusive way to identify and then develop personal leadership qualities. The programme was focused on building deeper self-awareness and helping participants understand how to act on the full range of strengths within their personal style. Havas partnered with Lumina Learning USA to build a programme that combined self-awareness, leadership skills, and practical strategies for success.

The Solution

Femmes Forward takes a holistic approach to professional development. The programme includes leadership discussions, workshops, and personal development sessions, all underpinned by Lumina Spark. Each participant receives their own Lumina Spark Portrait, enabling exploration and understanding of their unique strengths, their hidden potential, and what traits or characteristics they might overplay during challenges. Lumina Spark’s integration throughout the programme was crucial in providing a shared language and neutral lens for viewing behaviour – stripping away stereotypes and bias and giving participants a chance to reclaim their self-awareness in a strategic and positive manner. This self-awareness is a key driver in helping women grow their leadership skills. Havas and Lumina Learning designed workshops with various modules to cover all aspects of leadership, including resilience, managing change, difficult conversations, mindfulness, and other practical strategies and skillsets for women to succeed.

Workshops

The programme is delivered across three days, with specific modules addressing various leadership themes and personal growth.
The Femmes Forward workshops are delivered by Lumina Learning facilitators from the region, bringing their expertise to the table and ensuring all groups receive the same level of quality, regardless of location. Their local knowledge means they can embody the culture and can tailor the workshops as needed to suit cultural or regional differences.

1

Day One

Identifying Strengths

The start of the programme is all about Lumina Spark, setting the tone for the entire Femmes Forward programme by bringing a powerful foundation of self-awareness on day one. By highlighting participants’ strengths, often ones they hadn’t recognised, Lumina Spark fuels their confidence from the outset.
 
Lumina Spark has been introduced in both virtual and in-person formats. The virtual format enabled the programme to continue during COVID while in-person allows a full day of on-site immersion and hands-on exercises.

2

Day One

Identifying Strengths - Keeping the Momentum

Spark Coach and Journey to Composure are unlocked digitally following this session, allowing participants to continue their emotional intelligence journey. The Splash app, utilised throughout the programme, helped to create immediate connections and build rapport within the group. Lumina Spark’s integration into each module provided the language and structure to articulate newly learned knowledge, reinforcing a common foundation as participants built their awareness and embraced their strengths.

3

Day Two

Emotional Intelligence

Lumina Spark brings depth to the Emotional Intelligence module, supporting participants’ emotional regulation and awareness, and highlighting the link between their emotions and leadership behaviour. In ‘How Values Drive Us’, participants explore how their values influence their actions and leadership style, using Lumina Spark to gain fresh perspectives on these core principles. Lumina Spark’s framework makes it easier to apply these concepts, helping participants embed emotional intelligence into their leadership approach.

4

Day Two

How Values Drive Us - Values and Fears

Participants work through a values assessment worksheet to reflect on their core values and how they influence their decisions. They also explore how their values align with their Lumina Spark Portrait, often revealing subconscious drivers of behaviour. The session digs into the link between values and fears, helping participants understand how their strongest values can shape their motivations—as well as the fears and avoidances that might hold them back. Through discussion, participants gain a deeper awareness of how values impact leadership and decision-making.

5

Day Two

Inner Critic

In this session, participants confront their inner critic, exploring how it affects confidence, and they identify strategies to overcome self-doubt, a common barrier to women’s leadership progression. They revisit the Journey to Composure, a framework introduced earlier in the programme, which helps them recognise and manage stress behaviours and personal triggers. By revisiting this framework on days two and three, participants deepen their understanding of how to align emotional intelligence with stress management in their leadership development. Through an activity, they will gain a clearer understanding of their inner critic, its origin, what it says, and why it appears. They will then learn practical actions to take when the inner critic emerges and explore the Ellis Model to develop tools for reducing its impact on their confidence and leadership potential.

6

Day Two

Growth Mindset

A key to shifting leadership perspectives is by guiding participants through the transition from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. They explore the benefits of adopting a growth mindset, identify potential triggers that can limit it, and learn how to cultivate it within their teams. Through interactive activities, participants will gain practical tools to integrate these principles into their leadership style, helping with long-term growth and development in the workplace.

7

Day Two

Leading Teams and Motivation

This section helps participants distinguish between leading and managing, emphasising the difference between “doing” versus “being”. It provides a fresh perspective on coaching and empowering teams, showing when to adopt different leadership approaches. Through interactive activities, participants explore the leadership continuum, learning when to shift between roles as a leader. They also discover effective ways to motivate their teams and learn how to identify what drives each individual. By the end of the session, participants have practical strategies for coaching, empowering, and motivating their teams to succeed in various workplace scenarios.

8

Day Two

Courageous Conversations and Feedback

This module prepares participants to tackle difficult communication scenarios by identifying their natural conflict behaviours. Through group discussions, participants explore the challenges they face in such conversations and the factors that make them difficult. The Lumina Learning facilitator introduces the Conflict Continuum and offers practical strategies for assertive communication and effectively navigating conversations. By reflecting on their own conflict behaviours and practicing new techniques, participants leave with actionable tools and a template to handle difficult conversations confidently and successfully in the future.

9

Day Two

Speed Read

Through learning how to Speed Read the Four Archetypes, participants can read team dynamics quickly and effectively. They learn how to build rapport across different personal styles, helping them to effectively lead diverse teams by understanding and adapting to behavioural differences. A leader-team roleplay activity challenges them to adapt their approach, practicing how to motivate, communicate, and connect effectively with a diverse range of personal styles.

10

Day Three

Learning through Change and Resilience

Participants explore the three stages of change according to the Bridges Transition Model (Endings, Neutral Zone, and New Beginnings) and how different responses to change can be managed. By understanding these stages and how they manifest, participants leave with tools to lead their teams through change more confidently. A Lumina Learning facilitator guides an interactive floor exercise, encouraging participants to step into and articulate their experiences from each stage of change. They are prompted to reflect on key questions, such as: “What does this stage feel like?”, “What behaviours are typically displayed at this stage?”, “How can they support and lead someone who is stuck in this stage towards progress?”

11

Day Three

Debrief Session

Following the exercise, participants engage in a debrief session where they share key observations and takeaways from the roleplays. The facilitator then leads a reflection on how participants will apply these lessons in their workplaces, giving them practical ways to lead teams through change with confidence.

12

Day Three

Leadership Stand

During the Leadership Stand, all participants share what kind of leader they want to be. They identify it first and then develop their stand more thoroughly.

13

Day Three

Commitment Circle

During the final moments of the programme, each participant steps forward to declare their commitment to themselves and their career vision in front of the group. This ceremony builds a sense of accountability and connection among participants. Femmes Forward mirrors are then presented to participants as a symbol of reflection and a reminder of the progress they’ve made in the programme.

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Aside from workshops, the programme includes opportunities for connection and community building. Panels and fireside chats with senior women leaders provide participants with the opportunity to hear their candid career journeys and the challenges and lessons learned along the way. Femmes Forward fosters a strong network of women who continue to support each other, connect, and share experiences long after the programme ends.

Throughout the programme, participants consistently reference their Lumina Spark Portraits and the Spark framework to learn and shape their leadership ideals. This shared “Spark language” creates a common ground for participants to communicate and connect, even in diverse groups.

The success of Femmes Forward has led to the creation of two spin-off programmes to support the progression of other women audiences. FF Academy targets women early in their careers through a virtual learning series on confidence, strengthening their voice, stress management, and leadership inspiration. FF FRIDA focuses on creative-director-level women as part of Havas’ commitment to reach gender parity in creative leadership roles. The programme offers leadership insights, inspiration from women creative leaders, advancement planning, and the opportunity to attend the prestigious Cannes Lions Festival. These initiatives further demonstrate Havas’ commitment to developing a diverse pipeline of women leaders across all career stages.

The programme was recognised in the 2024 ABP Awards and Havas was Highly Commended in Excellence in Learning and Development for Excellence in Facilitating Inclusion.

Results

Within just 6 to 24 months of completing the programme, 65% of participants are promoted, and 74% remain with Havas for at least two years—a retention rate that significantly outpaces industry norms. These outcomes underscore the programme’s effectiveness in developing future leaders and retaining top talent in a competitive industry.

Since its inception, Femmes Forward has impacted over 500 women across 43 countries, creating a truly global network of emerging women leaders. Feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive, with many citing the programme as a pivotal moment in their professional journeys. Participants consistently report increased confidence in their leadership abilities, enhanced skills in navigating complex conversations, and a stronger sense of connection with peers across the organisation.

Havas’ collaboration with Lumina Learning has become a cornerstone of its talent development strategy. By continuing to invest in Femmes Forward, Havas is not only advancing gender equity, it’s cultivating a more resilient, inclusive leadership culture for the future. The partnership with Lumina Learning remains instrumental, equipping women with the self-awareness, tools, and support they need to unlock their full leadership potential and thrive in today’s dynamic workplace.