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Lean In Circles provide a space for women to learn valuable leadership skills and benefit from the power of peer mentorship. Circles are tailored for women but are beneficial to anyone who wants to learn and grow with others. We provide everything you need to run a successful Circle program – all at no cost to your company.
Year over year, our Women in the Workplace research shows that women are just as ambitious as men – and young women and women of color are particularly ambitious. However, women don’t always receive the same level of career development and sponsorship that men do. Lean In Circles can help your company counteract this. Circle members meet on a regular basis to learn new skills, share career advice, and support each other.
Members consistently tell us their Circle has helped them reach their career goals. Women in Circles are more likely to:
97% of women in Circles report learning or strengthening their skills.
97% credit their Circle with a positive outcome, like feeling greater belief in their own abilities and being empowered to take risks
98% of women in company Circles have experienced a positive change–for example, they have a stronger network at work, believe their company is more invested in their success, or plan to stay at their organization for longer.
The Women at Work Collection is our free leadership program designed to pair with our Circles program so members benefit from the power of group learning and support. The Collection is tailored for early and mid-career women, but it’s relevant for all employees who want to become more effective and inclusive leaders.
Explore the collection
The Women at Work Collection encapsulates everything we’ve learned about women’s leadership over the past decade. The curriculum features 18 video lessons on topics ranging from how to get more recognition at work to how to become a transformational leader.
Join members of the Lean In team for a free webinar to learn how you can use Circles to support the women in your company. Plus, you’ll walk away with everything you need to start a successful Circles program – and the inspiration to get started.
Register for an upcoming training
Circles typically include 8 to 12 members who meet on a regular basis to learn new skills, offer support, and actively pursue their goals. Some companies match groups together and others let employees organize their own – either works!
Circles usually meet once a month for 60 to 90 minutes, either in-person or virtually. In particular, virtual meetings provide an opportunity for employees to connect and grow their networks across different locations.
Circles are run from the ground up by employees, and their grass-roots nature enhances their impact. Research shows that small peer-led groups lead to better learning outcomes than larger groups and top-down instruction. Not only that – peer mentorship can be as effective as regular mentorship in building motivation and expertise, and these peer relationships often last longer.
The Circles start-up kit provides everything you need to launch and grow a Circles program, including email templates to get employees excited to participate, a kick-off presentation, and best practices for scaling Circles across your organization.
We make it easy for employees at any level to lead a successful Circle. We provide a step-by-step guide to getting started and two years’ worth of skill-building videos with discussion guides to facilitate conversation and learning.
We believe all companies, regardless of size or budget, should have the tools they need to advance women and create an equal and inclusive workplace, so we offer all of our resources and programming for free.
Thousands of companies of all sizes use our programs to support and advance women.
“My Circle is a space where I can be proud of my accomplishments without coming across as bragging, [and] I can also talk about my kids, all at the same time. You have a unique space that doesn’t exist anywhere else . . . You can be fully you.”
We make it easy to get started.
