Thoughtworks’ SEA (Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam) has seen huge growth in recent years. But despite this expansion, the region has less women or gender diverse people (W/GD) in leadership roles than we would like—particularly in professional services and technical roles. To tackle this head on, in 2022 we launched ‘SEA Women in Leadership Development – affectionately known as WiLD’.
WiLD programs have been running at Thoughtworks for many years, in many guises. For SEA’s first iteration of WiLD, we ran two-day training sessions in Thailand and Singapore, with over 40 attendees invited from each country (a format suggested by WiLD alum Jessie Jie Xia, formerly Singapore’s Managing Director, now Thoughtworks’ CIO. These in-person sessions were held both in our offices and also at off-site locations to create a relaxed, friendly atmosphere.
To help cross-pollinate ideas, training facilitators from Singapore ran the sessions in Thailand, and vice-versa for WiLD Singapore. This in-person, multi-national approach resulted in the training becoming more than just a weekend exercise. Thanks to sharing sessions that felt deep and intimate, the experience became the foundation for a long-lasting community, and solidified with follow-up sessions after the initial training. Participants came away recognizing that there are others on the same journey. They had connected with colleagues to look up to and learn from, and also created a community to lean on for support.
WiLD started out as intensive training to build more women and gender diverse leaders. But based on learnings from these sessions, our future focus will be more on community building, rather than a content-heavy training program. We recognize that while imparting skills and knowledge is important in the mission to help Thoughtworkers become confident leaders, the social networks and relationships they forge are fundamental.
Thanks to this blossoming community of support, we look forward to seeing more future W/GD leaders flourish in their careers.