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What Chocolate Villa Does

The Chocolate Villa experience challenges executive women to do more than they ever thought possible. It encourages both personal and professional growth to inspire leaders to forge new ways to increase sustainability and profitability. Delegates achieve six specific outcomes:

Clarity of Perspective

Studies show that women tend to underestimate their abilities and men tend to overestimate theirs, and that women are often more likely to attribute their successes to “luck” or circumstantial events than to their own strengths or actions. Clarity of Perspective is one of Chocolate Villa’s foundational principles. Once a woman is able to see her strengths, capabilities and accomplishments more accurately, she is able to access and utilize her capabilities with confidence to motivate and inspire others.

Development of a Unique, Authentic Leadership Style

Leadership development today must be focused primarily on “inside-out” growth of leadership capabilities. Academic approaches to leadership and management are still critical to developing fundamental leadership behaviors and strategies for motivating and managing people; however, the complexities of business, technology, innovation and ethics in today’s world require leadership skills grounded in personal integrity, vision, confidence and execution. Chocolate Villa builds on each delegate’s strengths, goals and personal characteristics to help her define her own authentic leadership style.

The EQ Toolkit

The concepts of emotional intelligence, social intelligence and business intelligence teach us to use the “wisdom of emotion” for self-management, interpersonal effectiveness, and critical decision-making. Research demonstrates repeatedly that EQ-savvy leaders have greater impact and sustainability than leaders who lack emotional and social intelligence. Chocolate Villa curriculum is infused with simple, foundational strategies for building strong EQ leaders.

Space, Time and Community With Other Successful Women

Executive women are often so busy juggling the demands of their work, family and community that they rarely take time to examine where they are in their own leadership development. Chocolate Villa provides a structure of space, time, and community with other professionals who understand the leadership challenges unique to women. Carving out time for deeper insight and awareness is key to mapping out the next steps in their leadership journey. The Chocolate Villa experience attempts to provide this community for women; with feedback from others on a similar leadership path, delegates agree that the setting has a profound effect on their ability to experience breakthrough thinking.

Action Plan For Goals, Strategies And Supports

Chocolate Villa is tailored for women who are already successful in their careers, who are looking for the motivation and tools needed to step up to the next level of their development. The curriculum includes peer teaching; each delegate is asked to bring her best leadership tool and teach it to the group, thereby sharing the wisdom of experience from a diversity of backgrounds. Delegates claim that this is one of their most valuable takeaways from Chocolate Villa.

Ongoing Network, Support and Coaching

Peer group coaching groups are established at the Chocolate Villa, and delegates are expected to continue coaching each other for a year following their Chocolate Villa experience. The curriculum provides training in coaching skills, with models and exercises to help delegates improve both in concept and in practice. The peer coaching groups have clear benefit to the delegates back in their work environments; they experience ongoing support at no additional cost to their organizations, and their improved coaching skills are valuable for development of their own teams and direct reports. Because there are only six to ten delegates per Villa, women leaders build a strong, collaborative network and make critical discoveries to launch them to their next level of success.

“I did not expect to come away with a quiet confidence in my leadership style that remains unshaken even back in the chaos of the real world. It was not about learning a new way of speaking, or of managing people, or figuring out my best learning style—what I got out of the Chocolate Villa was a connection with my own personal authentic leadership style. This is not something that can be deliberately taught or trained, but instead arose from the exploration of who I am, where I have been, what I want to achieve, real reflection time, and challenges, feedback and support from a very diverse group of people.”