Proud. Elated. Thrilled. Excited. Grateful. Overwhelmed.
These are just some of the words that the Becoming team have been using over the last few days. Last week our Becoming Journey® for the Building Societies Association won an Award of Merit in the Leadership and Management category at the 2026 Learning Excellence Awards.
And as the dust has settled, there’s a few thoughts that we wanted to share.
Taking a risk
We’re very conscious of the risks involved in choosing The Becoming Journey®. They are present in many different ways.
Organisational risk
Firstly, there’s the risk that the Building Societies Association (BSA) took in offering our women’s leadership programme to their member organisations. We were very open about the fact that we don’t offer a “typical” development programme. We don’t teach people how to build their personal brand, or give them five steps to manage difficult conversations. We’ve never written scenarios for people to role play. And we certainly don’t tell people what ‘good leaders’ do!
So, when they chose us, the BSA knew they were choosing something different. A programme that focuses on helping women to notice where they have been knocked off the track of who and how they want to be as a leader in their organisation. And that equips them with the psychological flexibility to step back in and lead in line with their own values.
Individual risk
And secondly there’s the risk that the women take in being open to join a cohort. As one alumni said:
“It wasn’t always comfortable. It pushed me to look at things differently, to challenge my assumptions and question beliefs that were deeply entrenched.”
Every woman who joins us has a choice about how they approach our work, and what they choose to share in the room (vs what they might do privately). But still, there’s a degree of vulnerability required that can sometimes feel a little risky and uncomfortable.
Reaping the rewards
And yet, with risk comes the potential for reward. And there’s certainly rewards within The Becoming Journey®.
Organisational reward
The BSA is a proud signatory to the Women in Finance Charter 2017, and is committed to supporting the progression of women into senior roles in the financial services sector. One very tangible benefit is that, of the 24 women that we have worked with so far, two women have moved into CEO positions, and several others into Board or senior leadership roles.
But intangibly, our alumni often comment on the benefit of the “networking opportunities and collaboration with like-minded individuals”. This network shares knowledge, offers support and challenge across the industry. The BSA is planning to build from this and create structure around the network to allow it to thrive.
And of course, beyond the BSA, each individual building society or credit union that has sent a woman on the programme has benefited too. Those women have gone back and had an impact in their roles, with their teams, and for their business.
Individual reward
The rewards for the individual women who join our programme are many and varied. They tell us things like:
“The Becoming Journey has truly been the most impactful development programme I’ve ever been on – it really has been game changing for me.”
“The experience has changed me. It has given me new perspectives, deeper insights and pushed me to think and behave differently. I have left the Journey with so much more than I started with but in reality, I had that knowledge, those skills and the strength all of the time; I just hadn’t realised it.”
But perhaps the most powerful rewards are the ones that we find out much later. The woman who used her newfound perspective to design and build her own stretching and exciting new leadership role. The woman who applied our learning to her personal life and left a difficult relationship. The woman who made the brave decision to leave corporate life and pursue her true passions.
Cause for celebration
So, to those who took a risk, and hopefully saw the reward, we say a heartfelt thank you. As small business owners, we’re also taking a risk by sticking to our guns and delivering this (somewhat non-traditional) leadership programme. But the rewards for us are truly fantastic. We love the work that we do. We are grateful that we get to work with remarkable women, who go out and spread ripples in their worlds.
And we’re super thrilled to be recognised for it too!
