Are you a lion or a kitten?

I led my first training since coming to IFES on women's leadership and advocacy for our women's network in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It was exhausting but great to do something concrete that I think was also useful for the women.

The biggest barrier, besides the usual anxiety about whether or not a training will go well, was the wee fact that I do not speak French. When I made this announcement in the first minute of the training, there was a collective sigh and minor protests that did nothing to allay my anxiety.

Nonetheless we powered through. We started with some basics on gender equality and women's empowerment and it was clear many of the women were quite knowledgeable. When we rolled our sleeves up and got into the nitty gritty of women's empowerment, things got interesting.

My favorite moment of the training came midway through the first day when we did an exercise called, "What is your expertise?" The idea is that women tend to underestimate their strengths out of humility, but this can be counterproductive. As a woman, it is important to know what you are good at so that you can use your strengths to be better at your work. I asked the women to write down on a piece of paper one or two things that they thought were their strengths and then tape them up on the wall in front of the room. The second step was to choose someone else's expertise, read it and explain why it appealed to you. This would also help the women validate and reinforce the importance of each women's skill.

As if on cue, there were protests and many many questions about the exercise. I could see women gazing around sheepishly around the room while tentatively, furtively writing down a few words. I saw several women fold the paper and then fold it again and again until it became a tiny ball. With lots of questions and hesitation, I finally got the women to put up their strengths and choose someone else's strength to read aloud.

As they were reading the skills, I put up a picture of a kitten looking into the mirror and its reflection showed a lion. I asked them women what they thought about this picture. Again, I couldn't have cued it any better. There was an onslaught of protests. "If that kitten goes around thinking he's a lion, he's going to get EATEN!!"

We all burst out laughing, but then I reminded them that there's another way to look at it. Sure, boasting and bragging can get us into trouble. But so too can underestimating our strengths and skills. It was a great moment and meeting of the minds. I think it set me up to earn their trust for the rest of the training.