A management position becomes vacant, but there is no woman on the internal shortlist. Not because there are no suitable female candidates, but because the succession gets decided in rooms they are not in.
The pipeline doesn't break at the top. It breaks in the middle.
At the lower levels, the proportion of women has long been solid in most organizations. Further up, it is not. The bottlenecks: from team lead to department head and then to the executive level.
Female Excellence is made for organizations that:
want to fill leadership positions internally instead of searching for every role externally
have succession planning that lacks women at the upper levels
need initiatives that prove — in numbers — that they're taking action
Your 2031 management board is sitting in your divisional management today.
You know which talents you have in-house and develop them in a structured way.
Results from the first cohort at AOK Baden-Württemberg
AOK Baden-Württemberg, one of Germany's largest health insurers covering 4.5 million people, launched Female Excellence in 2025 with a first cohort and extended it in 2026 with two further cohorts of 30 participants. Measurement follows the Kirkpatrick model: a baseline assessment, a check after each module, a final assessment, and a follow-up six months later.
HOW WE WORK
How it works
Baseline Assessment
Before we train, we measure. A survey of 30 women from your pool, a workshop with your HR business partners, five in-depth interviews with managers. You will receive a report that shows where your organisation stands — and whether Female Excellence is the right lever.
Program with up to 30 female participants
Measurement and Management Report
Follow-up survey of the cohort, five in-depth interviews, management report with behavioral data, network effects, and career movements including three concrete recommendations for your organization. Ready to present to your board and executive committee and in internal reporting.
Why this program is different
I work where
mindset coaching ends.
All-rounder with a hands-on mentality
I combine an understanding of power with precision.
What that means in practice: I prepare women for specific conversations. Not for negotiation techniques in general, but for the meeting on Tuesday, with the people who will be sitting in that room.
We go through which objections will arise and what the response to them is. We formulate the sentences until they are second nature. And we work on what the body does when things get tense. A good argument is useless if your voice goes up at the end of the sentence.
After each session, there is a written summary of what was discussed and what needs to be done by when. Months later, I'm still following up — and I don't let go.
What might still be on your mind
FAQ
What is Female Excellence?
Female Excellence is a six-month development program for women in leadership and specialist roles, developed and led by Marta Schafstall in Zurich. Female Excellence combines three two-day in-person modules, online mentoring with internal executives, curated peer groups, and individual coaching sessions — with impact measurement before, after, and six months after completion.
Who is Female Excellence intended for?
Female Excellence is aimed at women in team lead, specialist, or department head roles who would be eligible for the next level up but have not yet taken active steps. On the corporate side, Female Excellence is suitable for organizations where the proportion of women in the overall workforce is significantly higher than at upper management levels — typically hierarchically structured companies with a strong culture of duty and reliability.
Where does Female Excellence come in?
Female Excellence works on the two transition points where the pipeline breaks in most organizations: from team management to division management, and from division management to the executive board. In doing so, Marta Schafstall works with both sides — with the women and with the executives who decide on their succession.
How is Female Excellence structured?
Female Excellence runs in three phases. Phase 0 is the baseline assessment: a survey among 30 talents, a workshop with HR business partners, five in-depth interviews with executives, and a report. Phase 1 is the six-month program with up to 30 participants. Phase 2 is the proof of impact: six months after completion, a follow-up survey and a management report with three concrete recommendations for the organization will follow.
What do the female participants learn in the three in-person modules of Female Excellence?
Female Excellence consists of three in-person modules of two days each. Module 1 — Foundation and Self-Leadership: Participants learn to regulate their nervous system under pressure and identify the strengths on which their leadership is built. Module 2 — Visibility and Impact: Participants practice communication, presence, and storytelling, learn to build strong alliances, and practice handling power dynamics and conflicts using real-life examples from their day-to-day work. Module 3 — Vision and Negotiation: Each participant formulates her vision for her own business unit and prepares for a real, upcoming negotiation with a clear roadmap. In addition, there are three online group mentoring sessions of two hours each with top internal executives, curated peer groups of four to six women, two individual coaching sessions of 60 minutes per person, and monthly challenges to transfer the learning into daily life.
What results has Female Excellence achieved?
In the first cohort at AOK Baden-Württemberg, strategic visibility and self-marketing increased by 33%, and the number of female participants who cited a lack of self-confidence as an obstacle to applying fell from 12 to 0. Six months after the end of the program, 18 out of 20 participants were still actively working on their visibility and had built an average of 4.7 new relevant contacts. AOK Baden-Württemberg has extended Female Excellence into 2026 with two further cohorts of 30 participants each.
How is the impact of Female Excellence measured?
Female Excellence measures according to the Kirkpatrick model: baseline measurement, check after each module, final measurement, and follow-up after six months. The management report contains behavioral data, network effects, and career movements, and is suitable for the board of directors, the executive board, and internal reporting.
What distinguishes Female Excellence from traditional women's leadership programs?
Three things set Female Excellence apart: First, the program works both ways — a sponsorship workshop with the organization's leaders is an integral part, because visibility is not a one-way street. Second, progress is measured six months after the program ends, which is something hardly any other provider does. Third, Marta Schafstall does not train generic techniques, but rather concrete, upcoming situations — the conversation on Tuesday, with the actual people who will be in the room.
What does the organization need to bring?
Female Excellence requires a sponsor at the executive board or division level, two to three internal managers as mentors, and nominated female participants. It also demands honesty, both externally and internally: if women are ready but no positions are opened, it creates frustration instead of leadership — which is why the management report contains recommendations for the organization, not just for the participants.
What if the applications don't materialize?
Then the report will tell you what the reason was, and the answer is uncomfortable for one of us. Either women aren't applying, in which case the program has missed its goal. Or they are applying and not getting through, in which case it is due to your selection process. Both are in the report.
Is there a lighter way to start?
Two. An interactive presentation of one to two hours for your leadership team or talent pool. Or the assessment as an independent Phase 0 with a report before you decide on the entire program.
Where does Female Excellence take place?
At your premises or at an external location in the DACH region. My team and I will travel to you. The online mentoring sessions and peer groups happen online, from anywhere.
The next step
Which role will you fill internally — once you can?
30 minutes. Together, we'll work out which path makes sense for your organization.
No strings attached