17 Dec Thoughts From My Desk…
COVID hit Australia with drastic repercussions. Our country, along with the rest of the world was turned upside down. Social distancing and restrictions. Job insecurity. Struggling businesses. Lonely remote workers. Stranded friends and families. Fear! It was obvious to everyone that life had to change.
Tallest Poppies took the new challenge head on, knowing that through adversity and agility there can be great innovation.
Our core business had been face-to-face mentoring and networking practices. We urgently needed to adapt! With this knowledge, Tallest Poppies quickly went to Zoom. We piloted a virtual series Communication in the Digital World in response to COVID, with an amazing peer group of Australia’s emerging female leaders.
This series, Communication in the Digital World, addressed effective use of communication tools, the psychology behind digital communication, how to respond to variants of digital communication, understanding your own digital communication style and how to have difficult conversations in the new world.
‘Foot to the communication pedal’, Poppies sought to explore how peer groups and mentoring could operate in this new rapidly developing digital world. Innovation at its best! Suddenly, Tallest Poppies was now national, with our first cross-state mentoring and peer group sessions. How exciting! A new chapter in the evolution of our growth.
We invited a cohort of clever, diverse professional women from across Australia. These women all came from a mix of varying industries, including management consulting, finance, non-for-profit, start-ups and law. The module consisted of 6 x 1.5 hour sessions as well as two individual coinciding 1-on-1 mentoring sessions.
Through engagement with the participants during the sessions, as well as during a process of feedback analysis throughout the series, we gained a strong insight into how the Poppies felt, what they valued and how they developed through the series.
We strategically tracked, monitored and mapped each members’ personal, professional and physical journey. In each session we worked through current individual successes and anxieties, to understand, support and mentor each member through the unique macro environment.
What we learnt…is what we knew… that the power of effective communication and peer support can make such a positive difference in this difficult time. And this knowledge was overwhelmingly reinforced. There is never a more important time to support women. Our members appreciated the continual and consistent connection with a women’s professional network. We observed that COVID brought with it great job insecurity, personal stresses, and fear. But more importantly, these issues didn’t necessarily follow macro trends perfectly. Whilst the climate of the pandemic brought on uncertainty, anxiety, but also opportunity, the day-to-day and week-to-week experiences of each of our members was diverse. The pandemic affected each individual differently, with different concerns, different wins, and at different times.
Regardless, as a group we were better together. Women advancing women!
A Poppy in the home office
“Tallest Poppies was so valuable to connect with other women in this crazy pandemic time. I felt I grew as a person from the knowledge and the support.”
If you would like to know more about Tallest Poppies and the upcoming Peer Group Round Table Series,
go to https://www.tallestpoppies.com.au/contact/ or email us at info@tallestpoppies.com.au
No Comments