My name is Ashleigh Streeter-Jones, and amongst other identities, I’m an activist, advocate, writer, speaker and a proud intersectional feminist.
My personal brand helped me engage in successful activism (action to bring about change), and advocacy (public support for a particular cause) because it’s allowed me to be seen as credible and trusted, someone who knows their sh*t, someone who people want to follow.
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It’s not only a great professional networking tool but it keeps you in the loop on possible job opportunities, connects you with like-minded students and professionals, is jam-packed full of interesting articles and insights into the real world of work - PLUS it gives you an opportunity to start building your own brand.
Jane Fleming, Digital Marketing Communications Manager at LinkedIn, says if you are seeking employment, then you should have a LinkedIn profile page.
This is the foundation for your professional and personal branding, and will boost your chances of developing your professional network, and job opportunities.
“Your profile picture is your calling card on LinkedIn.
It’s how people are introduced to you and (visual beings that we are) it governs their impressions from the start,” advises Fleming.
So make sure the picture is recent and looks like you. Make sure your face takes up around 60% of it (long-distance shots don’t stand out). Wear what you would like to wear to work. And smile with your eyes!”
Jane recommends using your LinkedIn summary section to tell your story.
“The first thing to say about your LinkedIn summary is – make sure you have one! It’s amazing how many people still leave this field blank when creating their LinkedIn profile.
Your summary is your chance to tell your own story – so don’t just use it to list your skills or the job titles you’ve had,” she says.
“Try to bring to life why those skills matter – and the difference they can make to the people you work with. Don’t be afraid to invest some time, try a few drafts, and run your summary past people you know. This is your most personal piece of content marketing – so it’s worth the effort.”
Jane also cautions against relying on buzzwords, such as 'specialised’, ‘leadership’, ‘focused’, ‘strategic’, ‘experienced’, ‘passionate’, ‘expert’, ‘creative’, ‘innovative’ and ‘certified’, because they are used so often that they become, essentially, meaningless and business jargon that won’t do you any favours or make you stand out in a candidate pool.
“I’m not saying you can’t describe yourself as these things – or that they don’t matter. However, just using these words won’t convince people that you have these qualities. You need to demonstrate them as well – both in the way you describe yourself, and in the way you use LinkedIn profile features to show what you’re about,” she says.
Experienced Resume and LinkedIn Profile Writer Victoria Gordon says key word optimisation is crucial for an effective LinkedIn profile.
“It’s all about the key word optimisation!
The value you get from LinkedIn is fuelled entirely by the quality of the content you put into each section of your profile.
I often hear people say they don’t see the point of LinkedIn and then you look at their profiles and realise why they’re not getting any value from the application.
Like all social media platforms, you get out what you put in.
You can’t expect opportunity to come knocking when you haven’t invested the time in building an effective, key word optimised profile,” she says.
Jane agrees, and says interacting on LinkedIn is a good way of connecting with people and keeping your profile active while gaining insights and learning from the input of others.
Jane suggests following relevant influencers for your industry and your interests.
“Following relevant influencers on LinkedIn helps to put a range of interesting content in your feed, which you can then share with others when you think it adds value. It also helps to give context to your LinkedIn profile, demonstrating your passion for what you do,” she says.
“The more you share and comment on content, the more you establish your expertise and thought-leadership credentials on LinkedIn.”
Eugenie Zhan is an inspiring creative, dividing her time between her full-time role as an Optometrist and her work as a freelance Fashion Illustrator. This week we chat with Eugenie to glimpse into her creative and diverse career pathway that encompasses both her profession and passion.
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While none of us can predict the future - especially when the planet is in the grip of a global pandemic - what we do know for certain, is that skills like teamwork, problem solving and creativity are exactly what we’re going to need to get us out of the ongoing challenges facing business, society - and humanity.
And of those skills, according to the World Economic Forum, creativity is right up there - listed as the third-most-important skill for employees in 2020, just behind complex problem-solving and critical thinking.
Recent research by LinkedIn also lists creativity as the top skill companies need, and are increasingly hiring for in the new labour market.
Why? Because companies need to generate innovation to develop new products and services, improve processes and take advantage of opportunities in the market. And to do that they need creative thinkers and idea creators to dream up out of the box solutions.
But how do you develop creativity as a skill? Is it something you are born with? Or can you learn it?
We asked creative and cultural leadership expert Mykel Dixon, who knows better than anyone how thinking and acting outside the box can lead to amazing career opportunities.
Dixon is an award-winning speaker, event curator, musician and author. Self-described as a “musician by trade, gypsy by nature, fierce non-conformist and prolific anti-perfectionist”, he spends much of his working life showing Fortune 500 and ASX 200 listed companies how to unlock breakthrough creativity and equip teams with the skills needed to solve complex 21st century business challenges.
Dixon says in the current economic climate, creativity isn’t just a key driver to future-proof careers. Instead, it’s the critical foundation of a meaningful, successful and fulfilling life.
“Creativity is vital for anyone beginning or thinking about their career. Your ability to think outside the box, to find and form new value, to reinvent yourself in order to stay relevant - these are the defining factors for your success. No matter what industry, department or level you work at, creativity is the missing link hidden in plain sight. And now is the time to double down on your unique brand of innovative thinking,” he says.
“Creativity is a tangible skill. It underpins absolutely everything we do. From how we imagine possible futures, how we get to a meeting on time when our train is delayed, how we adjust and adapt in conversation with a client, or even choose what outfit to wear to a pitch.”
“Think about it. If you’re a potential employer who would you rather hire? Someone who never takes a risk, never tries anything new, never thinks about ways to change or improve their circumstances. Or someone who puts their personality into their work, who is always testing and tweaking new ways of doing things, who is courageous enough to set fire to what was in order to start building what could be.”
Dixon says he was inspired to write his latest book, Everyday Creative: A Dangerous Guide To Making Magic At Work , after working with hundreds of talented, insightful and creative people who believed wholeheartedly that they were not.
“Whether it’s a multinational monolith or a scrappy startup, a government department or a small regional business, almost everyone I meet has a dysfunctional relationship with creativity,” he says.
“They love it, value it and want more of it, but have a deeply ingrained story that creativity is for artists, that it’s fluffy and esoteric and most of all, that they weren’t born with any of it. This of course is not true. And given the state of the world, we need as many people as possible accessing and acting on their natural creative capability.”
So how can you start flexing your creative muscle today? Scroll to the end of this article for Dixon’s TOP TIPS!
With the current global disruption across economies, industry sectors and education, it can be hard for most of us to think beyond the daily basics of simply functioning - let alone planning next career steps, progressing innovation or predicting just where the markets might land when the world jumpstarts into ‘normalcy’ again (whatever that looks like and whenever that might be).
But against the backdrop of the economic, education and health sector challenges playing out across the planet right now, an unexpected upside to the imposed COVID-19 regulatory, economic hibernation strategies and societal isolation constraints just might be the welcome rebirth of CREATIVITY as a skill.
Necessity is indeed the mother of invention, and creative thinkers across the globe are coming up with incredible and innovative ways to reimagine the way we can work, learn, create value and interact at lightning speed, catalysed by COVID-19 contraction measures.
To answer that question our team reached out to multi-award winning advertising director and Chief Creative Thinker Adam Ferrier to understand more about the role of creativity in these uncertain times, why creativity is a critical skill for workplaces of the future, and why creativity needs to be exercised like a muscle.
Ferrier is actually a living case in point for creative reinvention - and an inspiration to individuals and businesses who are looking to do the same when they need to most.
A registered psychologist, Ferrier obtained degrees in commerce and clinical psychology before beginning his career in forensic psychology, which saw him work in maximum security prisons and private practice, before switching his focus (very creatively!) from criminal to consumer behaviour - and joining the Saatchi & Saatchi marketing consultancy. While there, Ferrier invented a board game called The Analyst, which was translated into three languages. More recently Ferrier has Cofounded MSIX and the Space conference (a new model for collaboration curating out-of-the-box thinkers to reimagine the Australia of the future).
But most of his creative days are spent at Thinkerbell, a creative agency he Cofounded in 2017 which recently took out Adnews Agency of the Year, Mumbrella Emerging Agency of the Year as well as B&T Emerging Agency of the Year, and - according to Ferrier - “represents the coming together of scientific enquiry and brilliant creativity”. Or as he likes to call it - “measured magic”.
“Creativity is everything. The ability to connect information and ideas that hasn't been done before is the single thing that creates all the wonder, and solves all the problems in the world.
“Right now creativity will get us through COVID-19, be it at a local level when a mum decides to make a boat with her kids out of cushions, or at a global level when someone develops the vaccine by appropriating what they know and applying it slightly differently - it's all creativity,” he says.
“With the avalanche of new products, new technologies, and new ways of working, workers are going to have to become more creative in order to benefit from these changes,” the report said.
In fact, additional research by LinkedIn also found that creativity is the top skill companies will need to take businesses forward in the next horizon of Industry 5.0, because businesses seeking growth must tap creative problem-solving to enable teams to generate innovation and out-of-the-box value-creation ideas in the workplace - whether that’s finding new approaches to problems in the business, developing new products or services to fill a hole in the market, or improving existing processes.
There are multiple companies that have been harnessing creativity for a while to create new engines for growth. But it’s taken a global pandemic to create a seismic shift for the BAU status quo that would quite possibly have evolved only incrementally over the next decade without the COVID-19 jolt. The attitude of ‘If it ain’t broke, why fix it?’ no longer holds because it can’t.
According to Ferrier, companies and employees need to start thinking creatively and well and truly outside the box because it’s in situations of extreme constraint and adversity that we can be at our most creative and ingenious.
“Right now we are seeing innovations that are rising out of consumer problems driven from our changed living environment.
Old el Paso has turned its cardboard box into a fun board game for people to play together.
13cabs has pivoted to launch 13things - a courier business aimed to redeploy 40,000 drivers to deliver parcels via the app. Billy Care is providing in home monitoring solutions for older people. And nearly every gin manufacturer in town is now making hand sanitiser.
This (innovation) will continue as new circumstances allow people to express their creativity in different ways. However, what's more exciting is the creativity being shown by the world’s leading scientists as they try to save lives and work on a vaccine.”
But once the intensity of the current COVID-19 crisis subsides and life returns to some semblance of ‘normalcy’, it’s those who have harnessed creativity and put it into business practice that are best placed to get ahead.
So Ferrier encourages businesses, students, the young, the (not-so) old and everyone who’s moving through these uncertain times to have the courage to unleash their innate creativity.
“Creativity is a skill born from memory, confidence and audacity. Put things together in new ways, and if you think there is magic in what you've developed, then have the confidence to express it and see what happens.
“Give your creativity away and be generous with it. Let other people build on it, steal it, and make it their own - then creativity will thrive,” he says.
“Fill your brain with stuff, but go deep. Understand niche areas of society and culture and understand those areas better than anyone. Have a few of those things and learn them deeply. You won’t believe how much of a well of creative inspiration they will become in years to come.
“And don't be superficial (or if you're going to be then be deeply superficial, if you know what I mean!). Get your feet grounded in really understanding a few things. Then forget about it - and just let creativity join the dots.”
Thanks to Adam Ferrier for his insights, ideas - and creativity in spades!
Mykel Dixon’s Top Tips
Get your creativity on.
“Never accept the only options as the only options.
Always go a little further, stay a little longer, question a little more.
Follow and fuel what fascinates you.”
“Trust your instincts and honour your emotions.
There is a great wisdom and intelligence in your body.
Learn to access and leverage it.”
“Develop a bias for action.
Always start before you're ready.
You'll learn more about yourself in one hour of making than a year of theory.”
“Don't be stingy with your ideas or expressions. Nothing is original, we are all building on the ideas of others.
Remember that creativity thrives in generosity. Share as much as you can as often as you can and it will come back to you tenfold.”
There’s an overwhelming amount of information out there on how to study better, how to get a job, how to stand out in a job interview, how to improve your emotional intelligence, how to cultivate your leadership skills, how you can communicate more effectively, what the future world of work will look like, how you can adapt/evolve/refine/develop your employability skills … etc etc and the list goes on and on and on!
But if you’re a student and looking to take the next step in your early career pathway planning, it’s a great idea to start self-educating so you can understand more about your industry and job interest areas, and start building your employability skills early.
If you are ready to take that step, which careers sources can you trust and which information will be right for you?
The birth of the podcast industry as an on-demand media, entertainment and information source has seen a proliferation of niche world of work podcasts that can be a great way to get a ‘quick fix’ of careers information and advice from experts.
Career and Interview Coach Leah Lambart, Director of leading career coaching business Relaunch Me, says there are a few things to think about when choosing the right careers podcast:
It is relevant to your age group?
It is relevant to your location? (Often podcasts are UK or US-based so you need to take into consideration cultural differences in the approach to career development and job search).
Does it includes practical tips and advice that can be actioned straightaway?
In considering career pathway planning or changes, or looking for tips on applying for jobs or job interviews, Leah also says a good podcast will contain:
Interviews with people who have successfully completed career changers that will provide you with reassurance that others have been in your position, and not just survived but thrived!
Advice and inspiration to take the action required to facilitate positive change in your life, study habits and goals, and career planning
References to local career resources and websites so you can follow up with your own research
Practical tips on how you can improve your job search approach, job search collateral and utilise your personal and professional networks
Leah hosts her own podcast, Relaunch Your Career, which contains practical job search and career change advice as well as career interviews with everyday Australians. She also has some great tips on how to best utilise career and job seeking sites.
“Have a notebook handy to write down practical tips, resources and names of people that you can research afterwards and send a message to the host afterwards with your feedback or any questions that you would love answered in the future,” she says.
We asked Leah to share her top 10 career podcasts for 2020. Happy listening!
Top 10 Career Podcasts
By Leah Lambart
1. Your Career Podcast
Hosted by Jane Jackson this pod provides career guidance and practical advice about getting a job.
2. My Millennial Career
A great round up with discussions of all things work and career.
3. The 80,000 Hours Podcast
From the founders of 80,000 hours, this pod features interviews with those who have found impactful work.
4. Relaunch Your Career
Hosted by Leah Lambart, this pod features interviews with successful career changers about their search for meaningful work.
5. Find your Dream Job
US-based podcast by Mac Prichard providing practical job search and career change advice.
6. How To Be Awesome At Your Job
Fascinating interviews with thought leaders and results-driven people to help you boost your work performance and productivity.
7. Career Talk
General advice about career changes, job search and dealing with complex issues in the workplace.
8. Career Tools
Practical and applicable job search, career tips and interview advice.
9. The Classy Career Girl Podcast
Female focussed pod with excellent career change advice and information.
10. Squiggly Careers
Practical advice to help navigate the tumult of career changes.
So today we’re deep diving resume writing to see just what it takes to get your #resume noticed by employers, so you give yourself the best chance of landing an interview for the gig you want to get.
There are plenty of templates and tips online that can help you to pull a decent resume together. There are the obvious tips like making sure there are no typos or grammatical errors, using headings and keeping the language short and sharp. But what are the common mistakes that most people make, and how can you avoid them to give yourself the best chance of landing an interview - and the gig?
Experienced Resume and LinkedIn Profile Writer Victoria Gordon says templating and structuring your resume in the right way is crucial so the content can be quickly scanned and understood by a recruiter, and effectively crawled and translated by screening software.
But a common mistake many people make is they try to get too creative or clever with their resume design, which makes it pretty much unreadable for both humans - and robots!
“Template and format is really important both for the recruiter to be able to scan and pick up the most important information, and also for the AI and software to read the content. Some candidates have really fancy formatting features which might look great, but they are counterproductive as the text is unreadable by the screening software, so nobody ever gets to see their beautifully presented document,” she says.
Andrew Brushfield, Director at specialised recruitment company Robert Half, tells seek.com.au that while the content of your resume is important, the finer details of the way you present yourself matter just as much.
“Resumes with an over-the-top layout may seem creative, however, depending on the job you are applying for, hiring managers might see this as unprofessional,” he says.
“Remember, employers reviewing your resume don’t spend hours reading it, so it’s best to make it as clear and succinct as possible.”
Andrew says another big unprofessional giveaway is an amateur email address.
“While hotfuzz86@hotmail.com might be fine for your friends, it can come across as unprofessional in the business world. Consider a more generic email address such as firstname.lastname@gmail.com, or use your school or learning institution email address.
Victoria says another common mistake she sees on resumes is where people try to include an exhaustive list of every single task and minor achievement they’ve ever accomplished, instead of focusing on what is recent and most relevant to the prospective employer.
You should focus on the position description of the job you are applying for, and align your resume so you highlight relevant experiences, personal attainments and skills achievements that translate into benefits for your prospective employer.
This can be easily achieved by matching the language in your resume to that used in the job ad, paying attention to the visual presentation and structure of your resume, and responding specifically to the key selection criteria.
Victoria also says using keywords in a resume is crucial to getting noticed in a competitive pool of other applicants.
“Optimise keywords. The front end of any online recruitment process is automated, so if your resume isn’t keyword optimised you’ll never be filtered through to next stages of screening. Your resume might never get read by a human!”
“When we apply for online jobs our resumes are uploaded into a candidate database or subjected to screening tools which scan documents for keyword matches with relevant job descriptions. Candidates with higher keyword matches are more likely to be filtered through for the next stage of screening.
“I was working with a Chief Information Office last month who applied for a job which had 2,500 applicants. There is no way in the world a human is going to read 2,500 applications or even 10% of those! This shows us how important the automated screening process is – it would have filtered those 2,500 applicants down to about 20 for the next stage of screening."
Victoria says rather than focusing solely on the technical skills and experience you may have that fit the job description, a good resume also expresses and reflects the ‘soft’ or transferable employability skills increasingly sought by today’s employers.
“Most employers these days are looking for capability and potential. With the world of work moving so rapidly – skills are less important than behavioural attributes and capabilities,” she says.
“The skills you need today are very different to the ones you’ll need in five years so it’s the behaviours, like motivation and aptitude for learning, agility, resilience, creativity, collaboration etc, that will underpin your career success. Most companies can give you the skills you need to do your job but it’s much harder to teach you to be a positive/proactive/supportive person to work with!”
For more information on how to nail your resume see SEEK’s TOP 5 Resume Tips.
To learn more about online employability and ‘Job Ready’ programs to equip students with practical skills and industry mentorship for the jobs of tomorrow, see Future Amp - an online career education platform launched via the David Gonski AC backed Future Minds Accelerator.
In fact, recent SEEK data shows since COVID-19, there are at least 800,000 more #unemployed Australians but just two-thirds of the jobs available. On top of that, the #hiring market is experiencing seeing more candidates competing for a smaller pool of jobs which has meant job applications per ad have increased exponentially.
But whether you’re going for your first job, a volunteering position, part-time teen job, university internship or your first step into a ‘real’ career role during COVID, standing out in an interview calls for a new suite of skills and qualities that you will need to quickly get up to speed on.
So we asked career leadership and interview skills coaching experts James Lynch and Mykel Dixon just what it takes to get an edge on the interview process to give yourself the best chance of landing a job in today’s employment market.
The right preparation starts with a creative and personalised resume which will ideally grab the attention of a potential future employer.
Creative and cultural leadership expert Mykel Dixon, an award-winning speaker, event curator, musician and author, says it’s important to think about ways to make your resume standout before you've even offered a job interview.
“Do everything you can prior to the interview to create a unique, personalised context for you to shine in. Add a video, write a handwritten letter, build a website that tells your story. You want to prime the people interviewing you so that they're already anticipating and/or excited about your interview before you’ve even arrived,” he says.
Once you’ve wowed them with your application, it’s time to research and plan for the interview - whether that be in person or online.
Leading interview skills coach James Lynch, a recognised leader in interview skills coaching and behavioural based interviewing techniques, says it’s crucial to fully understand the position you are applying for as a first step in the process.
“What’s their business model, unique offering, profile of clients, team profile, future expansion? You need to research and map out all of the above prior to your interview. Print out the job description and underline all the key points and their needs,” he says.
“Then target their needs, by identifying all your past relevant knowledge, skills and experiences.
The next step is to turn these into ‘Prove It’ statements and provide ‘real life’ examples. These have far greater value when they match (the interviewers’ wish list) - and every interviewer definitely has one!”
Mykel agrees, and believes that the key is, during the interview, be professional but ultimately be yourself.
“Make sure you bring your full self-expression. Don't diminish your passion, dilute your vision, or discount your previous experience. You have a unique way of seeing and sensing the world that is valuable and relevant. Specific skills can be taught. Most employers now believe that self-awareness, self-confidence, drive and a willingness to contribute are far more valuable than previous industry experience,” he says.
Another important consideration to ensure you put your best professional foot forward for the interview, whether face-to-face or online (due to COVID-19 hiring and recruitment practices pivoting to online).
James says online interviews are still “real life” personal interviews, and so candidates should approach them with the same level of effort and commitment they would to a face-to-face interview.
“Dress appropriately, make sure your background is appropriate and have good overhead lighting. If using a laptop, set up the correct distance from the screen for sound and light quality and test it first with a friend online. Make sure you're plugged in, powered up, and know your technology,” he says.
After 20 years of talking to more than 200,000 students about how to stand out in an interview, James consistently encourages them to have the confidence to “think good things and say good things about yourself”.
“Students and candidates hate doing it because they think they're bragging or showing off. However, if you don’t tell your interviewer what’s good, special or different about you, how are they going to make the right choice for the position?,” he says.
“People always say to me, "I hate selling myself." To be honest most people are pretty rubbish at it until I say, "Stop! I want you to tell me about the most exciting holiday, activity or passion that you are involved in and I know nothing about.".
“Then suddenly they become animated. I can hear the smile in their voice, they string big, long, exciting, convincing, sentences together. Then I turn round and say, "There you go, you can sell.” So make sure you take this same level of passion into telling your story, because you need to be passionate about yourself and your next interview.”
“It’s just like a good book, set the narrative and make sure that they understand the storyline. Take them on your journey, and finish with a positive, or successful ending, that reflects favourably on you and meets their needs and expectations.”Mykel also suggests leaving your interviewer something to remember you by, something that tells them who you are.
“Not a bribe or a tacky momento. Something thoughtful, meaningful, authentic and creative. Something that cements for them you are the only candidate they'll ever need,” he says.
In 2021, the award-winning girledworld founding team will launch Future Amp, a proprietary national career education platform for students.
The platform features ‘Job Ready’ Career Development Modules which are Australian-curriculum aligned, interactive, activity-based learning courses, showcasing real people in real industry contexts.
Reach out to the team at hello@futureamp.co to learn more, and discuss how you can incorporate Future Amp into your in-school careers and employability learning curriculum for 2021!
But before we deep dive communication to show you how it applies in workplace settings, let’s look at some recent data to get perspective on the phenomenal amount of digital communication that spins across the planet every day:
Globally, there are now 5.15 billion unique mobile phone users who send a combined total of approximately 18.7 billion texts every day
Worldwide, a total of 4 billion email users send and receive 300 billion emails each day
The invention of the ‘world wide web’ (now know as the internet) in 1989 completely revolutionised our history of communication. The inventor of the world wide web was the English scientist Tim Berners-Lee, who created a system to share information through a network of computers. As of July 2020 4.57 billion people (59 per cent of the global population) are now active internet users.
A recent LinkedIn survey shows communication consistently tops the list of skills most required in the workforce, and sought after by today’s employers.
Communication is how you connect and engage with others by speaking, writing or online.
Communication skills allow you to understand and be understood by others, express ideas and feelings, or give and receive different kinds of information.
Successful communication can deepen relationships in personal or professional life, help you find ways to compromise, contribute to better decision making - and avoid conflict.
Communication is important in your future career because it helps you better understand people, situations and the work to be done. It also helps overcome differences, build trust and respect, and create conditions for sharing creative ideas and solving problems.
Every day, we all receive, send and process a large number of messages. But successful communication is far more than sharing information - it is also understanding and interpreting the feelings and intent behind this information.
Let’s have a look at the different ways we communicate.
When we talk about things that matter to us we send a lot of nonverbal signals to people around us.
Non-verbal signals are wordless ways of communicating: Things like your body position, facial expressions, hand movements, gestures, eye contact, attitude, your tone of voice, and even the way you breathe. In fact 93 per cent of communication is non-verbal. So don’t forget that the way you look, listen, react and gesture speaks far more about feelings than words will ever be able to.
Listening is one of the most important aspects of communication.
Successful listening is not just an understanding of spoken or written information, but also an understanding of how the speaker feels during communication. Deep listening can also create an environment in which everyone feels respected and safe to express ideas, opinions and feelings, or plan and solve problems in a creative way.
Public speaking is important in workplace communication since it is often used for delivering motivational speeches, professional presentations or sharing ideas with others.
Public speaking focuses on communicating ideas in an effective and engaging way. You will need to present your ideas in an organised and coherent manner, and be able to connect with and influence the audience to listen to you, whether online or offline.
In a technology fuelled world, effective digital communication is critical.
Think about how often you use digital communication like email, messaging and text every day, and how often you consume digital content on internet platforms, social media and multiple digital devices. There might have been times when you have sent someone a message that they interpreted the wrong way which caused conflict. That’s because the online world is different to the offline world, and our language and communication can often be misunderstood. For example, using exclamation points, capital letters and even emojis can have very different meanings online. So make sure you think about - and edit your communication - before you click and send!
A Project Manager or Foreman on a work site working on a tight project delivery timeline must use effective communication to give clear instructions to tradespeople working with them, so they can work quickly and independently to successfully complete the project.
An Entrepreneur or Founder of a new startup business uses communication to sell their idea and attract interest to their company. They might use verbal communication when pitching to investors or featuring in online webinars, and excellent public speaking skills to communicate their business idea to audiences at events and conferences.
A Nurse uses communication skills to interact with patients and other health workers. Nurses need to professionally communicate important information about individual patient’s health and well-being, and also use empathetic and warm body language to make patients feel more comfortable when they are sick or alone.
A Diplomat relies on digital communication skills because they often work with people and teams in different time zones. Digital communication skills include concise emails, shared documents so they can work collaboratively with distributed teams, and video conferencing like zoom for meetings.
As you can see - there are so many ways that communication is an important skill for your future career!
There are plenty of ways that you’re probably practicing your communication skills every day already.
Here’s some more ideas for how you can practice:
Speak up: If you have the option, try doing an oral presentation for your classwork. This will help you gain confidence speaking in front of others, and improve your ability to engage an audience.
Practice at work: Working part-time or casually in customer service is a great way to work on communication skills. Dealing with the general public and their needs on a daily basis can help you work on active listening, empathy, conflict resolution and open body language.
Join a club: Get involved in your local club! It could be sport, art, music, volunteering, or anything you’re interested in. Being in a team environment is a great way to practice building rapport with people, communicating ideas and giving support or feedback to others around you.
Don’t forget to keep an eye on our socials over on Instagram and Facebook this week as we explore the skill of communication with experts, and give you more great tips on how to build your communication toolkit for your future career!
Having just completed a Juris Doctor, her third university degree in her 20s, Edwina shares her experience in finding, analysing and evaluating content from thousands of sources and shows how anyone can start building their information literacy skills by considering just a few key questions!
On March 12 1989, a British scientist by the name of Tim Berners-Lee fundamentally changed the course of human experience on the planet. In a paper entitled Information Management: A Proposal, Berners-Lee explained the structure, intent and theory behind what we now know as the internet.
Edwina Kolomanski, Co-Founder of Girledworld
I bring up this pivotal point in modern history because, 30 years on, the internet has unquestionably changed our relationship with information and enabled this age we’re now living through - the ‘Knowledge Age’ - an age of information, big data and big ideas.
While the advent of the internet transformed the way we live, work and communicate across the planet, it also lit the fuse that ignited the explosion of content we have witnessed over the past decade, and which has sent us all down a river of seemingly never-ending content.
While an excess of information and content has its benefits (like democratising access to information for millions ... if not billions more people across the planet), an oversupply also poses challenges, and requires us to develop more advanced skills in how we navigate the daily overwhelm of navigating SO. MUCH. CONTENT.
This leads me to the main topic of this blog - Information Literacy.
You may not have heard of this skill before, but I guarantee it’s a skill you use daily
While thinking about what to write in this blog, I did a little bit of research to give me some inspiration. Naturally, as a starting point, I typed “Information Literacy” into Google, which recalled over 158,000,000 content sources in less than a second!
With a glut of content to choose from, I noticed my information literacy skills swinging into action and decided then and there, that documenting how my information literacy skills manifest might actually be the most valuable and helpful piece of content I could create on the topic!
Information literacy is a skill that enables us to identify, find, select, analyse, evaluate and effectively use information for a task.
This may sound complex, so thinking about it another way, our information literacy skills emerge when we’re put in a position of finding information, choosing information, deciding what’s trustworthy and utilising that information for a particular purpose.
In a nutshell, information literacy skills help us be more discerning about what content we will use, and what we will discard.
Pondering where information comes from has been something that I was (forced!) to really consider while studying at university. Having just completed a Juris Doctor (a postgraduate law degree), l have been meticulously building my information literacy with every assignment, essay and research paper I’ve written over the past three years. To put this in perspective, I’ve read thousands of law cases, academic papers, news articles, books, pieces of legislation and have had to navigate sources both locally in Australia, and overseas.
Now, I’m definitely not suggesting that you need to go to law school to build your information literacy skills - there are many cheaper and quicker ways of doing that (!) But hopefully what I share with you below is going to fast-track your skill building in this area!
When deciding what information and content I’m going to use in my work and study, my information literacy skills can be boiled down to a series of questions that I (now subconsciously) ask myself when researching and consuming content.
Is the content from a trusted, well known or reputable source? For example, an article from the New York Times will likely be more reliable than an article on the same topic from an obscure news site that I’ve never heard of before.
As content is so easily created and published, content can quickly become outdated and inaccurate. Make sure you consider when the content was published and whether it’s still relevant today.
Knowing where the content is created is important if you’re looking for content that is location-specific. This was particularly important for me studying law because laws and legal systems can be different from state-to-state and country-to-country, so I had to be careful that the content I was looking for was relevant to the topic I was researching.
Is the content an academic article, which is likely anchored in research and facts? Or is the content an opinion piece and only expressing the author’s personal opinions and beliefs, without any consideration of the facts or other points of view?
With the rise of content marketing and paid content, it’s important to consider whether the author of the content has a vested interest in content. Pay attention to whether the content is clearly one-sided, favouring one solution, product or company OR is whether it is more even-handed and impartial.
This also means that you’ll typically need to go beyond just looking at the first few search results on Google, which are likely at the top because of excellent SEO (search engine optimisation) or Google Adwords tactics, rather than the content being the best quality.
If you’re looking at more than one source of content (which I recommend you do!), comparing sources is a great way to determine what’s great, and not-so-great. Notice to see whether one source appears to be far more knowledgeable on a subject, or whether the source uses lots of external and reputable sources to back-up their arguments. Comparing content also enables you to see different perspectives and points of view, which can help you develop your own opinion on a topic.
As you can see, these questions may seem simple, but they are a really effective way of thinking about, analysing and evaluating the content in front of you, which is really what information literacy is all about!
Information Literacy is considered a key skill for the future of work. girledworld designs and delivers interactive online learning modules on Information Literacy and other career education programs, in partnership with Future Amp, to give today’s students the skills they need for tomorrow’s world.
To learn more contact our team at hello@girledworld.com
At my own pace, I have come to understand and value finance as a tool to get me to a desired place in life. This does not involve owning an extravagant, fancy house or zooming around in a Range Rover, even though this does sound rather nice.
Instead, my financial savviness is a tool that will enable me to choose how I enjoy my time on this earth. This goal has brought me to where I am today - building on my financial wealth and passive income streams so that eventually, I will be able to live my life without the constraints of a pay check.
The journey to understanding this long-term financial goal has not been linear. Nor has it been easy or comfortable. But along the way, I have been so lucky to be supported by people who have become amazing sources of wisdom and guidance.
So I hope my own financial journey can in some small way help you on your own financial path.
My earliest memory of finance was from my dad, a pilot from Vanuatu who never went to university. He simply applied all the practical financial lessons that he learned from books by Warren Buffet and others to build an amazing life for himself and our family. This is something that I now find incredibly inspiring but I often took for granted when I was younger.
He was the one who helped me set up my first savings account for my tooth fairy money and pocket money from my weekly chores. He was the first person who explained to me what a stock was and the true power of compound interest. He shared his books with me on property investing, stock investing and passive income, which I must admit I found rather dry at the time. But for all of this I thank him, because it laid the foundations of where I am now - and where I am hopefully heading.
At the end of year 12 I chose to study a rather sensible commerce degree because I was fascinated by the world of business and entrepreneurship. In particular, I loved the stories of women who had started companies and truly “made it” in life. But once the realities of first-year uni kicked in (probably as a result of studying complex maths and sitting through rather dull lectures), I started to develop a strong distaste for the world of finance and investment banking.
During this time, to be honest, I detoured a bit. I wasn’t a great saver, and most of my savings would be spent on travel or nights at the local watering hole. To be fair, I did fund some really amazing travel experiences, but it was only when I started my graduate role in marketing that I realised my lack of responsibility when it came to managing and planning my finances was going to hold me back from my goals in the long run.
Ever since earning my first pay check from my full-time grad job, I kicked into a self-imposed all systems go approach when it came to saving. I opened an excel spreadsheet and started to plan a monthly budget, in an attempt to maximise my savings as much as possible. I squeezed and pinched all aspects of my monthly plan allocated to rent, electricity, food, going out, ect. and managed to discipline myself into saving one third of my monthly income and placed it into a savings account.
By now I had a grip on this saving and budgeting thing. So it was then time for me to take the plunge into the rather nerve-wracking world of investing because the 2% interest on my savings account wasn't going to cut it.
I began to dip my toe into a bit of stock research but I never felt confident to completely jump in, throw some cash in the ring and call it a day. After all, I was certainly not qualified enough to know how not to lose money in the stock market. Stocks hold value whilst the business of choice is humming along, but unlike property which is a tangible asset, stock prices can be reduced to zero if a business fails.
“Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends” or in my case, “boyfriend.” Not in a knight in shining armour kind of way, but in more of an eye-opening sense. I knew that I wanted to invest but I had no idea where to start. My partner, a fellow commerce buddy who I met at a music festival, was lovely enough to point me in the right direction, giving me reading suggestions and ultimately the nudge to buy my first shares.
With a bit of logic and a “good gut feeling” I began to buy a small cluster of shares every month. It felt good, I was making money as opposed to losing it, and I somewhat felt like I was taking small steps towards my goal of passive income. I began to heavily lean on research tools such as the ASX Research Equities Scheme, where the majority of Australian stockbroking firms publish their research and recommendations on high growth stocks. This brought me my greatest success, which led me to become too big for my own boots.
COVID-19 happened. Everything crashed. My stocks dropped in value by about 20%-30%. I panicked.
I did not panic sell. That was something that I had learned from the previous GFC - everything that goes down must come up again and vice versa.
In fact, market corrections like the COVID-19 induced-one we are currently finding ourselves in offer fantastic opportunities to buy investments such as shares and property at a discounted price. In an attempt to not get too down in the dumps with my diving share portfolio, I decided to muscle up and try to get the most out of the current situation.
This led me to enlist the help of a professional portfolio manager, who I have come to trust and respect, who helps me with the research and execution of all of my trades.
As very few people can successfully time the market, I am taking a dollar average approach, whereby I constantly invest in my chosen stocks evenly over time, to reduce the impact of volatility on the overall purchase. This is just my approach, which seems to be working so far but I am also privy to what is going on in the market to make smart financial plays.
Having gone through this wild ride and developed my own approach to my finances, I now feel confident in my financial independence and ability to grow my passive income. I am in no way doing it perfectly every time, but it is the little steps that count.
Knowledge is power when it comes to your finances. Strengthen your financial literacy by tapping into resources that are available to you, such as:
Books:
The Barefoot Investor by Scott Pape
This is a great start when it comes to managing all the components of your finances.
Warren Buffet’s Three Favorite Books by Preston Pysh.
This is a fantastic introduction to value investing that cuts out all the irrelevant academic fluff associated with investing and gets right to the heart of value investing in layman’s terms.
When it comes to learning the fundamentals of value investing, I couldn’t recommend this book more!
This has been one of the best tools I have used to date. It is a FREE research scheme, run by the ASX (Australian Stock Exchange) that delivers high-quality independent research for under-covered ASX-listed companies. The research reports are produced by experienced professionals from Australia's top stockbroking firms, who have decades of experience. It may be a better source for stock tips than your drunk mate at the bar who keeps suggesting that it's a “good time to pick up Qantas”. The best part is that the reports are sent to your email inbox every Friday afternoon!
YouTube:
SugarMumma TV - This is a YouTube channel by Canna, the founder and director of SASS Financial Services, a boutique financial planning firm, Channel 9’s exclusive ‘money expert’ and founder of financial media platform SugarMamma. Canna provides digestible and holistic advice when it comes to personal money matters. I personally really like her videos on investing!
Once you know a bit more about your own finances and investing, you need to lay the foundations. Having a budgeting system and strategy will place you in good stead, giving you discipline and the propensity to save.
I personally developed a basic spreadsheet that outlined all my expenses and total income, giving me the visual understanding of how much I needed to save every month and how much I can spend on essentials and niceties. Another great tool is the Money Smart Budget Planner, a free tool provided by the Australian Government.
...into the world of investing! Once you feel confident enough to start investing in securities such as shares, mutual funds or property, go for it!
Sometimes it is a good idea to enlist the help of a professional that you trust so that you can be even more confident in your investing decisions. These can be financial advisors, stockbrokers or property investment professionals.
In my case, I am focused on investing in stocks and already have the financial literacy and budgeting foundations to not warrant a financial advisor. I have naturally progressed to getting advice from a professional who analyses companies for a living.
This is a summary of my unique financial experience and general advice that I would happily pass on to friends and loved ones who seek it. But everyone’s experiences and financial journeys are different, so it is up to you to develop your financial literacy and financial plans to suit your life - and the future you want.
If you are just starting on your journey, start saving, start reading to build your skills in financial literacy - and reach out to a professional to help you set your financial goals, and make a plan that suits you!
Yep. We’re now living in the ‘Knowledge Age’ - an age of information, big data and ideas, and a time during which you’ll need to develop skills in information literacy to help you navigate the huge amounts of content you interact with both on and offline every day!
In fact, you’re probably already aware there’s never been as much content and information available to us than there is right now - everyday, at our fingertips.
For instance, do a quick search using the keywords “Information Literacy” on Google and you’ll receive a list of content from 177,000,000 sources in half a second!
Information literacy enables us to identify, locate, select, analyse, evaluate and effectively use information for a task or particular priority.
For example, if you wanted to know how to fix a problem on your phone by searching online, you would use information literacy skills to choose which keywords to search, read through the search results information to analyse and decide if it’s relevant - and then select the information that can help you fix your phone!
Information literacy is really important in the workplace because so many of today’s jobs require you to have skills in finding, analysing and using information effectively.
In fact, people working in jobs in industries including Law, Science, Engineering, Information Technology and Media all use information literacy skills on a daily basis. For example:
A research scientist uses information literacy skills to read and analyse previous studies undertaken in their field of inquiry so they can establish a base level of knowledge, and also identify gaps in research or discovery that might need to be investigated.
A police officer or detective uses information literacy skills to gather evidence about a criminal case, interview witnesses to uncover facts about the case, and also to navigate complex legal processes and documentation in order to solve the case.
A civil engineer uses information literacy skills to gather information so they can make informed design decisions. For example, when designing a new bridge they need to use a range of sources to research industry standards and guidelines so they can make sure the bridge is strong enough to safely bear the weight of trucks, multiple cars and other transport travelling across it.
A university student uses information literacy skills every day in their learning. For example, a student studying agriculture who is writing a research assignment will need to undertake lots of online research to find, read and evaluate data and information from different sources so they can select what is most useful to write their assignment.
These are only just a few examples - but in reality, in the information age - everyone in the workforce will need to find and use information no matter what job you choose! Whether you’re a teacher looking for interesting content to use in your classroom, a journalist finding credible sources for an article, a student researching information for a project or a small business owner trying to find a quick answer to a business problem - all of these careers (and more!) need people with information literacy skills!
So no matter which path you choose, being able to identify, locate, analyse, evaluate and effectively use information for the task at hand will be a skill you use a lot of in your working life!
Now that you’ve read this and had a chance to think about this information!, you’ll be able to:
Describe what information literacy is
Explain why information literacy is important in your future career
Share examples of how information literacy is used in different jobs
While women are more empowered to engage in the modern economy and represent a growing segment of the workforce, unfortunately financial knowledge and wealth management skills are failing to follow suit, with less than half of women in Australia currently meeting financial literacy standards.
The bad news is this has a compound effect: In a recent report by HILDA, the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey, low levels of financial literacy were found to in turn result in poor financial well-being, which down the line results in an increasing number of women retiring into poverty due to a combination of factors including low financial literacy and low super savings.
So it’s our mission, along with our amazing and finance-fit girledworld friends and partners, to continue to shine a light on financial literacy and the development of financial skills, so we can play a part in changing the money game for Australia’s women and girls.
MEET WADZANAI NENZOU:
Wadzanai Nenzou is the Founder & CEO of Herconomics, a mission-driven company that is focused on empowering women to build their personal wealth. Herconomics utilises the tools of education and storytelling to accomplish this goal. They offer investing courses for beginners, events were women share their personal wealth building stories and the #1000moneystories project to amplify women’s wealth building experiences.
Growing up in Zimbabwe she saw the limited choices open to many women due to a lack of personal wealth. Even as a young girl she knew she wanted more for herself and other women.
Passionate about the empowerment of women and girls, Nenzou thinks it’s time to close the gender pay gap, and that for females to take control of their finances and put themselves in a position to succeed, we need to improve their financial literacy, and get women and girls to step up, skill up and grow their money mindsets.
The bad news is that the current state of women’s financial literacy in Australia is pretty bleak right now.
Women are more likely to live longer than men, earn less than on average and are more likely to take time out of paid work in caring roles.
Furthermore, research suggests that women are less confident than men in their ability to plan their financial future and have a lower level of financial literacy.
In fact, according to an ANZ Survey of Adult Financial Literacy in Australia Report, women had significantly lower scores on average than men when it comes to basic financial knowledge and numeracy. And the COVID-19-induced economic crisis shows women disproportionately represented in the unemployment statistics: recent research from The Australian Workplace Gender Equality Agency shows that between mid-March and mid-June 2020, payroll jobs held by women saw a decrease of 6.5%; whereas, payroll jobs held by men decreased by 5.8%.
But the good news is that all change starts with education! So even if you’re starting from zero when it comes to understanding how finances work - you can kickstart your financial future by committing to lifelong learning, a growth mindset and empowering yourself with knowledge.
To help you with this, Wadzanai shares her tips for getting started.
TOP 3 TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR FINANCIAL LITERACY TODAY!
1: Just START!
It doesn’t need to be a huge step but all you do need to do is just start. Baby steps are allowed! Soon enough you’ll be confident enough to make financial leaps and bounds.
2: Tap into available resources
Use the resources that are available to you free and online, or reach out to someone you know and admire who is financially ‘fit’ and ask them questions. Here are are favourite financial literacy resources below:
Check out Herconomics to learn more about their financial literacy education courses, resources, and Free Wealth Builders Webinars!
Check out MoneySmart for tips to help you get on top of your dollars :)
Get your hands on a few financial literacy books. One of our favourites is the global bestseller The Barefoot Investor by Scott Pape!
Listen to podcasts like She’s On The Money or one of these 12 of the best money, investing and finance podcasts for 2020!
Girl Guides Australia has launched a new financial literacy program for girls and young women, and in case you're wondering, yes it comes with a badge! The Guide Your Money Program, funded by Financial Literacy Australia, encourages girls and women to be mindful of the role of money and finance in their life.
3: Join women’s organisations focused on financial empowerment
To help you hit your money goals and get savvier with your finances, keep committing to educating yourself, and even join an organisation that focuses on financial empowerment. These provide access to amazing educational tools and resources specifically tailored to young women. A few great examples include - Herconomics and Money Girl and She’s On The Money.
At girledworld, we had the pleasure of interviewing the co-founders of Peach Pack - a business on a mission to break the stigma, and taboos surrounding periods and encourage women to feel empowered by their sense of womanhood.
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girledworld Cofounder and CEO Madeleine Grummet: “Learn to fall in love with problems and you’ll find way better solutions!”
So today we’re super excited to have our Cofounder and CEO Madeleine Grummet (Mads) join us to talk about her passion for solving problems creatively.
Mads has spent a lot of time training in problem solving techniques and learning how to apply it as a skill to solve really big problems, like equipping young women with the skills and mentors they need for the new world of work!
Qualified with Stanford University’s d-school (2019), Hasso Plattner Institute of Design and the National Institute for Play (2019), Mads has also trained with global design firm IDEO as a Design Thinking Facilitator (Design Thinking is a powerful problem solving tool which we’ll explain a bit later!)
Mads also holds a Design Thinking qualification from the University of Melbourne, where she and girledworld Cofounder and COO Edwina Kolomanski met in 2016 when they were completing their Master of Entrepreneurship through Melbourne Business School and the Faculty of Business and Economics.
After learning how to use Design Thinking to solve problems as part of their Masters course, Mads and Edwina took their new-found skills to the girledworld World of Work Summit series, for which they designed Design Thinking problem solving sprints and workshops with global brands and businesses including Atlassian, Microsoft, Virgin Australia, Airbnb, Unisuper, Women For Election Australia, MYOB, University of Sydney, Victorian State Government and the NSW Parliament, and have now taught 1000’s of female high school students how to use Design Thinking to solve real-world problems!
See here to learn more about our girledworld WOW Summits.
We asked Mads a few questions about problem solving and Design Thinking, and here’s what she had to say.
“Problem solving is the process of finding effective solutions to issues or challenges, which may be difficult or complex.
If you look around you, you’ll find problems can be anywhere and everywhere. And problems can come in many forms.
They can be small issues that can be resolved in a matter of minutes, like finding your way around a new city on public transport or designing a plan for a group project you are working on. Or they can be extremely complex challenges that take months - or even years to resolve, like climate change.
The good news is, humans are actually hardwired to problem solve. For thousands of years, humans have had to continually problem solve to find shelter, sources of food, fresh water, ways to grow more crops, to trade goods and services, and transport ourselves across land and sea and space so we can continue to survive and thrive on the planet!
And in today’s modern world, problem solving is used to handle difficult or unexpected situations in everyday life, in the workplace or on the planet, like, say, a global pandemic!,” says Mads.
According to the World Economic Forum, one in three jobs that exist today require complex problem-solving skills and the ability for employees to think critically.
“Problem solving skills are important in the future of work because you will need to be able to identify and solve problems that come up day to day in the workplace, or with customers the company serves.
On top of that, if you are looking for work, you will be much more likely to be hired when you can demonstrate good problem solving skills, because it also shows you also have a range of other competencies such as logic, creativity, resilience, imagination, lateral thinking and determination,” says Mads.
In fact research shows that the number one employability skill competency companies require in their employees is the ability to do complex problem solving, with 36% of all jobs across all industries requiring problem-solving ability as a core skill by 2022.
At its most simple, Design Thinking is a process for creative problem-solving.
It's a methodology often used by designers to solve complex (or wicked) problems through a stepped process in order to find desirable solutions for their clients (= humans who have problems they need solved).
In order to use Design Thinking, you need to use a design mindset which parks what you know and let's you instead go deeply into understanding the human you are solving problems for. You need to empathize with their world, and notice what's happening for them, so you can best gather insights about their experiences.
Once you've gathered your insights about the problems you have observed you will need to define them. Which means you'll need to come up with a set list of the problems you've seen and patterns you've recognised, so you can then try and design solutions for them at the next stage when you come up with ideas.
This next stage is ideation, when you brainstorm to come up with as many awesome solutions as you can to solve the problems or hypotheses on your define list.
You can THINK BIG here!
Go for Moonshots.
Flex your creative muscle. Go nuts!
The idea is you just get as many wild and wacky ideas out there as you can. Because the whole point of Design Thinking is that it pushes you to explore the possibilities of what could be, by drawing on logic, imagination, intuition, and systemic reasoning to create desired outcomes that will ultimately benefit the end user (ie: the customer/human you're solving the problem for).
The next step is to build the solution or prototype. This is where you make the idea into a tangible reality. But make it simple. And make it fast! Do it for under $100. Under $1 is even better! Use paper, wire-framing on a free web tool, sketch it, or act it out. But whatever you do. Don't overcomplicate it. Just bring it to life as fast as you can because once you've built your prototype you will need to quickly get it into the hands of a human (customer) as soon as you can to test it.
Why do you need to test? Because the human will tell you if your solution sucks, or not! They will also tell you if your solution is solving their problem well, or not at all. If it does solve quite well but not quite well enough, work with the human to change it (iterate), so it gets closer to what they need, and then ask them to test it again.
If it still sucks, go back to the start of the 5-step process and see if you started with the right observations and insights in the first place. Then step through the cycle again. Rinse and repeat. Until ultimately, you place in the hands of the human (customer) a solution so insanely awesomely customised just for the problem they needed solved, that they'll be begging you to keep it!
Voila! Simple as that. Problem solved. Solution beautiful.
So now that you know why problem solving is an important skill to learn, and how to use the Design Thinking process, try looking around you to see how many problems you think need solving. And start flexing your problem solving muscle today!
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” - Einstein
The concept of leadership has come under intense scrutiny in recent months as world leaders grapple with the ongoing effects of a global pandemic and the devastating impact it is having on their communities, economy and society.
This is a complex time for leaders to navigate the sheer amount of uncertainty in the world, and each leader is reacting differently in her or his own style.
But according to McKinsey, the four leadership qualities critical for current leaders in today’s business and government sectors are awareness, vulnerability, empathy and compassion.
One leader who embodies these leadership qualities, and has raised the global bar on what effective and modern leadership looks like, is New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Adern, who has been universally lauded for her calm, compassionate and inclusive leadership style and skills in diplomacy and empathy.
Currently one of the youngest world leaders at the age of 39, in a recent interview with The Guardian Australia on the qualities that have underpinned her path to leadership, she said:
“I think one of the sad things that I’ve seen in political leadership is – because we’ve placed over time so much emphasis on notions of assertiveness and strength – that we probably have assumed that it means you can’t have those other qualities of kindness and empathy. And yet, when you think about all the big challenges that we face in the world, that’s probably the quality we need the most!
We need our leaders to be able to empathise with the circumstances of others; to empathise with the next generation that we’re making decisions on behalf of. And if we focus only on being seen to be the strongest, most powerful person in the room, then I think we lose what we’re meant to be here for. So I’m proudly focused on empathy, because you can be both empathetic and strong.”
In her two years in office, Ardern has demonstrated her soft and strong leadership style, taking decisive stands against terrorism, gun ownership and gender parity, and becoming an iconic image of global unity, humanity and empathetic leadership by publicly wearing a hijab in solidarity with the Muslim community after the Christchurch terrorism incident.
She adds: “I think one of the dangers of leadership, and particularly in politics, is that we have so much information now, and so much research around the way that people think, and the way they process what they hear, and how we’re meant to present ourselves, that you run the risk of becoming over-engineered.
And I think, if there’s anything that people need right now, is they just need to see human beings doing their best as leaders. And that means that from time to time you’ll stumble, and you should be honest about that; it means that people will see your failings and we should be honest about that too. People need authenticity, not, I think, some manufactured idea of what political leadership is meant to be.”
But it’s not just world leaders like Ardern that need modern skills in authentic, collaborative and empathetic leadership.
As educators, countries and companies come to terms with the ‘new normal’ of life, learning and work during a pandemic, a new suite of ‘soft’ or transferable skills required for future jobs and industries has come to the fore. And the skill of leadership is right up there near the top of that list as a key competency or employability skill we will all need to continue to cultivate in order to survive and thrive in the new world of work.
Rachel Moore, a Program Designer and Facilitator specialising in Leadership, Human Resources, Emotional Intelligence and Communication skills at Swinburne University in Melbourne, says strong leadership skills are now crucial to today’s world of work, and will bolster future career opportunities for all young people.
“Employers know that employees with leadership skills are able to take initiative, think outside the box and proactively seek out solutions,” Rachel says.
Rachel believes that anyone can be a leader, and develop leadership skills, regardless of their role in an organisation, team or school.
“Leadership can be a title, but a true leader does not need a hierarchical title.”
“I think a good question we can reflect on and ask ourselves regularly is ‘If I did not have a position of authority, would people still want to follow me? Would they want my guidance and direction?’”
Rachel says a good leader recognises that it is not all about them, but rather recognising what their people require in order to be able to perform at their best in their industry role.
“People want to feel connected to their leaders and to feel valued and supported. Leadership is less about your own knowledge and expertise and more about being able to inspire others to perform at their best.”
“A good leader looks after their own well-being and authentically role models the behaviours that they expect from others,” she says. Rachel agrees that there has been a significant shift in understanding about what makes a good leader.“Leadership theories have changed greatly over the years but, more than anything, I would say that it is people’s expectations of their leaders that are changing.
“In the future workspace I feel leadership will become more about the ‘we’ than the ‘I’. Collaboration will be highly valued and leaders who coach others will be able to exponentially develop the capability of their people, teams and organisations.”
Sheryl Sandberg, COO at Facebook and Author of Lean In: Women, Work And The Will To Lead, exemplifies an inclusive collaborative leadership style, and believes that the more you can empower others, the more successful your leadership skills and outcomes.
“I measure my own success as a leader by how well the people who work for me succeed,” she says.
“Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence."
So how can you start learning and practicing your leadership skills today?
TRY NEW THINGS
A great way to develop your leadership skills is to try new things and put your hand up to take on more responsibility. You don't have to take on more than you can handle, but you do need to get outside your comfort zone if you want to grow. Say YES more often.
CULTIVATE LIFELONG LEARNING
The best way to build your leadership skills is to always keep learning from the people, environments and challenges in your everyday life, study and work by adopting a growth mindset. Look around you and see how many leadership learning opportunities you could lean into!
LISTEN + SEEK FEEDBACK
Becoming a leader doesn't mean you always have to be in the spotlight or the loudest in the room. An important trait of a good leader is someone who listens to suggestions, ideas, and feedback from other people, and builds on them. Good listeners also know that communication is not only about words, but using emotional intelligence to pick up on non-verbal cues, such as eye contact and body language. Be more aware of yourself and others!
FIND A MENTOR
Mentors help you understand your strengths, interests and challenges, and can share their leadership story so you can learn directly from their lived experience. Choose someone whose leadership style you admire, and who you can easily communicate with and relate to. Who comes to mind first when you think of a Mentor?
SELF-EDUCATE
Read as much and as widely as you can both on and offline! But don’t limit your reading to one particular style of leadership or type of leader. Inspiration and lessons can be learned from leaders across all walks of life. So watch TED Talks, leaders on social media platforms, and take notice when something they say or do resonates positively with you. Then try and mirror that in your own leadership opportunities!
But increasingly, EI is surfacing as a skill we all need to purposefully cultivate to enable future success in both our personal lives and professional careers. In fact, in order to successfully gain employment and work effectively in diverse teams both in person and remotely, we all need to know how to read other people’s signals and react appropriately to them. To do this, we need EI skills to better understand, empathize and negotiate with people around us.
Rachel Moore, an EI Practitioner, Trainer and Author, says research shows that our emotional intelligence begins to develop in childhood and continues into our adult years, and that everyone has the ability to improve their emotional intelligence.
“Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive, understand, express, reason with and manage emotions within oneself and others.
“When applied in our careers, emotional intelligence is about how intelligently you use emotions to get positive results - for both yourself and others,” she says.
Justine Lomas, Programs Coordinator and PhD Candidate in the Emotional Intelligence Research Unit at Swinburne University, agrees, but says EI is more than just a set of skills to do with emotions.
“These skills relate to identifying, using and managing emotions. It sounds simple when you think of it like that, but emotions are part of everything we do in life,” she says.
“Emotional intelligence skills include identifying emotions and expressing them accurately, understanding emotions of others, using emotions to solve problems and make decisions, adapting emotions from moment to moment - and controlling our strong emotions.
“Our research in schools shows that emotional intelligence is an important determinant of a range of life outcomes including scholastic success, healthy relationships, leadership, mental health, resilience, well-being and life satisfaction.”
While IQ, short for intelligence quotient, has historically been an identifiable and widely used measure of a person's professional qualifications and employability profile, increasingly EI is overtaking as the key skill required in the rapidly evolving modern workforce.
“Without a doubt, EI has overtaken IQ as a measure of success. This has been recognised for some time now, and first became a focus area in employment with the release of Daniel Goleman’s book, Emotional Intelligence, Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, which was first published in 1995,” Rachel says.
The World Economic Forum currently has Emotional Intelligence listed in the Top 10 critical career skills for our time, and a 2012 Career Builder Survey covering 2600 Human Resource and Hiring Managers found that:
71% value an employee’s EI over IQ
75% are more likely to promote an employee with high EI
59% would pass up a candidate with high IQ but low EI
“Workplaces have become aware of the importance of EI in the last 20 years and I think that the focus on EI in this context is increasing,” Justine says.
“IQ is an important predictor of a person’s capacity to master the basic skills of a particular job, but that simply isn’t enough these days.
Employers want people on their team who can work well with others, foster a positive and collaborative work environment, be adaptive, think creatively, communicate well, manage stress, stay positive under pressure and be a leader.
All of these things depend on your EI and it is what will make a candidate stand out above others who have the same educational qualifications.”
The good news is that EI can be learned. The first step in that learning is making the decision to continue developing and improving your EI as a lifelong learning commitment.
“EI is most definitely a learnable skill. I strongly believe that everyone can, and everyone should spend time developing their emotional intelligence. That being said, it is a lifelong practice. One does not simply achieve a plateau of emotional intelligence and remain there,” Rachel says.
Justine suggests the best way to improve your EI is to start by observing others, asking for feedback about your own behaviours, and exercising greater self-awareness by reflecting on your emotional experiences and how they shape your thoughts and actions.
LANGUAGE: Start by extending your emotional vocabulary. Emotions give us important information about our experience of the world around us, and when we only have a few emotions in our repertoire, it’s like seeing the world in black and white instead of colour. Grab a piece of paper and a marker and brainstorm all the feelings and emotions you can think of.
LIST: Group your list into the 10 Basic Emotions - Happiness, Sadness, Anger, Anticipation, Fear, Loneliness, Jealousy, Disgust, Surprise, Trust.
STUDY: Choose a new emotion each week to look out for in yourself and others. When you recognise it, think about the meaning and consequences it has for you, and those around you, as it shows up in your personal or professional situations.
MESSAGES: Learn more about the messages emotions give you. All emotions have a purpose – even the ones that don’t feel so nice, like jealousy, anger or fear! So pay special attention to the purpose or message each emotion might send, and try to recognise patterns or how the emotion plays out in you. Is it constructive? Destructive? Short-lived? Long-lasting?
OBSERVE: Observe others who you think effectively regulate and manage emotions. How do they appear to deal with their moods and emotions? Ask yourself if any of their coping or emotional regulation strategies would be useful to you.
Learn more about emotional intelligence.
Indeed, mentorship can be a significant determinant of a young person’s life and career trajectory, access to opportunities and hopes for their future.
In fact, research shows the power of a good mentor can literally change a life but, unfortunately, not everyone has an equal start in life, or equal access to industry networks, personal connections or the knowledge and learning opportunities they need to succeed.
This is despite the irrefutable evidence that mentoring can make a remarkable difference in the life of a young person, or anyone looking to realise their hopes and ambitions or advance in their career.
Heidi Holmes, Co-creator of mentoring software program Mentorloop - a software platform designed to help organisations run more effective mentoring programs for better engagement, retention and productivity - says people today are increasingly waking up to the fact that they need to take ownership of their own learning and development.
But the old-school and traditional ways of finding and connecting with mentors has meant not everyone who wants or needs one has had the opportunity or access to networks.
“Mentoring is ripe for a revamp.
“It's an age-old phenomenon that has traditionally only been available to a select, special few - the chosen ones! But with the rapid development and adoption of more social, data-driven technologies we now have an opportunity to make mentoring mainstream,” she says.
“Our mission is to make mentoring more accessible for companies regardless of budget or size, and more accessible for people regardless of their career stage, network or location.
“It doesn’t matter who your parents are, what school you went to or how savvy you are at networking. I want to make sure no one gets left behind. If someone has the desire and commitment to want to better themselves but they need some help, then we should help them.”
Heidi says the right connections can change a life and that the best personal and professional growth is achieved through human connection, knowledge exchange and shared experiences.
Mentorloop's matching algorithm is based on a weighting of skills and goals and also personal attributes, to ensure matched candidates achieve that “mentoring magic”. They then measure success throughout the Mentor / Mentee relationship through their Mentoring Quality Score.
“I think it’s naive to think that having one mentor is going to be the silver bullet to all your problems and questions,’ she says.
“Before you go off and seek a mentor, I’d recommend you challenge your current perceptions around what you think mentoring is as it’s often the most unlikely connections that can prove the most useful.
“And don’t think about it as just a hierarchical relationship. We know, as founders, the most impactful mentors we’ve had are other founders just 6 or 18 months ahead. So think about it as building your own personal advisory board - people you can turn to for different pieces of advice. In a rapidly transforming and evolving learning and professional landscape, mentoring is a must not just for students contemplating future study and work, but also for those already in the workplace.“In this new world of work, with things moving so fast, having an interchange of mentors and mentees is going to be the most useful and beneficial form of mentorship.”
Heidi says in the wake of the pandemic, mentoring is more important than ever as we all navigate our way through the current complexity of the COVID-19 crisis, and its ongoing impact on the economy, education sector, job and study opportunities and the ability for us all to plan ahead for an uncertain future.
“This is obviously a situation that none of us have experienced in our lifetime and hope we don’t have to again! However, what it has forced us to acknowledge is that work for a lot of organisations and their people will never look the same.
“Right now, while temporary, work is not a place, but a state of mind. Sure we might have the tools to help us do our work and collaborate with our teams, but how do we maintain a sense of belonging, purpose and connectivity to our work when we are all so isolated?”
Heidi also says providing a forum in which people can connect with their peers to talk about how they are feeling, how they are working and what they need help with is a small step to reinstating a sense of belonging in a new world of ‘remote’.
“It’s this sense of isolation and the lack of physical interaction that is driving many people, across all levels of an organisation, to seek and find mentorship right now.”
Heidi says key characteristics of good mentors include: they care about the next generation’s success; are self-aware and enthusiastic: set a good example as a positive role-model; are intentional with their time; share experiences rather than advice; provide quality feedback; are open and active listeners; and they extend their professional network to accelerate the mentee’s access to knowledge, people and opportunities.
“Throughout my life I’ve been fortunate to have people that have proactively taken an interest in me. My parents, my teachers, my friends and my colleagues. I’ve had people that have seen something in me and wanted to help me further develop that - give me a push, give me some words of encouragement, give me a kick up the backside when I needed it and, most important of all, give me the confidence to believe in myself when I was unsure. I’ve been lucky,” she says.
“I want to make a space available to all where it doesn’t come down to luck. That’s why Lucy and I started Mentorloop. It’s all about making mentoring more accessible and more meaningful for more people.”
girledworld has just released a FREE Online Mentoring Course in partnership with Future Amp and the Victorian State Government (DJPR), which will be distributed to 10,000+ high school students across Victoria.
Sign up your school or access online learning module here.
The FREE course will take approximately 45 minutes to complete.
To learn more about our industry-backed career education and future skills programs please get in touch with our team at hello@girledworld.com
Tanya Hosch - AFL General Manager of Inclusion and Social Policy
An increasing number of women are joining the ranks of the big business that is the AFL in a range of organisational roles which traditionally have been filled by men, and this is opening up new opportunities for the next generation of players, umpires, support staff and administrators, and showcasing a range of exciting new career pathways for today’s young people to step into the AFL jobs of tomorrow.
Kylie Rogers, General Manager of Commercial, and Tanya Hosch, General Manager of Inclusion and Social Policy, are two women currently employed by the AFL, outstanding leaders and industry role models, and are both certainly making their mark on the game right now.
Prior to joining the AFL in 2017, Kylie was Managing Director of Mamamia Women’s Network, Australia’s largest women’s first digital media company, and before that spent 17 years working with Network 10. These days, in her role with the AFL, Kylie is focussed on creating a sustainable revenue model to ensure growth for the industry across all 18 football clubs and at AFL House, and she loves the diversity of her every day job.
“My role really varies day by day, from board meetings, team workshops and commercial analysis to the excitement of working with artist managers to select the talent for the Grand Final, or even working hands on with our event managers to bring a concept to life. No day is the same - and I love that about my role!,” she says.
In a different department of the AFL, Tanya’s role involves advising the AFL and broader industry on issues relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, multiculturalism, racism, sexism, gender and gender diversity, LGBTQI issues and disability.
“My role is to enact policy change within the AFL and its community to ensure it is a more inclusive, fair and equitable landscape for all.
I’m required to have a broad knowledge of the political, economic and sociological landscape of Australia to advise on best practice policy and initiatives for the league, while maintaining a focus on the growth of the game,” she says.
Tanya says the AFL provides a huge platform to address equality and fairness, something she is personally and professionally incredibly passionate about.
“As an organisation with so many members and fans, what we do is noticed. So I get to see my advice take the form of action. It’s a wonderful place to be an advocate because sport is a powerful vehicle to drive change and impact others in a positive way,” she says.
Kylie Rogers - AFL General Manager of Commercial
“Seeing a woman working in a traditionally male dominated organisation, or in a role which is traditionally filled by a male, sets the standard to empower other females to do the same. It is the right of every woman and girl to be able to participate in our game, or work for our organisation, and I know the health of the code is better off for having a more diverse workforce,” Kylie says.
Tanya says being an indigenous woman in a senior role within the organisation sends a powerful message, too.
“Women being represented in leadership roles is vital to the success of any organisation as it not only provides younger generations with role models, but it sends a message – we all have a part to play and value to add.
I hope the fact that I am an Indigenous woman on the AFL Executive adds to that importance, and that our community is represented and heard at all levels of the game. It is critical that when we look across the population, we see society’s balance represented at senior levels of leadership,” she says.
“When I started at the AFL, I didn’t acknowledge the significance of my appointment, but the public response quickly helped me to see that this was quite a big deal. As a football community we face many issues of racism, sexism and discrimination, and my role is to champion others and make the game a safer and more inclusive space.”
A major breakthrough for the organisation was the inclusion of women in the game six years ago, with the establishment of the AFLW. Since then, female football participation has boomed in Australia, rising from just 195,000 female players in 2014 to over 580,000 in 2019!
“AFLW has brought new fans to our game, allowed us to create a new career pathway for hundreds of athletes and it is the future growth of our competition. It has helped raise the profile of women in sport across the entire country, and all female codes are benefitting. The fact that young girls are growing up knowing they have every opportunity to play our game, or work for our game or other sports, is so important, and frankly well overdue,” Kylie says.
“Whether you have goals to work in football administration (football management, medical, high performance coaching or player welfare) or commercial, sponsorships, marketing, public relations, media, memberships … the opportunities that exist within the football landscape are endless.”
Tanya says the establishment of an elite women’s league met the long-held aspirations of hundreds of women “who had advocated and dreamed of this for many, many years”.
“Some were worried it would overshadow other women’s sport but I think the opposite has been true. I think all of women’s sport has been stronger and become more visible, and more celebrated. This is only part of the benefits to us as a whole society. Whenever the role and strengths and success of women are highlighted in all parts of our world, the greater chance we have of improving equality for women and girls at all levels of their lives,” she says.
The AFL are proud supporters of girledworld’s Workplace Mentoring & Employability Skills Program - an online e-learning course providing high school students across Victoria with windows to the world of work, industry mentors and virtual work experience.
To sign up your school and students for FREE access to this career education e-learning module supported by the Victorian State Government, please register here.
As we watch the greatest global pandemic humans have faced in more than a century force governments and schools across the planet race to solve the complex challenges of COVID-19 containment across populations, it’s a great comfort to know that there are experts out there working on solutions.
In fact, scientists, creative thinkers, academics, health and medical professionals and thought leaders are collaborating like never before - unified in the search for a vaccine and viable treatment for COVID-19.
One of those experts is infectious disease specialist and Deputy Chief Medical Information Officer at Royal Melbourne Hospital Dr Kudzai Kanhutu, who says given where the world’s at right now, careers in STEM have never been more relevant.
“The pandemic reminds us how important it is for us to encourage people from all the STEM disciplines to collaborate and build an even bigger, better community to deal with the challenges that face us and the planet as a whole,” she says.
“Any girl who is watching what is happening now should feel absolutely inspired by the world of opportunities for helping restore good health to the planet.
Whether that's the more obvious career choices in healthcare or the equally important role that engineers, mathematicians and technologists play in helping us understand and respond to the chaos we are all experiencing right now.”
“There is so much scope to shine and lead in STEM, the only limit is your willingness to be brave and explore.”
In 2017 Dr Kanhutu was jointly awarded the Victorian Public Healthcare Award for excellence in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse care. This award acknowledged her outstanding clinical innovation through the development and implementation of a purpose-built electronic health record as well as a telehealth model of care for remote management of refugee patients. Dr Kanhutu’s current research undertakings are in the areas of virtual care, digital literacy and the impact of housing stress on refugee health outcomes.
A self-confessed health tech nerd she is also a current board member for the Health Informatics Society Australia and clinical reference lead for the Australian Digital Health Agency.
And outside of work, Dr Kanhutu enjoys a number of eclectic pursuits. She is the reigning Kensington Primary School parents’ dance-off champion, and is equally comfortable in the forward pocket doing AFL goal-kicking practice with her kids as she is fronting an academic conference to deliver a keynote speech.
Dr Kanhutu attributes her career in part to her professional experience, but also to the lived experience of growing up in Zimbabwe, and her time spent working in rural and regional Australia, where health inequality led to her desire to apply technical solutions to real-world health problems.
She says her keen interest in the field of science developed from a very young age.
“The interest in science was there from day one,” she says.
“Science allows you to indulge your curiosity 100% and curious is my middle name!
As a child I remember being the sort of person who tried to look inside ant mounds or tried to fit myself inside a fridge. I was surrounded by women who were either teachers or nurses, so a combination of learners and applied scientists really.”
Dr Kanhutu says her current role at the Royal Melbourne Hospital is a “fancy term for someone who acts as a translator between doctors and information technology experts”.
“We do a lot of operational research at the hospital. Operational research is about looking at our own processes to make sure we are doing the right thing for our staff and patients. I find this really exciting because you get to change and fix things really quickly rather than the slower time lines you have in traditional laboratory settings.”
Thank you, Dr Kanhutu, for all you do to innovate in your field, and inspire the next generation of STEM leaders! Stay curious!