McCarthy Mentoring

Research and our experience shows leadership skills can be learnt. Yes, some people have more natural leadership attributes than others, but we consistently see the successful growth of aspiring leaders if they are clear on their development goals, work hard to build on their strengths and have strategies to manage or shift the behaviours that get in the way. In this lastest article, McKinsey's argue that the biggest obstacle to creating resilient and high performing teams is the lack of a deep bench of leaders able to thrive and withstand disruption in this business environment. They refer to the need for businesses to become a ‘leadership factory’ with programs and a culture that treats shaping, developing and mentoring the next generation of managers as a core capability. Our 10-month Leadership Development Programs help organisations to do just that. They motivate, inspire and stretch future leaders from across all parts of the business to strengthen the pipeline and build capability. Participants learn what’s needed to perform at their best and grow into agile, effective leaders by knowing themselves, their organisation and their people. Each aspect of the program - from Hogan assessments to executive access - strengthens skills, expands thinking, builds confidence and drives performance. Importantly, it focuses on building the trusted relationships needed to thrive. Participants grow and learn as a group and individually, with carefully allocated personal mentors and coaches from our sought-after experienced network supporting the process. It's high-impact, engaging and future proofing. Get in touch if we can help. McCarthy Mentoring Leadership Programs - https://lnkd.in/g4cHUGDJ https://lnkd.in/e5RBSjsu

Last week, we brought 21 smart, talented women from across Snowy Hydro Limited together to share ideas, strengthen skills and work on a strategic business challenge for the second group workshop in the 2024 Rise Women in Leadership Program. Held at Snowy's fantastic Red Energy workspace in the historic Bryant & May Redhead Matches factory in Richmond, Melbourne, the group were collaborative, strategic and willing to step out of their comfort zone to strengthen their performance and impact. With a focus on effective communication, we were delighted to see them continue to grow in confidence and leadership as we worked on skills to influence, inspire, engage and grow others. Thanks to Theresa Miller for the great presentation and pitching segment and for everyone stepping up to front the camera. Thank you to program sponsor and Snowy Group Executive, Gabrielle Curtin, Red Energy CEO Iain Graham and Red Customer Experience Leader, Cate Pigeault. Sophie McCarthy Tessa Sexton

Wonderful to celebrate Professor Jennifer Westacott AO and raise funds for Sydney Women’s Fund last week. As a key fund of the Sydney Community Foundation, proudly chaired by our CEO, Sophie McCarthy, it was particularly special to see the collective determination of the room to make Sydney a more kind, equitable and stronger city by supporting our most vulnerable – women & children. During her speech, Professor Westacott spoke of resilience, tenacity and the power of community spirit to achieve positive change. Her clear focus on purpose, sense of justice and deep values of hard work, kindness and fairness came through strongly as she reflected on the parts of her life and career that shaped her and drove her forward. Openly sharing her tough upbringing in public housing to eventually being able to drive reform and ease conditions in her role at Department of Housing, she spoke of the urgent need to support working Australians who are struggling to get ahead with purpose, resolve and accountability. Like so many of us, she advocated strongly for access to education to achieve equality and opportunity. She encouraged future community and business leaders to “get out of your comfort zone, do the really hard things, and back yourself. Nothing comes to people like me, without striving for it and without grabbing at it.” “Take big risks, ask the questions, listen to the experts, and surround yourself with people who know what to do because your job is to give them a voice.” Importantly to not worry about being afraid. “Yes fear can feel overwhelming but it can also be a great motivator. It can drive the hunger for knowledge and the hunger to succeed.”

Delighted to be a founding sponsor of Surf Life Saving Australia's Women's Mentoring Program that seeks to develop and support the leadership pipeline of women in Surf Life Saving. At the launch of the sixth cohort this week, we were pleased to meet another group of incredibly impressive and driven women representing clubs from across the country who came together as either aspiring leader mentees or generous mentor volunteers. Women who already have buckets full working paid jobs alongside their roles at SLS, and have grabbed the opportunity to learn from others, build their networks, develop their skills and increase their impact. McCarthy Mentoring is proud to have provided program design, training and our specialised resources to the hundreds of participants who have taken part since the program's inception. As one mentor said of her long-term involvement at this week's launch: “We all have a lot going on but it is so important to invest in the development of other women. One of the great aspects has been the incredible network involved and how quickly we can help each other by just putting our heads together to brainstorm issues, open doors or remove hurdles.” For further info: https://lnkd.in/gHaNF8xW #SLSA #mentoring #womenleadership #leadershipdiversity

The latest gender diversity statistics announced by Chief Executive Women (CEW) yesterday are concerning. CEW has found only 25 of ASX300 CEOs are women and half of these companies have no women in CEO pathway roles as of 1 July. Our experience running leadership development programs supports ANZ’s Katherine Bray comment “it doesn’t just happen because we want it to happen. It takes rigorous management and targets.” Over the past 15 years McCarthy Mentoring has delivered women’s leadership programs with Qantas, Stockland, Snowy Hydro and Council of Museum Directors with strong results including an average of 49% promoted or increased responsibilities within the first 12 months. Like safety or cyber security, gender equity in our companies requires clear goals, targets, executive sponsorship and accountability to successfully accelerate and progress talented women. These initiatives must then sit within a broader commitment to ensure culture, structure and systems enable and foster diversity across all levels and roles.

In our latest episode of The Mentor Mic, Chair of Chris O'Brien Lifehouse, Suzanne Storrie, speaks to our CEO Sophie McCarthy. They discuss career decisions, the leadership strengths Suzanne draws on in a boardroom, the value of self-reflection and what prompted her to help start the Surf Life Saving Australia Women's Mentoring Program. She also shares why the most common advice she shares when mentoring emerging talent is to "invest in your networks". "Think about how you can build and maintain meaningful connections...I wish I knew this earlier in my career." The Mentor Mic is a digital series in which we talk candidly with members of our network to share wisdom, personal experiences and practical tips around mentoring and leadership.   Enjoy this two-minute excerpt of our conversation with Suzanne. You can find the full episode on our website here. https://lnkd.in/ehnrVmQu

Setting goals is an important first step in professional development and our Set Your Goals cards are a popular tool to help our program participants articulate their priorities. They are practical, fun and easy-to-use, designed to help you think more strategically about your performance, career and life. This year, we've added more contemporary choices and the updated cards are now available for everyone to buy on our website. They are for anyone in a leadership program, mentoring or coaching engagement. https://lnkd.in/gNzr9q4k We know that you are 40% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down and this increases to 70% if you share your goals with someone to keep you accountable such as a mentor. We're always impressed when participants on our programs go public with their professional development goals for the year. What most of us underestimate is that your team, manager, colleagues, family and friends will help you achieve those goals, but they can’t if you don’t share them. Be bold, select 10 goals that are meaningful to you and then map out a plan to achieve them. Think about what you need to feel happy and successful? What’s holding you back? What’s the timeframe? Share the goals with an advisor and your network to make them happen. Good luck. #goalsetting #professionaldevelopment #mentoringresource

Congratulations to the talented graduates of this year's EDL's Ignite Emerging Leaders Program who spent 10 months strengthening their leadership, communication, relationships and strategic insights. It's been rewarding to see them grow in skills, confidence and performance while sharing valuable experience from their diverse roles across the US and Australian operations. Thank you to CEO James Harman, CFO Susan Marrinan, HR Manager Hayden Smith and the EDL leadership team for their strong support of our program and the group's development. And to our wonderful coaches for their individual participant guidance - a powerful component of all our leadership programs. Congrats: Billy Kirby, Brendan Scandrett, Garth Spence, Isaac Fischmann, Jason Carey, Meera Shah, Meghan Stackhouse, E.I., Rhys Kilpatrick, Sara Swanson, Tiffany Valk Coaches: Miles Protter, Richard Clarke, Megan Corfield, Kerry Maloney, Rhys Gwyn, Rhyll Gardner FAICD FFin, Tom Thivierge, Ainsley Barahona Santos, Vicki Thibodeau Walker PCC, CPC, MSLIR, Suzanne Storrie

Proud to support the wonderful work of this new charity through our Not-For-Profit Executive Mentoring Scholarship. Eyes of Hope Australia Co-Founder, Dr Shenouda Girgis is being mentored by entrepreneur & growth strategist Kylie Little. Kylie brings passion, expertise and a wealth of experience as founder of her own successful digital brands and valued supporter of others. In addition to her role as a McCarthy Mentoring business mentor, she currently works with climate tech startups in the High Growth Ventures team at KPMG. Dr Shenouda Girgis says the mentoring sessions have opened up a new realm of knowledge and insight that has helped grow the charity in new and exciting ways. #executivementoring #nfpleadership #homelesssupport

Excited to be partnering with Snowy Hydro Limited and working with this new cohort of smart, impressive women with diverse skills from across the organisation as part of the 2024 Rise Women in Leadership Program. Last week was the first workshop as a group together and they grabbed the opportunity to learn new skills, gain insights from each other and the executive as well as look for ways to collaborate more deeply. The workshops are part of the 10-month program involving Hogan Assessments, individual mentoring and group innovation projects. Thank you to our wonderful network of exceptional business mentors, CEO Dennis Barnes and Sponsor Gabrielle Curtin for your continued support of Rise.