We continued our partnership with the Australian Business & Community Network last term with a group of students invited to participate in the FOCUS program. In a series of 3 workshops, FOCUS explored the following areas:
- introduction to leadership
- realising strengths and developing leadership habits
- learning how I can be a leader
Each workshop was led by professional mentors from the company called Accenture. Mentors shared their own career pathways and experiences of being a young leader in their area of expertise.
Student comments on their learning/involvement:
Hearing from my mentor about personal experiences were very helpful for understanding and encouraged a more comfortable environment.
My mentor shared her failures and successes and that helped me and my group to understand how to overcome challenges in life and within the workplace.
I learnt to be brave, do what you want and don’t be scared for trying something or doing something, trust your instincts.
The most useful thing I learnt during this program is that leaders are all different and have different strengths and weaknesses and that failure is not negative and is actually a new opportunity.
Some outcomes of the workshops:
| Rating Area | Before Focus | After Focus |
| I see where I am a leader in my life | 41% | 100% |
| I have confidence in my leadership potential | 35% | 88% |
| I am aware of my strengths that can make me a good leader | 41% | 100% |
| I understand the importance of failure in my development | 41% | 94% |
Alanah Cathro – Student Pathways
