AYA Leadership

14/03/2022

Female STEM leader role models are all around us, and I wanted to share this one with you.

Dr Jennifer Matthews started her career as the founder and manager of a marine conservation organisation, working in ecotourism and marine conservation. She is now a marine biologist, working to find solutions to some of the most critical environmental challenges of our time, including coral reef resilience against climate change and developing solutions to marine microplastic pollution. She also investigates the life-saving nutrient interactions in corals, to better inform conservation activities and to help safeguard the world’s coral reefs.

Jennifer's passion and purpose are what drive her motivation to persist in her research and look for new solutions, and enable what she discovers to lead to significant environmental benefits. She believes perseverance, resilience and passion are key factors to thriving as a woman in STEM.

Read her story here on Women's Agenda: https://womensagenda.com.au/leadership/success-it-comes-down-to-perseverance-dr-jennifer-matthews-on-her-career-in-stem/

Jennifer's story provides important leadership lessons we can all take away.

* As a STEM leader, how are you using your passion and purpose to motivate you to find new solutions?
* How are you enabling your resilience, perseverance and passion?
* And how can you be a role model for other women coming behind you, so they too know that they have a place in leadership?

11/03/2022

Tailored leadership development is a key contributor to STEM women’s career satisfaction and organisational retention.

If you employ early-mid career leaders in a STEM-related profession or organisation (or you are one!), with at least 3 years' formal or informal leadership, who are ready to become more visible, increase their confidence and feel empowered in their career, the Women Who Lead STEM Mastermind might be right for them. It provides the learning, resources and expert coaching to enable them to grow their leadership capability, confidence and success. So they can expand their visibility, influence and impact for your organisation.

Aya Leadership will only be offering one Women Who Lead STEM Mastermind during 2022, and participant numbers are limited to ensure maximum benefit for participants.

If you are interested in finding out more about this tailored professional leadership development program you can do so here: https://ayaleadership.com/women-in-stem/

Aya Leadership’s Women in STEM Female Leadership Program, has been developed to specifically address and negate these barriers.

10/03/2022

I actively promote these ten leadership capabilities as strong enablers for enduring and impactful leadership. Many of these capabilities are inherent strengths for women.

* Understanding of Self (knowing and living one’s purpose, values and beliefs; and identity centrality)
* Influence
* Strong communication
* Collaboration
* Emotional Intelligence
* Resilience
* Focus on Strengths
* Empathy & compassion
* Aligning people with meaning and purpose
* Developing others (coaching, mentoring, prioritizing growth)

Where do your strengths lie?

02/03/2022

Tailored leadership development is a key contributor to the career satisfaction and organisational retention of .

If you employ early-mid career leaders in a STEM-related profession or organisation, who are ready to step into the next level of leadership, create more impact for your organisation and build strong teams, the Women Who Lead STEM Mastermind might be right for them. It provides the learning, resources and expert coaching to enable them to grow their leadership capability, confidence and success. So they can expand their visibility, influence and impact for your organisation.

Aya Leadership will only be offering one Women Who Lead STEM Mastermind during 2022, and participant numbers are limited to ensure maximum benefit for participants.

If you are interested in finding out more about this tailored professional leadership development program, you can do so here: https://ayaleadership.com/women-in-stem/

Aya Leadership’s Women in STEM Female Leadership Program, has been developed to specifically address and negate these barriers.

01/03/2022

Professionals Australia's Women in STEM Professions Survey Report (2021) reveals that over one‑third of the 25–35-year-old female STEM workforce surveyed intended to leave their profession within the next five years.

In terms of sustainability of the STEM workforce, this represents a significant lost investment in young, expert talent that cannot quickly be replaced, and an even bigger loss of future leadership and innovation talent.

The top two reasons for leaving were for better pay and conditions and due to a lack of career advancement; other reasons included for: better work/life balance, increased challenges, a change or to gain experience, and greater professional recognition or status.

Is your organisation immune to this exodus of highly talented and passionate STEM experts? How could it impact your business over the next 1-5 years?

28/02/2022

I have been having so many conversations with female leaders who are feeling:
* overwhelmed with being busy,
* pulled in too many directions,
* unproductive in progressing their goals,
* challenged finding time to do the things they really want to do, including spending more time with family and making time for themselves, and
* less effective as leaders than they know they can be.

I began exploring the concepts of ‘real work’ and ‘fake work’ in the above contexts of female leaders, and realised that ‘fake work’ is an epidemic with significant wellbeing and productivity costs. So, I got to thinking about how it can be managed to free leaders to lead and achieve their goals.

In my recent article 'Embracing the real work, discarding the fake. How female leaders can invest in the work that will achieve their leadership goals', I identify how 'real work' and 'fake work' can show up for female leaders, the impact 'fake work' has on creating overwhelm and limiting real productivity, and strategies for discarding the fake work and embracing the real work in order to achieve your goals.

You can read it here: https://ayaleadership.com/embracing-the-real-work-discarding-the-fake-how-female-leaders-can-invest-in-the-work-that-will-achieve-their-leadership-goals/

‘Fake work’ is an epidemic with significant costs for female leaders. Here's how to invest in the 'real work' that will achieve your leadership goals.

25/02/2022

This week I explored with WOMEESA Women in Earth & Environmental Sciences in Australasia, a range of strategies to support women in STEM professions strengthen their VOICE and VISIBILITY in the workplace, in order to increase their contribution to their fields of expertise and lead with purpose. We also discussed the benefits for women in STEM professions of tailored professional LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT.

There is a significant focus in STEM industries on gender equity, and the desire to educate and recruit more women in STEM fields. I would argue that just as important is retaining the existing talented, expert women already working in STEM fields (recruiting and retaining women in STEM roles at all levels is a key goal of the Australian government's 2020 Advancing Women in STEM Strategy). Key to this is addressing the barriers that can exist for women in STEM professions, including investing in their leadership development and giving them leadership opportunities and experiences.

In addition to the fact that gender diversity in STEM increases innovation, and female leaders bring significant benefits to STEM businesses, we need more female STEM leaders and role models to attract more women and girls to STEM professions. As a woman in STEM, it can be really difficult to access these opportunities in mostly male-dominated industries for a variety of reasons, most of which are culture-based. We can’t change culture overnight, but what we can do is commit to the intentional development and appointment of more female STEM leaders.

If you are interested in understanding some of the barriers to leadership for STEM women, you can do so in this short article: https://ayaleadership.com/understanding-leadership-barriers-for-women-in-stem/

If you want to support the leadership development of your female STEM leaders, consider Aya Leadership’s Women Who Lead STEM Mastermind, running April to October: https://ayaleadership.com/women-in-stem/

STEM leadership barriers continue to be a significant issue for women in STEM industries.

24/02/2022

During January I was lucky to be immersed in the spectacular beauty of the Tasmanian coast and wilderness. It was within the stunning, captivating, rugged and ancient world heritage protected wilderness of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park and the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park (shown in the photo below) that I was struck like never before by the significance of the climate change epidemic we are in the midst of, and the extreme importance of activating all our climate science resources before it’s too late.

You may have already had this moment of shortness of breath and palpitating heart.

We know the status quo around climate change cannot continue, and there are many bright minds working on that. We need drastic, informed, courageous leadership and action.

I don’t have the skill set to contribute to climate science directly. What I can contribute is my leadership development expertise and experience to nurture enduring female leadership that has impact, generates growth and creates new realities – to support the women who will lead the research that will inform courageous policies and the industry actions that will manage global warming.

If your organisation is in one of the many industries being called upon to solve the climate change challenge, and you want to support your emerging and established female STEM leaders through tailored leadership development that will create new realities, please reach out. I would love to work with you.

22/02/2022

If you’re looking for a highly effective way to improve your leadership skills, start with your own .

Around 36% of a leaders’ success comes from their emotional intelligence. All employees observe their leaders’ emotional intelligence. If you are a leader with strong emotional intelligence, I encourage you to intentionally model this to your staff.

If, however, you are a leader who needs support to understand their emotional intelligence capabilities (which let’s face it, most of us do, there are very few emotional intelligence experts in the world), how to apply them in the workplace and how to strengthen them, there are two approaches I would advise.

The first is to undertake a MSCEIT emotional intelligence assessment and de-brief. The assessment reveals your emotional intelligence abilities (perceiving, using, understanding and managing emotions) and the de-brief assists you to put these into context, apply them purposefully and strengthen where appropriate: https://ayaleadership.com/emotional-intelligence/

The second is to join me in Aya Leadership’s The Resilient Leader Program: a solutions-focused program for emerging and established leaders and managers that puts emotional intelligence into practice – enhancing the emotional effectiveness and resilience of you and in turn your team. It builds knowledge, provides practical strategies and tools, and supports effective goal setting. For , emotional resilience is a key enabler to effectively navigating barriers to leadership.

If you’re interested, check out the details here: https://ayaleadership.com/resilient-leader/

Registrations for the March program close 10 March.

Emotional Intelligence Coaching coupled with the MSCEIT test for effective leadership, improve individual performance and business outcomes.

21/02/2022

The early-mid career leadership phase for STEM women is a critical phase. This is often where STEM women face the most significant challenges in progressing their careers and accessing leadership roles. This is when they really benefit from tailored leadership development support.

This is my area of expertise and what I absolutely LOVE doing – working with STEM women to unlock their potential to be enduring leaders that create new realities for themselves and their organisations and lasting impact in their STEM field.

If you or the women in your STEM organisation need my help, I’m excited to share that registrations are now open for Aya Leadership’s tailored 6-month Women in STEM Leadership Program (the Women Who Lead STEM Mastermind), designed for early-mid career female leaders in formal and informal leadership roles.

The program commences in late-April. There will only be one program run during 2022, so I recommend getting in early to secure your place.

If interested, you can find further details and registration here: https://ayaleadership.com/women-in-stem/

Aya Leadership’s Women in STEM Female Leadership Program, has been developed to specifically address and negate these barriers.

18/02/2022

I love working with women to nurture their leadership mindsets and skills. Though I probably don’t fit into the title of ‘scientist’ anymore, I get so much energy being around scientists.

This week and next week I am lucky to be working with the amazing women of WOMEESA, sharing with them my 'Women in STEM' Webinar Series on navigating barriers to leadership.

This week we looked at key barriers to career and leadership progression that can exist for women in STEM professions, associated protective factors, and practical strategies to leverage those protective factors and help women navigate the challenges of leading in a STEM environment. We also drilled down into RESILIENCE as one of these key protective factors.

Next week, we will explore VOICE and VISIBILITY, and LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT as additional core protective factors.

Thank you WOMEESA for letting me hang with a group of amazing scientists and women, and support you on your leadership journey.

18/02/2022

As someone who has worked in, alongside and led disciplines, I know the impact leaders can make in STEM industries, policy and operations. Having experienced many of the barriers that make it challenging for women to retain a STEM career and create the impact they know is so needed for complex global problems, I am committed to changing the status quo for STEM women as leaders, by uplifting and empowering more STEM women into leadership roles, through nurturing enduring leadership that has impact, generates growth and creates new realities.

I am so excited to be expanding my Women Who Lead Mastermind through a STEM lens, for , sharing the tools, resources and coaching that will uplift their leadership confidence and capabilities, allowing them to rise above the barriers that are impacting them.

The next 6-month Women Who Lead STEM Mastermind commences late-April. Details will be available soon. To find out more, please get in touch, or visit https://ayaleadership.com/women-in-stem/ and join the waitlist.

I want to support and uplift as many STEM women as I can, so please share this opportunity with your STEM networks.

Aya Leadership’s Women in STEM Female Leadership Program, has been developed to specifically address and negate these barriers.