Gender Equality Case Study: THE ICONIC

Initiative Description

Our partnership with Mentor Walks is anchored around having mentoring accessible for our female Senior Leaders to mentors from a diverse backgrounds. The initiative launched in March and was made available to 21 leaders within THE ICONIC. The ability to have conversations in a safe space and to receive guidance from exceptional mentors who have been in the shoes of our female leaders and want to help women rise is the essence of this initiative. 

Context

Mentorship is really important, the ability to have a sounding board, to seek a fresh perspective, to build their network and share the challenges women face at work is how we start addressing them. Our CEO has worked closely with an organisation called Mentor Walks for a number of years and we’re proud to launch our membership as a Conversation Series and Sydney Partner. Mentor Walks is effective because it’s a simple idea that’s well executed. Emerging female leaders have a one-hour walk with an exceptional female leader multiple times within the year where they can connect, talk, walk, workshop issues and share insights related to their careers. In addition to this, our female leaders have access to attend THE ICONIC sponsored virtual Conversation Series held once per month for the next year. THE ICONIC wanted to target and invest in the leadership development of our women. ​

Our ongoing investment in building leadership capability is a core part of our DNA and critical to bringing our business strategy to life. Our playbook and principles highlight that #peopleareourgreatestasset and providing support to our leaders to build their networks, continue learning and step forward in their career is important now more than ever. This initiative compliments the broader leadership development investments we are making and the emphasis on mentorship and coaching as a way to improve leadership capability and performance. Mentor Walks provides this opportunity by connecting women with leading female CEOs, Directors, Executives or Founders as mentors. 

Action

1. Identified our high performers based on performance, senior leaders who have a high impact on the business through talent management process and identified female leaders through that.​
2. Development opportunity was identified as connection with mentors and access to networking.​
3. Mentor walks was an aligned partner as the CEO was working with Mentor Walks as a Mentor.​
4. Senior Leaders were engaged and nominated to be Mentors and Mentees within the organisation.​
5. All women senior leaders have access to THE ICONIC conversation series so they can hear from female leaders on key topics. Post the live event, THE ICONIC conversation series is also available publicly via YouTube & will be shared on our internal social platforms for all ICONITES. (Workplace)

Result

• First cohort took place on Friday 25 March and the group will get the option to attend two walking sessions per year at a minimum​
• Extending networks for our female leaders and the opportunity to meet with other diverse leaders​
• Energised and empowered sessions for participants.​
• Mentor and mentees connect, talk, walk, workshop issues and share insights related to their careers.

Lessons Learnt

• A relatively new initiative so we are set up to learn more throughout 2022. ​
• We will continue to collaborate with participants to learn about their experiences. ​