MentoringWomen
Mentoring with Maree
Maree has been mentoring women both formally and informally since 1989 and
she shares here what women can achieve by engaging in mentoring with her.
It has been Maree's experience that all the women who come to her,
and commit to the process, are already very competent leaders.
They come to mentoring because they are highly motivated
to be the best they can be and they bring a
high energy commitment to the engagement.
Why women come to mentoring with maree
Women want to feel empowered. They want to discover the talents and abilities
they know they have but which they can't quite articulate.
They want to learn how to optimise their potential and seize opportunities
This will see them empowered to manage the distinctive challenges
they face as women as they endeavour to advance their careers.
Maree creates an empowering space where they can do that
in a proactive way.
In the booklet you receive when you sign up to Maree's mailing list
are some case studies of the outcomes women have achieved in
mentoring with Maree.
What women need to do to advance their careers
Have a career development plan
You need to have a vision for where you want your career to go and why and have a plan for making it happen. This will build on your existing skills, seeking opportunities that will develop and enhance them. Maree can help you map those skills and their transferability, as well as help you gain insight into talents and abilities you may not have been aware you had. You can then, with Maree, develop a plan that fits your vision but is also flexible.
Develop your network
Women, particularly mothers, have traditionally not prioritised this, given the demands and prioritising of family outside of work. Yet your network represents your net-worth career wise and is crucially important. In the mentoring, Maree will help you develop a way to build those important connections and relationships.
Build a social media presence
Like it or not, you need a presence on social media. In the mentoring, Maree can work with you to develop a social media strategy and reason for being there. That will determine which social media platform/s will give you the outcome you want, the most impact. She can then help you create a profile there and work with you on how to use that media to build your professional brand.
Create Your Professional Identity
This is about creating your professional brand. You need to spend as much time working on who you want to BE, as you do on what you want to DO. People "buy" who you are, not what you "sell". Having clarity about how you want to show up and why you do what you do, is very important. Maree's experience and expertise is in this very area and in the mentoring she will take you on a journey which will lead you to create that professional identity.
Learn to self-promote
Women have tended to not be good at this. Surveys reveal they recognise that their lack of confidence in their abilities can jeopardise their careers. One HBR survey showed that two thirds of women did not realise they could be CEOs until someone else told them. Maree can help you find a voice to self-promote that sits well with your values.
Integrate work and family
This is one of the greatest challenges for women whether they are mothers or child free because they tend to prioritise family and close relationships over everything. When the going gets tough they too often choose family because they can't see another way through. Maree can help you navigate that challenge and find a way to bring about a creative flow between the two.
What Maree's Clients Say About Her
Hayley Vindon, Water, Climate Change, Conservation and Natural Resources Management Specialist, Geelong.
I have always understood the benefits for both the mentor and mentee in a mentorship but in my entire career, I’ve actually never had one - up until this year that is.
I’d been tootling along on my own accord, knowing roughly what my 5-year goals were but I hadn’t put anything down on paper nor talked about my of plan of attack to anyone.
Sometimes you get to the point that a mentor is required. Not just someone who you know and is nice, but someone who is a trained mentor. Someone who you can click with, who actively listens and gives you tangible suggestions to speed your career progression along. Some times it helps to hear your thoughts out loud too and then you can see what things need to be done.
Enter Maree Harris, Ph.D. From the first 15 minutes of talking to Maree I knew I’d pursue a mentorship with her. Maree was calming, attentive, understanding, compassionate, knowledgeable… the list just goes on and on to be honest. We met in relaxed environments but talked about big ticket items about what needed to be done in order to progress my career and maybe more importantly, when they needed to be done!
I would not be in my amazing role now if it wasn’t for my time with Maree and I can’t thank her enough. I highly recommend Maree, she’s great face to face or on Zoom/Teams/the phone, so she can work with people all over the place. If you need a person to help achieve your goals, Maree is for you.
Thank you again 😊
Irene F, A/Director Network Operations, Government, NSW.
Participating in my professional association's 6-month mentoring program, I was lucky enough to be partnered with Maree. At that time I had moved from being an individual contributor to a leader managing a large multi-disciplined team and was facing a steep learning curve. Through the sessions with Maree I was able to improve my soft skills and experience better relationships with my internal and external stakeholders. It was following the mentoring that I felt confident to take another step into Senior Management and further an opportunity to act in an Executive role - a career path I never envisioned when I was an engineering student.
Mandy Cohen, Complex Needs Coordinator, Department of Health and Human Services, Victoria.
I've had the pleasure of being mentored by Maree. I was initially referred through to Maree for consultative supervision, given the complexities of my work. However, our working relationship naturally progressed into a mentoring role where Maree, intuitively and expertly guided me through career development and leadership growth. Maree has helped me to identify and capitalise on leadership opportunities and has empowered me to break down the barriers, personally and professionally, that have held me back from realsiing my full potential. I feel more confident moving forward and I know that I can always look to Maree for ongoing support and guidance. she gets my highest recommendation.
Suzie Rigby, Specialist in Wellness and Well-Being, Injury Prevention and Health Management, Organisational Rehabilitation, and Vocational Asessment, Queensland.
I participated in the mentoring program offered by my professional association and was fortunate to meet and work with Maree Harris, the Director of People Empowered. As a mentor, Maree has a wonderful capactity to truly listen and to identify core issues and ideas with precision. In addition to her breadth of knowledge - from leadership and energy management to well-being in the workplace - Maree generously imparts her insights and wisdom and inevitably cites research and provides resources to further enable my professional development. While these sessions all took place online, with Maree in Victoria and myself in Queensland, she arranged a face to face session when she was up here on holidays. I am grateful to Maree for her mentoring and for her commitment to cultivating People Empowered.
Maree will also facilitate Group Mentoring Sessions for Women
For many years Maree has been mentoring individual women but it's when they
get themselves into groups that something very significant begins to happen.
What happens in the group mentoring?
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Women love hearing what other women are experiencing.
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Women are highly energised and motivated by what other women share.
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Women are empowered by discovering that so many other women share the same experience as them and feel the same way they do.
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Women being together, supporting one another, sharing their common experience and learning from one another gives them the confidence to take the action they need to take to achieve the outcomes they desire.