UC Women's Group Mentoring Program/Participant 3's story

Contact details
Name of storyteller: Participant 3

Name of person recording story: Mark Spain

Location: Mizzuna’s

Date of recording: 15 July 2010

How did you become involved in UC WGMP?
Actually I was told it would be good for the soul to attend this program

1. What changes have you noticed since you have finished the program?

 * 1) People who had been around the University longer than me started asking me how to do things. There was a shift in their attitudes towards me as I was perceived to have some knowledge after being a WGMP participant. I guess you could say that I was considered a leader.
 * 2) I increased the number of friendships across the campus
 * 3) We have a group that meets every day for lunch to pick each other’s brains. It works across the different years of the WGMP
 * 4) It gave me confidence to apply for pay rise and when the contract that I was working on ended I was encouraged by other members to apply for other positions within the University.
 * 5) Gave me better mechanisms to cope better with work-life balance. We are all struggling and it’s good to know you are not alone.

2. What has been the MOST significant change?
My most significant change is the ongoing friendships and personally an increase in my own confidence.

Beginning (situation before the change)

Before I went I didn’t know anybody. When I was getting onto the bus I said to myself “What am I getting myself into here?” The first experience was the smell of overpowering perfume on the bus. During the program the thing that really broke the ice for me was when the women who sat next to me said I’ve shaved my legs especially for this. We broke out laughing.

Middle (what happened)

I guess by the middle of the program I had hit my stride and seemed to take a leading role in organizing the group and then I made an executive decision to draw up a roster so that everyone was participating equally, which worked really well, once this had occurred the dynamics in the group changed for the better as everyone took ownership, at this stage we had the midyear 1 day retreat and those that had not attended the residential really opened to the whole idea of the program, prior to this we had been struggling to keep people engaged.

End (situation after)

We have dinners and lunches regularly. These people are now a strong friendship group outside of work.

3. Why was this change significant for you?
Because the friendships are ongoing they make work a better place to be. In a semi large organization such as UC it is very easy to become isolated in your own working environment and to feel a little excluded. There is always someone I can turn to or contact if I need to process some element of my work and knowing that someone is out there to help is always much better than struggling alone.

There are many success stories within our group, the ones that have secured a promotion, the ones that have gone back to study, lots of success but I don’t want to mention names.

Our end of year presentation was amazing. We had a big empty vase and we each filled it with a flower as we told our story of what the program meant to us. Our group project was about informing ourselves and others about the services available for staff on the campus eg security, gym etc.

from Jess Dart	http://www.clearhorizon.com.au