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Leadership Matters: April introduction from Marie-Louise Pearson OAM FIML, Chair of the Board

Happy Easter. Easter is a time of reflection and renewal in many ways. For some it is celebrating your beliefs, for others, it is simply taking time out for yourself over the public holidays. Leadership Matters for April offers thoughts from some of our Members as they reflect on their careers.

Many of us stress about finding the ‘perfect’ job that incorporates all of our passions, values, and aspirations. Finding this ‘perfect fit’ often leads us down different career paths, meeting new people, and gathering new skills across diverse roles, organisations, and industries. It’s been said that a 15-year old today will likely experience a portfolio career, potentially having 17 different jobs over five careers in their lifetime. This aligns with a recent survey of millennials and Gen Z’s that identified the average time they planned to be at one employer was three years. Jobs and careers seem to be far more transient than they were 20 or 30 years ago and recent workforce changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and work from home policies might serve to accelerate this transition to a portfolio career far more rapidly.

Our feature story follows Nicolle Burt CMgr MIML on her own career journey – from failed artist (her words!) to a successful public sector consultant. As a First Nations person, she shares her interesting career journey and describes how her personal and professional background has helped her to become an adaptable and flexible leader. Nicolle shares her top three tips in a very relatable way about embracing diversity in background, experience and skills. I thoroughly recommend reading her story.

I’m delighted to launch our latest ‘Member in the Spotlight’ featuring Wendy Quinn CMgr FIML who takes the time with us to reflect on her career journey. Wendy is the Director of the Master of Leadership (Health & Human Services) at the University of Tasmania. Wendy has been a Member of the Institute for 32 years and works in partnership with our Membership Team via the Advanced Leadership for Guiding Transformation, Professional Practice Pathway through the Tasmanian School of Medicine. She shares her many years of wisdom with us on all things transformational leadership, doing the inner work, leading in the healthcare sector, lifelong learning and ‘paying attention’. A shortened version of Wendy’s feature will also appear in our regular Member in the Spotlight posts on social media.

In this edition, we also delve into the real reasons why people leave an organisation, with an emphasis on the growing lack of people finding meaning and purpose in their work. Perhaps this could explain why millennials and Gen Z’s are only willing to stay with employers for three years. Leadership coach, Karen Morley, shares her tips on how to retain good people by helping them find meaning in their work. She shares a priority list of what leaders should be focussing on in order to keep their best talent.

Leadership Matters is about you – our Members. It’s gratifying to see so many stories of our Members featured this month.

I hope some of the readings in this edition help you to recognise your ‘perfect’ job.

Please connect with the IML ANZ team and let us know what you need from us. We would love your feedback.

Be your best,

Marie-Louise Pearson OAM FIML LIFE

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