The 2026 Emerging Women Leadership Program (EWLP) has begun with session one taking place in South Australia, NSW, Victoria and Tasmania. The participants are taking a leadership journey through the personal stories and real life experiences of our IWFA members – the good, the bad, the brilliant and the ugly!
Reflection and debate on these stories will help strengthen beliefs. Not only the belief in their own capabilities, but the belief and trust in their own powers.
The EWLP journey follows the core fundamentals of outstanding leadership
- knowing yourself,
- knowing what you are capable of,
- knowing and owning your power and
- most importantly, knowing where and how to use it.
Session one looked at the importance of values in laying the foundations of decision-making. This involved thinking about how participants use their values when making both career and home decisions.
As this journey unfolds over the next five sessions, participants will find that each session builds on the previous session.
In session two we will look at goals and direction. We discuss the idea that “any road will take you there if you don’t know where you are going” and whether that’s okay. We’ll uncover whether participants are opportunity or goal driven and do they have clarity of purpose and path.
In session three, we look at Mindset and Building Self-Belief. This explores whether participants have a leadership mindset and what, if anything, is holding them back. We teach them how to learn to have belief in self and in capability.
Session four explores Connecting and Leading in a Contemporary World. We unpack the concepts of influencing and being supported in building relationships, influencing others, bringing your team along with you and actively engaging support for your leadership journey.
Session five brings it all together in Empowerment. Stepping into Leadership. We look at whether participants feel empowered to run their lives and have the courage, confidence, authority and freedom to be that leader they want to be.
Finally, session six is about reflection and celebration, looking at Owning and acting your Journey. Here we reflect on the program stories and takeaways. Each participant will present on their experience of the program, what they have learned, what they will keep, and what they will change on their journey going forward.
We also celebrate participants becoming IWFA Alumni and members of the EWL Alumni network, an invaluable support network for Emerging Leaders.
Spotlight on session one in South Australia
On 15 June, we launched the 2026 Emerging Women Leaders Program with a class of 26 fabulous young leaders in South Australia.
Samantha Pillay and Julianne Parkinson were our Storytellers for the session and they shared their personal journeys and invaluable insights on our theme: “Values, Goals, and Decision Making—Is the Whole of Life More Important Than Career Alone?” Their stories resonated deeply with the audience and created some diverse and thought-provoking discussions in our breakout sessions.
Key takeaways from their presentations are included below:-
- Values are an individual’s guiding principles and beliefs. Values are an important life asset.
- Values are personal, and when honed, serve as your morale compass such as when navigating through ambiguity and challenging times.
- Values enable decision making – what to do and what not to do. Establish boundaries and protect your non negotiables.
- Continue to invest in reflecting on and refining your values throughout life’s course.
- Family, community, and other lived experiences influence how we lead – whilst these encounters may not always positive, allow the observations and learning to improve you.
- Professional and personal achievements have greater meaning when grounded in purpose.
- Organisations’ values are ‘lived’ by people’s behaviours, not the organisation as an entity.
- Personal and organisations’ values may not align. Select thoughtfully and authentically.
- Values when demonstrated in behaviours and actions have impact. Make these count.
- Goals are not just what you want to achieve. They are what you need to do to keep going.
- The hardest goals are the ones nobody sees, nobody counts and nobody rewards. They are the foundation of everything else.
- The question is never whether the goal is worthy. It is whether you will keep working at it.
Sessions are generally held on the 2nd Monday of each month and we are enormously grateful to our wonderful Storytellers and Facilitators who volunteer their time and who are the real heroes of the program. Their open and honest perspectives and willingness to share their stories; the good, the bad and the sometimes ugly, provides invaluable insights for our emerging women leaders and creates a forum that is both relatable and engaging for our participants to learn, but also to think about how they can apply their learnings to their own personal and professional lives.
We’ve received some great feedback form our participants but the following probably summarises it best:-
It was so lovely to meet everyone on Monday!
Both presentations were very thought-provoking. Sam’s insight that the hardest goals are the ones nobody sees has already shifted how I think about progress and the quieter efforts that support it. Julianne’s reflections on values reminded me that leadership is shaped not only by what we move towards, but also by what we step away from.
What struck me most was that both presentations offered a perspective on leadership that felt less about achievement and more about how we stay connected to ourselves throughout the process.
Thank you all for such a thoughtful first session. I’m looking forward to Session 2!
