CAUSEWAY: Ireland Scotland Business Exchange was pleased to announce recently that it had partnered with LIFT Ireland to help deliver, promote and foster stronger leadership values and standards for individuals and businesses across Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
LIFT Ireland is a not-for-profit initiative aimed at increasing the level of positive leadership in Ireland and beyond. Launched in 2018 at an inaugural event attended by some of Ireland’s foremost leaders in business, arts, education and sport, LIFT stands for ‘Leading Ireland’s Future Together,’ and was built on a desire to change the country for the better by changing the way people view leadership. Their vision is to make Ireland a better place by creating better leaders across society, with an aim that more than 10 per cent of the Irish population will have engaged with LIFT by 2028.
LIFT aims to do this through its eight-part group learning process, from the kitchen table to the classroom and from the clubhouse to the boardroom. These sessions bring four or five people together to individually self-reflect on a particular LIFT personal leadership theme, how it shapes our character and impacts our interactions with each other both online and face-to-face.
Explaining more about the partnership with LIFT Ireland and the benefits it will offer to Causeway members, Causeway Vice Chair and LIFT Roundtable Facilitator Brigid Whoriskey said: “Causeway is delighted to have partnered with LIFT Ireland and to be able to offer this valuable programme to our members.
“As a business networking organisation focused on supporting and showcasing innovative leadership and strengthening connections between the business communities of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland, we are very pleased to be able to offer this programme to our members and consequently, extend LIFT Ireland’s valuable programme to professionals and businesses in Scotland.
“Now more than ever it is important for us to do a bit of self-reflection and to ‘up our game’ on values such as respect; accountability; listening and positivity—with just 40 minutes a week, LIFT really helps to focus on small steps that can lead to lasting improvements in leadership.
“The LIFT programme in Ireland has already made a remarkable impact, being successfully rolled out nationwide throughout businesses and schools via their volunteer facilitator network, and after receiving fantastic feedback at the online pilot we recently ran in Scotland, we are extremely pleased to be working with LIFT Ireland to extend the reach and value of this programme to our members across Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Prior to launching the LIFT Programme to its members, Causeway piloted the programme. One of the participants of the pilot, David Greenlees, Chair of Causeway and UK and Ireland Director for Priority Software, commented on the programme.
“There are many management training programmes available and ones that I’ve been part of over the years, however I felt that LIFT was subtly very clever in its delivery and content,” he said. “Renewing and challenging the skills that we naturally use, has provided me with a new perspective on my daily engagement with others both professionally and personally.”
Finn O’Neill, Causeway Young Professional Member and Trainee Solicitor with CMS, and also a participant in the pilot added: “As a young professional, I found the LIFT training gave me the perfect space to focus on key leadership skills. The roundtable format was particularly beneficial as I learned a lot from the other participants. Focusing on LIFT’s core principles has given me a new perspective on how I work, and I now feel better equipped to lead in the workplace and further afield.”
The programme sees LIFT facilitators bring four or five people together to individually self-reflect on a particular LIFT personal leadership theme and how they shape our character and how they might be of relevance in how we interact with each other online and face to face.
Over its eight weeks, LIFT improves people’s ability to lead themselves and others by encouraging small individual incremental change in key personal leadership traits. The process takes 30-40 minutes weekly. The sessions are called roundtables, which make no comment, offer no judgement nor advice, they are opportunities for self-reflection and personal ownership only.
The leadership are values involved are: listening, positive attitude, respect, competence, determination, empathy and understanding, accountability, honesty and integrity. Two extra values have been included as a result of research done during the pandemic—resilience and innovation and adaptability.
“We are absolutely thrilled to partner with Causeway on developing personal leadership both in Ireland and Scotland. Our vision is to build a better society by developing the leader in each of us,” LIFT founder, Joanne Hession (above), said. “LIFT helps each of us become better leaders, no matter who we are, what we do or where we are. It’s a peer led initiative using LIFT’s five-step process, which focuses on discussing leadership values that have been chosen by the public as essential to good leadership.
“LIFT isn’t about titles, positions or achievements. It’s about you and how you behave towards yourself and to others around you. In that way, as each of us improves, we contribute to a greater workplace, a greater community and a greater society. I hope you enjoy participating in the programme and that you share what you learn with those around you.”
Causeway is pleased to be able to extend an invitation to its members to participate in this eight-week LIFT programme, with the intention to run the first roundtable from early June and subsequent roundtables later in the year. Please e-mail notes of interest to: membership@causewayexchange.net
For further information contact Events and Communications Manager Aoife O’Sullivan on: aoife.osullivan@causewayexchange.net or at 078 7055 6486
