HG's Growing Greatness

December 2019

Thirteen of HG’s mid-career women recently completed a four-month Growing Greatness programme.

The programme is an initiative open to Diversity Agenda Partners and Change Makers who are serious about increasing the number of women in senior roles.

Harrison Grierson is a founding partner of the Diversity Agenda.

Lena Su, HG’s Finance Manager said the four one-day workshops over four months provided important space for self-reflection, self-awareness and insight. “We learnt what it means to be a good leader, how to lead our teams, and where we can add value to HG and build on our strengths,” she said. “I learnt how to focus on my strengths, how to lead by example and how to allow my team more opportunities to make decisions.”

Anita Simpson has recently been promoted to Operations Manager – Three Waters. She returned to work from maternity leave in January and said the programme helped her understand her own strengths and made her feel more capable and confident.

“I think women can undervalue themselves and can suffer from imposter syndrome, “she said. “Growing Greatness forced me to find time to reflect and plan about where I want my career to go. It helped me to identify my leadership strengths and to unpick how I could do things differently.”

Anita says without Growing Greatness she might not have had the confidence to take on her new role, where she is responsible for just over 20 people. “It taught me to value my own distinct strengths and work on empowering others in the team with theirs.”

Karen West, our Chief People & Communications said helping everyone to reach their potential is an important strategic goal at HG. “We’ve put ‘Investing in our People’ at the top of the list for the last 8 years,” she said.