Learning how to express your own thoughts and feelings is not always easy. In a world that loves labels and quick judgements, it can feel difficult to find your voice. Yet we need to have dialogue, we need to genuinely listen and bring valued contribution. We need to hear and we need to feel heard. Often, especially as leaders, we need safe space to talk through possibilities, outcomes, options and ideas. Who does the leader go to when they are unsure and need help and input?
There have been many times in my own life where I have had an issue I am wrestling through, whether it be in the home or in the church, and not always known who to speak to. Sometimes I've even had the conversations and then later regretted even trying to articulate what I was feeling/thinking or asking. Knowing who to ask is so important. I created Rise Women Leadership Network because as leaders we need each other. We need the balance, we need the different gifts, we need the age, we need the youth, we need the different cultures and abilities. Some of us will be extraverts (I am that woman who turns up to whatever event you are throwing and is the last one to be thrown out the door). Others love their own company and space and put up with the rest of us in bite size chunks. But we need each other, and we need to hear each other.
Here at Rise Women as a leadership team we want to facilitate conversations that will aid growth, help understanding and enable each of us to be wiser. No one person has the monopoly on wisdom and we have all had different experiences. We know every single woman has walked through things in their own journey that can help another woman in theirs.
So can I encourage you to firstly join the leadership network if you haven't already. And if you know of potential leaders, young leaders, encourage them to join too. Let's involve women at their start of their leadership journey too. Secondly, I know we are all a little fed up of zoom (especially us extraverts who are desperate to be back in the room with actual human beings) but by doing these leadership forums live and online it means we can have more voices and more wisdom and more input. And that alone makes it worth it.
We have some brilliant topics on the online forums and we will be going into smaller breakout rooms too. The first one is about your journey - we want to hear your stories and how you arrived in the place God has put you! All the details are on our masterclass and forums page.
Your voice matters because you matter.
It's time to rise.
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