Tipperary Students Join 17,000 People In Lift Movement To Build Better Leadership Skills
Students at Loreto Secondary School, Clonmel have joined 17,000 people across Ireland in the Lift Ireland movement aimed at building better leadership skills.
Lift Ireland is a not-for-profit initiative working to improve the quality of leadership at all levels nationwide.
Launching Lift’s three-year impact report this week, the organisation’s CEO Joanne Hession said it has grown from having 1,000 participants in its first year to reaching 17,000 people over the past 12 months – including a significant number of people across Tipperary.
Michelle Culliton, a teacher at Loreto Secondary School, commented on the experience of the Lift process in the school, saying:
“Training two classes of Transition Year students in lockdown, I am delighted with the skills they have learned this year using this programme and I will be implementing Lift again next year.
Lift has worked so well for us this year.
We managed online roundtables in lockdown and during online learning.
Students really rose to the challenge of managing the meetings and going through the themes included in the process.
They were really accountable.”
Commenting on the growth of Lift in its third year, Joanne Hession said the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the organisation’s expansion and impact.
We have seen exponential growth over the last 12 months, due – in part – to our move online during Covid-19 and to the increased need for what we offer during a really difficult time.
The number of trained Lift leadership facilitators grew by 310% this year, and the number of participants in our Leadership Roundtables increased by 180% to over 17,000.
Our goal is that, by 2028, 10% of the Irish population will have strengthened their leadership capabilities through Lift.
Our impact report shows participants in Lift found our leadership sessions to be of real benefit in facing the challenges brought about by Covid-19, in Tipperary and across Ireland.
Eighty-four per cent of people said participating in Lift had helped either them or their organisation during the pandemic, with people noting that Lift helped them to adapt to changed working conditions, better manage their mental health and wellbeing, and maintain a positive attitude.”
Lift is delivered through a series of roundtable sessions, led by a volunteer facilitator, which starts with an 8-week process focusing on areas such as accountability, honesty and integrity, listening skills, empathy and understanding, and determination.
Currently, Lift has 4,500 roundtable facilitators across Ireland; over 80 partnership organisations in the business, public and non-profit sectors; and over 160 education partners in secondary schools and third-level institutions.
Organisations that work with Lift include Permanent TSB, Munster Rugby, NUI Galway, Dublin Airport, RTÉ, Pieta House, Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice, Bank of Ireland and AIB.
Surveys conducted with Lift participants revealed that 96.8% of respondents said that their understanding of what is required to lead well had grown, while 86% said that they had experienced real positive change as a result of the Lift process.
The full impact report is now available for download at here.
