Finding the 'Me' in Empowerment

What is empowerment all about?

Empowerment is about feeling stronger and confident and that you have the authority to make the right decisions. For some it can mean having the right tools and training, opportunities and motivation to be able to do your job to the best of your ability, and ultimately be responsible for their own decisions.

When we are able to confidently approach our work tasks and complete them to the best of our capability, we will feel like we make more of a difference in our job, which translates to greater job satisfaction.

We can all find empowerment within us

Empowerment is often thought of as something someone else gives to you. Someone with authority comes to you and gives you permission to make a certain decision, and delegates responsibility for the outcome, to you. The Hastings Business Women's Network believes that all women have the power and ability within themselves to be strong leaders; it is our goal to help our members to discover and channel these abilities and in turn to find success in their professional endeavours.

We help our members to find self-empowerment through our calendar of events, in particular our empowerment events.  Each event is designed to provide opportunities to our members to learn from and be inspired by other women. 

How can we empower ourselves?

For some HBWN members, empowerment can be found through networking with other members; sharing their own skills, life experiences and ideas in a friendly, welcoming forum.  For other members, they may take inspiration from the guest speakers who appear at HBWN events, such as anti-Domestic Violence ambassador Rosie Batty, speaker at our International Women's Day Hastings Heroine Event.

The HBWN has been recognising women who are making a difference in our community, with the Hastings Heroines program since 2012. The title is awarded to women who have worked hard to make a difference in the local community and in doing so have inspired and assisted others.

The HBWN and empowerment

The HBWN provides a range of professional development opportunities to its members, allowing them to collaborate and share their ideas in an open forum. In 2017 the FreeThinkers Group was created, presenting a chance for participants of the HBWN Mentor Program as well as FreeThinkers mentors to attend Mentor Workshops. At the workshops, attendees learned activities and techniques to assist them in making the most of their mentorship, with tangible outcomes for both Mentor and Mentee.

Other Professional Development highlights for the year included the Sales Growth Hacking workshop featuring Australia's leading sales expert Annette Lackovic, the Table Talk event covering the relationship between recruitment, culture and training and the customer experience, and of course the #mygen forum, an event where 4 generations of business women shared their stories and discussed issues of relevance to today's generation. 

Empowerment events 

Empowerment comes in many forms, and the HBWN's most recent event certainly took our members outside of their comfort zones to demonstrate the important link between physical activity and workplace performance. On Thursday 21 September members of the HBWN met at Flynn's Beach Surf Club for a Mind and Body workout presented by Innovate Body and Mind. The morning event was intended to give our Members the chance to experience the benefits of exercise coupled with mindfulness and how this can contribute to 'work-life balance'. Attendees discovered that regular physical activity and time out helps busy women to recharge their energy and ultimately to be stronger and more confident in day to day life.

The HBWN continually strives to encourage and inspire all its members to find the strength and courage within themselves to feel empowered everyday, and to ultimately turn their professional goals into reality. Empowerment really does come from within.

For more information on joining the Hastings Business Women's Network, please click here