AXIS members,
We hope you’ve had a good summer, and found some ways to switch off and look after yourself, whether or not you’ve actually managed a physical holiday. It’s been a busy few months at AXIS – while we can’t make big events happen this year, we’re still working hard behind the scenes to drive the changes we need to see in our industry for our members – read on for this month’s update below. As ever, we’d love to hear from you – let us know where you’re taking action we could support, or areas you’d like to see our group focus on.
Since we were last in touch, we’ve caught up with AXIS Network members Teresa Waddington on International Women in Engineering Day in June, where she shared her experience of career pivots, mentoring, and motherhood, just before she headed off back to Canada for her next career assignment, and Judith Rennie, who shared her review of new business book The Double X Economy with us. We are always looking for role models to feature, so please get in touch if you’d be happy to be featured (and if you don’t believe that you’re already a role model, see this piece we wrote here!) We also heard from our committee – with vice-chair Erica Kinmond sharing her experience of taking on a new role during lockdown, and chair Karen Blanc sharing her experience as a women in engineering.
Our mentoring cohort, with 17 pairings, are halfway through their programme now. If you’re part of the group and haven’t yet registered for the midway check-in or completed the survey, please do so as soon as you can. Your feedback and views are important as we look to continuously improve our offering – and thanks to those who’ve shared their experience to date – it looks like it’s working!
In our last update, we shared details of our Inclusive Offshore Working project, which we’re leading in partnership with Step Change in Safety. The project working group, made up of diverse experiences and viewpoints, has now been established, with the group having identified 10 working areas to improve inclusivity offshore, with initial focus areas on PPE, survival suits and a survey. If you’d like to provide ideas or share experiences (of good practise or bad!), then please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you in order that we can share best practice and produce industry recommendations which can really make a difference for women and men working offshore.
On a separate note, we are delighted to tell you that we’ve also been working with Achilles to integrate diversity and inclusion elements into their supply chain core pre-qualification question sets. This will allow buyers across the energy industry to identify organisations that are aligned with their own diversity and inclusion strategy. More to come on this topic so watch this space!
This month we wish farewell and good luck to Caroline Lawford and Sarah Clark, as they head off for short breaks from the committee. Thanks both for your incredible efforts – especially this year. This means that we’ll shortly be looking for new volunteers to join us – details to follow.
Finally, we’ll close this month with a reminder to be kind to yourself! During the past 6 months our committee have been experiencing the same incredible highs and lows as everyone else – ranging from new jobs, puppies and family members, to job losses, challenging work environments and family bereavements – and we’ve had to remind ourselves many times not to feel guilty about perceptions of falling short anywhere. Know that if you’re having a tough day/week/time you’re not alone, and we encourage you to reach out and use your support network – or see the excellent resources available at mind.co.uk.
Best regards, your AXIS committee
PS Please check your contact details – if you’d like to receive this mail at a new email address just drop us back a reply and we can refresh your details.
_______________________ Sent on behalf of AXIS Network
AXIS Network Board | Karen Blanc (Chair), Erica Kinmond (Vice Chair), Sarah Clark (Secretary), Susan Gordon, Susan Grayson, Eva Hagan, Wigdan Hamour, Katy Hardacre, Jenny Junnier, Caroline Lawford, Padraig McCloskey, Denis Pinto, Julie-Ann Whyte
AXIS Network Sponsor | Deirdre Michie, OGUK
Web: www.axisnetwork.co.uk, Facebook: www.facebook.com/axisnetworkaberdeen, LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/axis-network-aberdeen
Better Balance, Better Business