Please find attached a report from Amy Strang covering her experience at RYLA Elevate in Australia.

I think this could be worthy of publication across the Newmarket bulletin and the District news.

Just by way of introduction we assisted nine people to RYLA Elevate in Sydney which took place in the Blue Mountains in March.

Eight participants (listed Below) and one leader (Grace Cussell) (nine out of twenty six were from 9920, 35%, across Australia and New Zealand came from 9920 !!.

All of these candidates are very high calibre and a credit to New Zealand. Newmarket Rotary can be proud they are leading the way in District 9920 in supporting this initiative.

 

Amy Strang • Ariana Andrews • Chrystal Hayr • Mariam Malek • Kevin Choi • Will Creedy • Jack Keeys • Kate Martin

 

regards Peter Ross Chairman 0274854572 Peter.ross@prconsult.co.nz

This year I have been lucky enough to be involved in the RYLA Oceania Elevate programme, including attending the retreat week in Sydney at the beginning of March. I gained a huge amount from this experience and wanted to take the opportunity to share some of my learnings as well as to thank the RYLA 9920 district and the Rotary Club of Newmarket for their support in my participation.

 

There were two speakers that really stood out to me over the week as I felt I could connect with them and their content, and walked away from their presentations feeling really inspired. Both of these speakers I would recommend for the RYLA Auckland programme if they were available and in New Zealand at the time.

The first was our keynote speaker on the very first evening, Angela Coble, who spoke to the theme of leadership in a new era. She helped me to understand the importance of having a strong purpose, not just leading for the sake of it, and talked to positive and uplifting leadership. By setting out to make a difference, rather than to win awards, you can have a big impact in the world (and probably win some awards along the way).

The second was quite a different type of presentation on Negotiation and Difficult Conversations with Jennifer Scott. I enjoyed the more workshop feel of this session as we worked in groups to roleplay a salary negotiation, which was a good chance to practice a skill that many people don’t develop until later on in their careers. I found the content particularly applicable as I frequently attend large aircraft negotiations in my role at Air New Zealand, so after the session I formed a goal around developing this skill further.

 

The retreat week and ongoing activities at RYLA Elevate were really well connected through both the Clifton Strengths work we did with Rebecca Fry, and with the 9 Leadership Principles we were given. Clifton Strengths gave us the language to talk about some of our strengths with one another and I found it really valuable being able to identify my own strengths but also to better understand my colleagues on the course.

The 9 Leadership Principles were developed specifically for RYLA Elevate and gave us a clear guide on the skills we would be building on throughout the year. Many (if not all) of the presentations on retreat week were themed around these principles, and we were encouraged to set our goals for the remainder of the year with one or more of these principles in mind.

 

A full day of the retreat week was dedicated to RAW Challenge, which is a massive obstacle course near Sydney. This was a really cool opportunity to get out and have a bit of fun, while challenging ourselves and observing the different leadership styles within the group. While I found the day really enjoyable, I didn’t find the obstacle course very challenging (especially compared with the outdoor challenge at RYLA 9920) so I didn’t get as much out of this as others might have.

 

A key difference between the RYLA Elevate retreat week and RYLA Auckland, were the pace of the two programmes. While we still covered a lot of ground at Elevate, we also had a lot more time to reflect and absorb the content that was being covered. Every day we had reflection time in groups led by a facilitator where we discussed what had been covered in the previous 24 hours, and our personal highlights and challenges.

In these same groups we also had a chance to share our goals and be challenged on them by the rest of the group. It was a great opportunity to think more deeply about our own goals and, when we were on the other side of the conversation, to practice our skills in giving feedback. I walked away feeling a lot clearer on my goals for the remainder of the year and beyond, and confident that they were ambitious but actually achievable.

 

One of the evenings on retreat week was dedicated to ted talks, where all attendees had the opportunity to present on a topic of their choice. This was both a great chance to get up in front of our peers and practice our presentation skills, but also to learn from one another on a huge range of topics. We were forewarned about the Ted Talk evening before arriving to retreat week, so we could prepare as little or as much as we wanted ahead of time.

 

A really sweet part of the elevate programme were the warm fuzzies, introduced to us through the story linked below. Each of us had an A4 envelope that was stuck up in the kitchen as our letterbox to receive our warm fuzzies, and throughout the week we were able to write anonymous or named compliment notes to one another. We could only look at them once we had left, and they brought happy tears to my eyes when I was at the airport on my way home.

 

One of the ongoing parts of the RYLA Elevate programme are the community projects with RAWCS (Rotary Australia World Community Service) which we will work on for the remainder of the year. These were introduced to us through retreat week and each month we will have a key deliverable with our group. I like that these are both an opportunity to continue building on what we have learnt, ensuring it sticks, but also to give back and make an impact in a community.

 

I want to close out by saying a massive thank you to RYLA 9920 and the Rotary Club of Newmarket for your support and belief in me. Just like RYLA Auckland, this has been an incredible experience which I will take with me through life. If there are any opportunities for me to give back to these groups, please don’t hesitate to reach out.