Women in Leadership Rise Through Learning and Development at Megaport

Megaport’s Learning and Development team supports employees to take part in the Women Rising Program, developed specifically for women in technology and Microsoft Partners, to drive business outcomes powered by female leaders.

When innovative female-focused learning and development opportunities meet cutting edge technology, not only do we see female leaders thrive, but we also experience business breakthroughs as a result.

There’s already so much to be said for the impact women in leadership have on developing high-performing teams – and moving the needle when it comes to commercial achievement – which highlights the ongoing importance of proactively supporting the career growth of female employees:

• McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2021 report (USA) shows that women leaders are more active champions of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) than any other gender group and that the work female leaders are doing in the workplace drives better outcomes for all employees.
• On top of those valuable DE&I outcomes, there’s a strong correlation between the increase in women in key decision-making positions and subsequent improvements in company performance, according to WGEA’s research in Gender Equity Insights 2020: Delivering on Business Outcomes (Australia). 
• Significantly, the WGEA report found that across Australian ASX-listed companies, having a female CEO led to a 5% increase in their market value. This is worth the equivalent of $79.6 million on average.

Megaport’s Global Head of Learning and Development, Lorraine Murtagh, knows that when you empower women in technology with tools for growth, business transformation ensues.

“Simply put, we are committed to investing in developing female leaders at Megaport because when our team thrives, our people do their best work. This all starts with investing in the growth of our employees, their skills, and their passion for their role. Strong learning and development initiatives often have a game-changing impact on enabling women to rise in their careers in the global technology sector which is why we nominated five of our female leaders to take part in this year’s Women Rising Program,” said Lorraine.

Open to all women globally, the Women Rising Program, supported by Microsoft is a six-month virtual leadership program and integrated learning experience that equips women to become more effective, authentic, and confident leaders through video and audio training modules including “Understanding and managing bias” to “Effectively mentoring and sponsoring women”.

Backed by Megaport’s Learning and Development team, throughout the course, employees including Kaytee Reid – Head of Talent Acquisition, Melissa Scott – Senior Legal Counsel, and Mel Chad – Head of Business Partnering, took part in evidence-based and tested education, cross-business cohort learning groups, and pre and post-benchmarking, making it a dedicated results-driven experience.

The three key takeaways Megaport’s Women Rising participants had included:

1. Carving out time to prioritize “you” takes conscious time and effort

Making an investment in yourself has robust benefits for your own work-life balance but also for your team (and having a flexible work environment enables this).

2. Think about the big picture

The guidance around “life and work purpose” helped them hone in what’s important, reignited their career passion, and pushed them to prioritize self-development.

3. Connect with others and yourself (and be prepared to have the tough conversations)

You can gain a great deal of insight on self-development by simply connecting with other people and engaging in discussions head-on.

Read more about Megaport’s Women Rising participants’ outcomes from the program

Women Rising and Microsoft brought this valuable program to nearly 1000 women in 2021 and the 2022 program is ongoing; it applies to all roles, levels, and industries across the Microsoft Partner and Customer ecosystem. Megaport has been a Microsoft Partner since 2015 and offers cloud networking and managed services to Microsoft Azure-connected organizations.

Bringing your authentic self to work is highly valued and encouraged across Megaport’s global workforce where leaders know that an inclusive workplace brings a wealth of diversity and talent to the team (which positively impacts the organization’s ability to innovate).

With a strong focus on employee training and education across the board, and at a time when a staggering 87% of millennials believe learning and development in the workplace is critically important, Megaport is proud to have driven the Women Rising program initiative providing a pillar of support for women striving to lead within the company and their careers overall.

“Megaport’s flexible working environment allowed me to manage my time, ensure I could attend the sessions, and complete the course work,” said Kaytee Reid. “Having been nominated to participate and Megaport fund the course, it just further demonstrates to me that the company supports my growth and development and is committed to investing in it.”

Want to learn more about the people behind Megaport?

• Check out Megaport’s profile as an endorsed employer on Work180
• Learn about the organization’s benefits and policies
• Read Megaport’s employee success stories.