Building an Association

We’re starting to draw comment at WiTWA. Recently one of our Ambassadors said to the team:

‘Some day, in years to come, they’re going to ask how you built this.’

He’s not the first person to comment that way, or postulate how it’s happening. 

When you’re in the middle of building something, it can be hard to analyse the process. You’re too busy in the trees to see the wood. And we are very much still building on the foundations laid in the last 21 years by the amazing founders, volunteers and members that have ensured this organisation's longevity.

In the brief lull post WiTWA [+] Conference and pre-AGM, I’ve done some navel-gazing. It’s been satisfying to reflect on what we’ve achieved. 

In the past 18 months we:

• have created the WiTWA Tech [+] 20 Awards and accompanying Inspiring Role Models page, which now showcases 300 WA women in tech [+]. 
• consistently sell out our events. 
• held our first ever conference - and sold that out too. 
• attracted outstanding sponsor partners from diverse industries. 
• added the Mini Mentor program, where you can meet a mini mentor at our events to help you get more out of the experience (and feel more comfortable)
• got funding for Techtrails - no means feat when we were one incursion away from having to put the program on ice in May this year when we nearly ran out of cash for it. That’s allowed us to reach 100’s more students, encouraging them to keep studying STEM subjects into later high school. 
• grew our email list and social media reach exponentially.

Best of all, we’re just getting started. Big words for a not-for-profit organisation in its 21st year ...but it’s true. From here, we only get better and create more impact in tech [+] in WA. 

Having canvassed some opinions, here’s what I think is helping accelerate our impact:

1. Our volunteers.

We’ve grown to an extended cohort of more than 20 volunteers across our Board and four Subcommittees. Every single one of us is dedicated to the cause. These women are amazing.

We are spoiled for choice in this regard, with frequent emails asking ‘how do I become a volunteer?’ We consider this a privilege and honour.

2. Our leader.

Pia Turcinov is only the third chair of WiTWA in its 21-year history, having taken over from Marjolein Towler in 2016. She is without doubt the most capable leader I’ve had the pleasure to work with as a volunteer. Her combination of business smarts, relationship building and decisiveness gives WiTWA an edge I’ve not seen elsewhere. She is exceptional at building a capable team around her too (see point 1). 

3. A good balance between process and outcome

...erring, if anything, towards outcome.

You’ve probably been on committees where it feels like decisions are drawn out, or you find yourselves discussing the same problem month after month. Not at WiTWA. We see a problem, we deal with it.

For example: we were struggling to keep up with emails and socials (read: Pia was doing socials ad hoc on top of everything else, and the Events team were the only ones sending emails, and only when we had an event). Solution: let’s create a Communications Subcommittee, fill it with awesome people, and get them running. It was all done within two months from the issue being raised.  Now look at us go - from 538 followers on LinkedIn in June 2018 to nearly 3,000 today. And that’s just one metric.

4. Zero stuffiness.

We’re described variously as fun, quirky, and fresh. Even our awards aren’t the traditional many-hours-many-speeches format. We like to think we operate in the tech [+] spirit in that way - fast paced, exciting and unorthodox at times!

It helps us create an inclusive atmosphere at our events which people rave about. Sometimes we’re perhaps a little too fast - we’re working on that ;)

5. Noticeable absence of internal politics

I’ve been deeply grateful that there don’t seem to be any backdoor negotiations or faction building. People on our teams know you can say your piece and it will be listened to, and that disagreement is ok.

Sometimes I push the limit on the disagreement piece, but it’s a group I’m not afraid to challenge. I know they rise to the occasion. If it’s a legitimate issue raised, it’s taken on board and we get it sorted. If it’s not how the majority feel, we move on. It’s a delight. 

More haste, less speed

Speed has its casualties. There are inevitable downsides to this rapid growth, and things we’d do differently if we had our time over. Currently our focus is ensuring we don’t burn out our wonderful volunteers with work overload. 

In typical WiTWA style, we’re onto it: changing the constitution at our upcoming AGM, expanding our Subcommittees, using a skills matrix to fill vacant roles, and building a succession plan. Our 2020 aims for the Inspiring Role Models page (and website in general), the Conference and our Tech [+] 20 Awards could be classified as BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) - but if there was ever a team that could deliver it, I reckon it’s WiTWA. 

Mistakes are inevitable. Personally, I've made two errors I regret recently, both regarding the Awards. Fortunately, these are both reparable:

Using the word 'boys' when I meant 'men'

In a moment of fluster and emotion on stage announcing our new trophy, I used the word 'boys' to refer to men when calling on them to help address exclusion when and where they see it. The moment I said 'boys', I paused and contemplated taking it back (which I wanted to do, and you can see my grimace when you watch the film) but instead I pressed on. It made enough of an impression that someone mentioned it in our feedback forms.

Sorry, men. It was a mistake to use the word 'boys'.

Excluding genders from our Awards

We are delighted to expand our WiTWA Tech [+] 20 Awards to include those who aren't women, but advocate for diversity, inclusion and equality for women in tech [+]. On 24 October, we announced we were adding the 'Outstanding Male Diversity Advocate' major trophy in 2020.

As we've pondered this, we realised we aren't walking our talk. If we stuck with it, you'd have to identify as male or female to apply for our Awards. So, in consultation with the trophy's sponsor Valrose, we are changing the name to Outstanding Diversity Advocate.

Those who apply will still be telling us what they've done to champion female diversity, inclusion and equality in tech [+], as that's the mission of our organisation. But, it means you don't have to identify as male to nominate.

If you'd like to nominate for our Awards when they open in mid 2020, be sure to join our special mailing list here.