Elevate x Owl Live - A Wise Collaboration

In 2022?Brand Experience agency Owl Live were one of Elevate’s Principal Partners. This year we’re delighted they?have chosen to be an Elevate?partner?once again. As we head into another season – this year will be Elevate's seventh – we caught up with the Owl Live team reflect upon what it means to be an Elevate partner.??

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

This story of collaboration starts when Lauren Mucklow, Managing Partner of Owl Live happened upon Elevate whilst on maternity leave.?Her decision to enrol as a mentor was to remain engaged with the industry and ‘keep the grey matter ticking over’.?It also just so happened to further her passion for giving back, supporting and encouraging young talent – a very Elevate state of mind.?The structure of Elevate called out to her, and she found herself enamoured by the sense of community and being a part of a genuine force for good – and that’s really what we’re all about.

As an active participant of Season 5, Lauren saw first-hand the Elevate ethos ‘by the industry, for the industry’, and the conversation of a more all-encompassing partnership between Elevate & Owl Live organically arose.?The philosophy of sharing experience, inspiring talent and enhancing the industry at scale aligned with the Owl Live company culture, resonating with the wider team.?In the words of Lauren herself, the collaboration was a ‘no brainer’.

As Agency Partner, Owl were able to participate directly within the programmes content as well as offering out the scheme to a greater number of the internal team as part of their Partner status.

Fast forward to the programme itself, and Owl referred the largest cohort of participants, with Lauren returning to the scheme alongside no less than 11 of her colleagues – enter big aspirations for big numbers.?Ready to fully embrace the triumphs and challenges that mentoring can offer, many of the team were embarking upon the journey for the first time, from a variety of positions and experience levels.?What were they looking for, and how would they measure their success??Such questions might seem difficult to answer, but the resounding positive feedback has quite literally spoken for itself, with more tangible anecdotes demonstrating the value of being an Elevater. ?

Anna Leach, Owl Live Strategy Director supported her mentee in changing roles within organisation to get one step closer to her dream job, commenting ‘Moving up the ladder is hard, and daunting, having someone outside your organisation able to support you on that journey is invaluable. And truth be told, I think I learnt as much about me as she did about herself through the process.’?Great work here, and interesting to see that self reflection piece from Anna – we often focus on the growth and education that a mentor can offer a mentee, however let’s remember the benefit in the opposite direction.?There are always lessons to be learned, no matter where we are in our career.

Another success story – excuse us for tooting our own collective horns – is that of Owl Live new starter and mentee Chris Donnelly, Content Producer who used Elevate to fast track his knowledge of agency life, ‘Being so new to my role and the agency side of events, I felt that I had so much to learn naturally in the coming months. My mentor Matt Grey from Event Decision was able to provide insight into agency life, how it works, the pros and cons and how he saw me fitting into it. I always came away from our sessions feeling confident and inspired to achieve and exceed my professional goals…Professional goals and progression aside, the thing I value most from the Elevate Mentoring programme is the friendship that has formed.’?So proud to see that the Elevate experience transcends seasons, fostering relationships that last and evolve – and really, that’s what our industry is all about.

Further lessons across the season culminated in the fireside chat at the wrap event, hosted by Owl Live’s Lauren and co Managing Partner Muriel Holdsworth.?This chat united agency sentiment, breaking down barriers of age and experience - and quite simply, sharing what we’ve all thought or felt at one point in our career.?A refreshingly honest and sincere conversation, key takeaways exposed that:

• Ultimately everyone is winging it
• Failure is not the opposite of success but a part of it
• It’s never as bad as you think it will be

For other wise words of wisdom and insider secrets, see the full chat here.

As for what the future holds??Lauren shares how fulfilling the initiative has been, particularly as it aligns so closely with their company purpose to inspire action in all they care about - not only their own but their community, their partners and their audiences too.?

’We’ve made mentoring widely accessible in our internal team and being part of the programme, we have also seen it live and breathe within the wider community too.?Seeing mentoring relationships develop and flourish first hand is so rewarding, but not only that, we’ve learnt a lot along the way and made some incredible connections that will help drive our business forward’.

As an agency, Owl Live are keen to harness the legacy of this initiative, promoting the power of their people moving forwards.?With continued support for Elevate, and the value an external perspective and wider network provides, Nicola Neal, Head of People and Culture, shares that this has inspired future change within the organisation itself.?

A people first company with ambitions for big impact, there are plans for an internal mentoring partnership programme in the near future, building on and running in tandem with the Elevate programme.?

Watch this space.