Sunsuper Bursary: Janine Teitge
Janine Teitge received at $600 Sunsuper-FFN Bursary to attend the Leading Edge program via Women in Learning Australia. Here's her story.
I am currently about halfway through completing the Leading Edge program via Women in Learning Australia, which has been specifically designed for early career managers and leaders. I decided to undertake the course for a few reasons, the key being that as a determined, driven woman in the early stages of my career within agribusiness, I am always looking for areas in which I can push myself, learn more about both myself and my role, and complement my learning within my role with external education.
This leadership development program fit my needs perfectly as it focuses on people who are driven to succeed, but due to being in the early stages of their career, may not have the necessary management tools within their skillset yet. I’m really enjoying the course as its giving me an opportunity to interact with other women at a similar career stage to myself but from all different industries, backgrounds, and life stages. Its fabulous to be able to raise questions, discuss and review past situations, and learn what skills can be applied to similar or new situations in the future.
The benefit of having a workplace application project as part of the course also means that I can tailor the learning and ensure it is relevant both to myself and my current position. I have found all of this particularly relevant to my current circumstance, as I moved into my first management role in September 2020, so the timing of this course beginning in October 2020 couldn’t have been more perfect! The other key reason I decided to engage in the program was to take the opportunity to revisit online learning. I did a small amount via my Bachelor of Agricultural Business Management from CSU, however majority was full time and on campus learning. Part time online learning is a completely different ball game; you need to be significantly more self-motivated, increase your time management, and learn how to interact with people on a different platform.
A four month course, specifically designed for online, was therefore the perfect opportunity for me to revisit online learning and gain some of these skills in preparation for further part time distance education (I plan to do a Graduate Certificate in Agricultural Science, and eventually complete an MBA). Online learning is hard, and I can honestly say I’ve struggled to balance it at points, but it also has huge benefits including being able to study alongside my current role.
A big thankyou goes out to Future Farmers Network for making me aware of the WLA Leading Edge program, and of course to Sunsuper for helping me fund it! What an all round fantastic opportunity.
Janine Teitge
