#EmbraceEquity: Women In Cloud Ecosystem Participates In Avanade’s first-ever IWD global hackathon 2023

Avanade is partnering with Women in Cloud (WIC) for their first-ever IWD global hackathon. This exciting event will take place on March 4 and 5, with winners announced on March 8. WIC will be providing two judges to participate from our Board of Advisors, promoting the event in our social channels, and offering a WIC Prize – Gender Inclusion Category “WIC Community Choice”.

This is a fantastic opportunity for those looking to #EmbraceEquity this International Women’s Day. The Avanade’s first-ever IWD global hackathon is a two-day hacking event designed to generate tech solutions for some of today’s most pressing equity issues. The event is being held in collaboration with Major League Hacking, Women in Cloud, and the International Rescue Committee, and the challenge is to hack and create solutions around reducing bias, taking action, celebrating difference, and allyship. The aim is to make a genuine human impact in honor of International Women’s Day.

The top prize-winning team will receive $8,500 USD and a 45-minute meeting with Avanade executive leadership. This is an excellent opportunity to use your unique skill set and perspective to make a difference in the future of equity. Sign up as a team of up to 4 to hack a solution over the weekend of March 4 – 5, 2023.

WIC’s partnership with Avanade’s Hackathon is an exciting opportunity to promote gender inclusion and diversity in the tech industry. By participating, you’ll be joining a community of individuals who are committed to creating a more equitable world. WIC’s judges will be looking for solutions that prioritize gender inclusion, so don’t miss your chance to be part of this amazing event.

Overall, the Avanade’s Hackathon and WIC’s partnership is a unique opportunity to take a stand, address inequality, and make a genuine human impact. We can’t wait to see what you create! 

So, sign up today and be a part of the change.

 

Learn more about #WICxAvanade Partnership.

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WIC Founder Coaching Program With Accenture Delivers Valuable Insight to Entrepreneurs

Dominate Billion-Dollar Industries: #WICxAccenture Founder Coaching Program Empowers Entrepreneurs to Succeed With Competitive Edge

 

Women in Cloud and Accenture have joined forces to revolutionize the way female tech founders grow and succeed in the enterprise industry. Their innovative world class coaching program, the first of its kind, has been rolled out over the last few months, and is specifically designed to help women accelerate their growth and reach new heights. 

 

The program pairs female founders with executives from Accenture, offering unparalleled industry-leading support over three months. With 20 founders strategically matched with Accenture coaches whose expertise aligns with their unique industry experience and business needs, this program is the ultimate tool to take your business to the next level.

 

Participating Accenture Mentors & Founder Companies: 

“Our time with Lori was extremely valuable. We discussed our purpose, target market, technical options and strategy, and contracting with enterprises”, said participant Andrea Sorenson, CEO & Co-Founder of Liiingo. “Her insights have helped us understand our options, make key decisions, and develop a clearer strategy. Lori asked great questions, understood our challenges, and offered her insights with respect and encouragement.”


Accenture mentors met with their paired founders for a total of 8 hours delivering invaluable insights focused on refining product market fit, developing industry partnerships, and finding and acquiring customers. The program also allowed Accenture to explore opportunities to adopt these emerging technologies, and provide entrepreneurs with strategic co-market and co-sell insights. 

 

Accenture Coaches Included: 

  • Matt Biancuzzo 
  • Michelle Anschuetz 
  • Rebecca Anton 
  • Sarah Ouakim 
  • Gretchen Myers
  • Greg Reiser
  • Lori Myer

 

“It’s not everyday that we have the opportunity to mentor CEOs of emerging technology companies, and I’m grateful to have met, worked with, and learned from three awesome startup founders during the WIC/Accenture Coaching Program”, said Accenture mentor Greg Reiser, Managing Director of Cloud First Networks. “Anytime someone takes your advice and then comes back to thank you for the impact you’ve made on their business, it’s extremely rewarding.” 

 

The world class coaching program for female tech founders marks one of many instances where Accenture and WIC have teamed up to connect emerging tech startups with Accenture leaders to accelerate industry access and opportunities. Recently, Accenture has pursued mentorship programs with two WIC accelerator startups, and has served as speakers panelists at various WIC events. Accenture was also an integral part of WIC’s CXO Series, a networking experience designed to open the doors for leading fortune companies and brands to connect with technology business builders.

 

The flagship program’s success has opened doors for Women in Cloud to collaborate with other partners, offering even more mentoring opportunities to female tech founders. Exciting plans for the 2023 WIC founder coaching programming are in the works, so stay tuned for more updates!

 

Apply to WIC founder application to get access to a World Class Coaching Program with Insight, Accenture, Google, Avanade and more!

 

Learn More about Women in Cloud’s partnership with Accenture. 

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Announcing #ALLIES Journey Platform (2023): BeCOME ALLIES. Promote a culture of Allyship across your organization.

Gavriella Schuster’s #ALLIES Journey is now available to individuals and organizations to experience the online learning experience as an interactive cohort on the Rali Change Experience Platform.

Learn | Creating a Different Culture
This Journey provides an actionable framework that equips every individual in your organization to be an ally, to build allies, and to promote a culture of allyship through practical tools and insights. By giving everyone a voice, and showing people how to share their power to empower the “onlys” in your teams you can unlock your organization’s productivity and make your teams more effective.

Do | Assessment: Allies in Your Workplace
The #ALLIES Journey leverages Rali’s unique Learn | Do | Inspire framework, which activates all the drivers of engagement, behavioral adoption, and organization impact. Whether it’s groups of 50 or 50,000, Rali delivers my #ALLIES Journey as a highly interactive experience, is always available, infinitely scales, and activates real behavior change.

The Rali Change Experience Platform delivers “change at scale” and empowers measurable, scalable, and lasting change that drives performance improvement through teams across the organization. Rali helps ensure successful outcomes by uniting technology, behavioral science, and change management best practices.

Inspire | Be an Ally
As part of the Journey, you will discover how to create a different culture, interact deeply with my story, uncover unhealthy microaggressions, make a difference through mentorship and empowerment, give others permission to act, and gain a new vision of being an ally.

Take your training today!

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How to prepare for a performance review as an employee?

No one likes getting a performance review. Even if they are positive, a surprise review can still be nerve-wracking. Reviews can have a big impact on your position and your career, especially in the current climate around layoffs. Each of you must be thinking about how to prepare for a performance review as an employee. Here are some tips to be ready for your next scheduled (or surprise) performance review.

Develop a “Year Book of Impact” to Share with Leadership

It is important to share your accomplishments with your manager so they have an accurate understanding of your work during a performance review. Think of the things you do every day at work that keeps the company efficient, connected, and advancing. Think about tasks that make you stand out and that you often excel in when completing. Review those day-to-day moments and those tasks where you stand out. Use those to explore what you have learned and how your career has grown in alignment with the company’s success. Share these moments with your manager before the performance review cycle so they already have a strong foundation of your work ethic and impact. Be sure to document them in your “yearbook of impact” as well so these moments are easily accessible when you need to reference them, say for your performance review.

Keep an Accomplishment Journal

Your boss will want to know how you have supported the team. If others are not successful in their work the overall organization cannot succeed. Taking time to understand how your work intersects with your teammates is important because it will help you explain why your role is crucial and how your support helped the whole team prosper. If you have tenure over your peers, use that experience to help navigate difficult situations and stop crises from occurring. Excelling as an individual is always fundamental and helping the team stay on track shows how you are an invaluable part of the company! Track these moments in an accomplishment journal to underscore how critical your role and support are to the company.

Keep your Manager Involved

Letting your manager know about any projects or tasks that you are currently working on is an opportunity to show what you have been doing. Keeping a manager involved will also allow you to explore obstacles and areas of growth. Recognizing hurdles early means that when it comes time for a performance review you can explain what you learned and how you grew. The earlier you identify all of these areas, the better. It will give you and your manager time to train and prepare you for future work.

Share Accomplishments with your Manager

To ensure that you have a smooth performance review cycle, it is important to keep your manager informed about task completions and your achievements. When preparing for a review, use things like a “yearbook of impact” or an “accomplishment journal” (both mentioned above) to accurately articulate your “wins” and how they have helped the company. This is not the time to be shy or humble about your accomplishments; be confident and proud of the work you have done. Your managers and boss often do not know the details of the work you do, this is the perfect opportunity to show them!

Keeping Your Leadership Involved

The last thing you want to do is prepare for your performance review without involving your manager. Share with them everything you are doing, from wins and accomplishments to challenges and goals. You must share the impact of your work with others in the company because often time people will not know. Be ready to not only explain your wins but also how you would like to continue to create impact and challenge yourself in the upcoming year. As a leader, it may be easy for you to lose sight of how much value you are creating for the organization—but having this perspective can help your boss recognize what makes you great.

Conclusion

The key to a successful performance review cycle is to be proactive! Start by collecting data early, track your work on a weekly/monthly basis, and summarize your accomplishments and impact. Tracking your own work and preparing a self review will help you highlight the best parts of your year and will reveal areas where you need improvement. As always, keep in mind that this is an opportunity for both parties involved: managers should also be prepared with helpful feedback throughout the process so that everyone feels supported and empowered!

 

Resource:

  • For people looking for job, download this guide for cloud tech job seekers covers steps to plan your career in cloud industry so you can find your dream job in the current economic climate.
  • Attend #WICxAnnual Summit2023, designed to help you access mental models, case studies, leaders, leadership principles and strategies to grow your strategic leadership designed to assist in navigating the world that doesn’t exist yet!
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#WICxAnnualSummit2023: Know Before You Go

We are just 4 days aways from #WIC ANNUAL SUMMIT 2023 that is focused on helping you access mental models, case studies, leaders, leadership principles and strategies to grow your strategic leadership designed to assist in navigating the world that doesn’t exist yet! 

See below for what you need to know!

Topics You Will Learn at 2023 WIC Annual Summit:

  • Navigating Macro Economics: Money, Technology, Corporate Restructuring, ESG, Layoffs, Hybrid Workforce, Skilling and Readiness.
  • Strategic Leadership Models & Principles.
  • ESG Strategies, GTM and brand integrations.
  • Cosell GTM with Hyperscalers.
  • Data Privacy Policies Impacting Women.
  • Advisory Sessions on Leadership Topics.
  • Guinness World Record Attempt.

Here are 7 reasons why you cannot miss out on this year’s Summit:

  1. Expand your knowledge and skills in Cloud & AI, ESG +T, leadership models for sustainability and Cosell GTM with Hyperscalers and inclusion practices.
  2. Network with influential corporate executives, mentors, tech founders, policy advocates, academics, ESG leaders, investors, entrepreneurs and more.
  3. Enhance your skills to advance your career and/or business by participating in one-of-a-kind workshops, bootcamps, challenges and roundtables.
  4. Participate in a Guinness Book of World Records Attempt to create most vision boards ever.
  5. Get Updated about all the Upcoming Trends.
  6. Connect with leading experts and your peers from growing industries community who are shaping the future of our industry.
  7. Master innovative mental models, cloud tools, leadership and business templates to increase your productivity and workflows.
  8. And finally… Inspire yourself through keynotes, CXO Panels and reconnect with your peers as we navigate the new future of tech.

 

Accessing the Event

Key Sessions to attend:

Leadership & Professional Career Focused:

  • Keynote: The 5 Superpowers of Modern Cloud Leadership You Need
  • Thought Leadership: Navigating Life With Clarity & Purpose
  • CXO Panel: Preparing for a World That Doesn’t Exist Yet
  • Power Talk: Preventing Burnout – How and Why It’s Important
  • #WICxWorkshops: How to Design and Implement Your Leadership Persona

Founder Focused

  • Thought Leadership Panel: Cloud Marketplace as a New Sales Route for SAAS Solutions
  • #WICxWorkshops: Make Effective Connections with Your Dream Investors
  • Power Talk: Dream Investors Are in Your Reach

Policy & ESG Focused

  • Thought Leadership Panel: Why is data privacy so important to ESG narrative?
  • Thought Leadership: Why an ESG Plus Tech Strategy is Vital to Every Business/Company

Advisor Roundtables : Cloud Leadership Circle Networking and Roundtable with 20 Industry Leaders. Focus include

    • Securing executive sponsorship
    • Building executive presence
    • Balancing competing priorities
    • Navigating corporate ecosystem
WICxAnnualSummit2023

WICxAnnualSummit2023 Roundtables

 

And Don’t miss Guinness World Record Attempt to set a new record on Feb1st.

We look forward to seeing you there!

 

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