Women in IT Executive
Mentoring
(WITEM)
- a
groundbreaking initiative in the Information and Technology sector
In 2004 Orijen was approached by DELL to create a program to support women in IT. The Women in IT Executive Mentoring program was born. Thanks to the passion and commitment of Dell Managing Director, Joe Kremer, this program continues to grow and expand its reach into both the public and private sectors.
In 2008 WITEM
was recognised for its results driven approach and creating a greater
awareness and understanding of the barriers to women’s advancement within the
ICT sector and profession, when the program
won the EOWA Award for 'Outstanding Initiative/Result for the Advancement of Women' and again in 2009 with Joe Kremer recognised as a finalist as a leader in the area.
Now in its sixth successful year, the program aims to address the decreasing
numbers of women in the IT industry by providing women with dedicated executive mentors drawn from the leaders in the industry.
The WITEM program is unique in bringing together organisations in a cross-mentoring structure. In the corporate sector, Managing Directors and CIO's mentor a high-potential female, identified as capable of taking the next step up, from
another participating company for a 12 month period. In the public sector, CIO's in the Australia Public Service and in the South Australia Public Service have been matched with high potential women cross-departmentally.
In 2009 WITEM Extend was launched, where women from the 2008 WITEM program draw on their experience as mentees and became mentors to women across their organisations. Between 2009-2010 new WITEM programs were launched in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney.
Anna McPhee,
EOWA Director, said “offering specialised mentoring in the ICT field was an
excellent way to help women progress in the technology industry.”The mentees in
Dell Australia's Women in IT Executive Mentoring program are regularly surveyed
and continue to report increased self confidence and self esteem; increased
access and visibility to senior executives; accelerated career development with
numerous mentees in each program receiving promotions"
The ninth WITEM program was launched in April 2010. Participating corporations include Dell,
Cisco, Woolworths, Ernst and Young, Deloitte, Westpac, Lan Systems, EMC, Intel,
Lexmark. Participating APS Departments include Department of Defence, AGIMO,
Dept of Industry, Tourism and Resources, IP Australia, Australian Tax Office,
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Dept Immigration and Citizenship, DEAT, Dep’t
of Finance, DEEWR, Centrelink, the ANU and Canberra Uni and in South
Australian t, eight government departments and tertiary institutions.
Surveys conducted at the completion of WITEM programs consistently finds that mentees experienced significant gains from their mentoring experience:
- Increased self-confidence and self esteem
- Learned startegies to better manage their career
- Learned new skills and iImproved existing skills
- A broader perspective of leadership and management
- Increased networking opportunities
- Increased communicationup and across their organisation