Members declare Support Staff Conference a great success

In September the Union hosted over 100 members at the 2019 Support Staff Conference at the Sydney Mercure.

The conference theme My Values My Work, struck a chord with all in the room. Those attending came from throughout NSW and the ACT and shared passionate human rights campaigner Richard Boele’s global career and life journey, and Director of Reveille Kristyn Crossfield’s commitment and active session on identifying core values and self-leadership.

Participants engaged in workshops on a range of topics so pertinent to their daily working lives.

Comments

"Very useful…food for thought. I found it inspiring…up to standard as always.

"Excellent…female leadership and values attached to that has been uplifting." Tracey Spiel

It’s been a great day and very enjoyable too. The keynote speaker was inspirational." Michelle Field

"Fantastic! I have learnt so much about values and how they reflect in my daily life. The quality of shared information was invaluable. Great to see support staff counted for and appreciated. Thank you for making it possible for me to attend." Cindy Mathews

"A wonderful conference! All presenters allowed me to finally concede that my/our most strongly sought values eg equity, growth, fairness, community, are difficult to attain when out of alignment with organisational culture valuing certain individuals/groups over others. However, listening to the amazing keynote speaker, Richard Boule and other presenters, I think that many attendees may have been inspired by empowering themes, insights and strategies gained that provided optimism that motivation and inspirational leadership can be found within ourselves when it is absent or lacking in our workplace.

On the other hand, I was saddened by the number of support staff hurting due to feelings of being ‘ not listened to’ or ‘devalued’ by their Catholic and independent employers (one aptly titled workshop Rhetoric vs Reality).

Nevertheless, once again, ‘bravissima’ Carolyn Moore, for another brilliant, ‘rejuvenating’ support staff conference." John Morabito

"Excellent – the keynote speaker in particular gave me several light bulb moments. All very relevant and important." Terrianne Ryan

"Great to share how we feel in the jobs we do, that is sharing information was so valuable as sometimes in our schools we feel no one is listening.

Thank you for this conference day! I feel so valued and my takeaway is that I am a leader by the way I chip away and continue to use my voice. I’m not ‘just’ support staff.

The gulf between our expectations and those we of our employers’ is striking. There must be some avenue for improving/increasing recognition of our work such as renaming our roles – for example laboratory manager not laboratory assistant.

I felt a lot of heart was put into all the information shared. It made it so personal and real. One workshop filled me with joy; it made me really think about how my small acts of kindness and positivity can work."