Lifting leadership higher

Munster Rugby has scrummed together with over 17,000 people across the country in a new initiative aimed at building better leadership skills.

LIFT Ireland (Leading Ireland’s Future Together) is a not-for-profit initiative working to improve the quality of positive leadership at all levels nationwide.

Launching LIFT’s three-year impact report this week, the organisation’s founder and CEO Joanne Hession said it has grown from having 1,000 participants in its first year to reaching over 17,000 people over the past 12 months, including a significant number of people across Munster.

“Our impact report shows participants in LIFT found our leadership sessions to be of real benefit in facing the challenges brought about by Covid-19, in Munster and across Ireland.

“Eighty-four per cent of people said participating in LIFT had helped either them or their organisation during the pandemic, with people noting that LIFT helped them to adapt to changed working conditions, better manage their mental health and wellbeing, and maintain a positive attitude.”

Claire Cooke, Human Resource and Brand Compliance Manager with Munster Rugby, commented on the resounding success of the initiative so far: “The LIFT vision of creating better leaders and developing personal leadership qualities and abilities is being lived in our organisation today. The players particularly enjoyed the ambition piece and it certainly got them thinking in terms of why they want to become professional rugby players and what they need to do to achieve that,” she said.

How Lift works

LIFT is delivered through a series of roundtable sessions led by a volunteer facilitator, starting with an eight week process focusing on areas such as accountability, honesty and integrity, listening skills, empathy and understanding, and determination.

Currently, LIFT has 4,500 roundtable facilitators across Ireland and over 80 partnership organisations in the business, public and non-profit sectors. It also has over 160 education partners in secondary schools and third-level institutions.

In addition to Munster Rugby, organisations that work with LIFT include University of Limerick, Permanent TSB, NUI Galway, Dublin Airport, RTÉ, Pieta House, Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice, Bank of Ireland and AIB.

Surveys conducted with LIFT participants revealed that 96.8 per cent of respondents said that their understanding of what is required to lead well had grown, while 86 per cent said that they had experienced real positive change as a result of the LIFT process.