Maintain your resilience

Our National Women’s Network Event took place at the Phoenix Centre in London on Monday 1 October.

The theme of the event, which was hosted by our Women’s steering group, was ‘Maintaining our resilience’.

Around 100 leaders from across the business attended what was a truly inspirational day and delegates were privileged to hear from two greatly respected speakers, Vanessa Vallely OBE and Pauline McCabe OBE.

Following a 25 year career in the financial services, Vanessa Vallely launched the award-winning Wearethecity.com website in 2008 as a vehicle to help women progress in their careers. Vanessa is one of the country’s most prominent figures in gender equality and was awarded the OBE for services to women and the economy. 

National diversity and inclusion project manager Fiona Whyte, said: ‘The message behind the “Maintaining our resilience” theme I thought was hugely important given the pace of change and the performance challenges we face every day.

‘Given her career and background, Vanessa was in a unique position to give us her insights into maintaining resilience, most important of which was the need to have a strong support network of colleagues and friends.

‘She led the group through a speed networking session, which gave us the chance to talk to colleagues we might not have normally come across. There was a fantastic buzz in the room as everyone mingled and made new and valuable connections.’

Equally inspiring was the talk from Pauline McCabe who has had a varied career in human resources and industrial relations. Pauline was appointed the Prisoner Ombudsman for Northern Ireland in 2008 for which she was awarded an OBE in 2014, for services to prisoners. 

‘Pauline’s interests and work have taken her to Africa and she shared some of the challenging situations she encountered there and the inspiring people she met, as well as her personal thoughts around maintaining resilience,’ said Fiona. ‘A key point made by Pauline was that we don’t have to be the best at everything. She told us to just go for gold when it matters, for the rest of the time, being “good enough” is enough.’

Liz Law, GLS UK finance director and chair of the Women’s steering group, said: ‘Events like this demonstrate Royal Mail’s commitment to supporting and developing our women in the workforce. 

‘Pauline and Vanessa are inspirational women and their stories of maintaining resilience under testing circumstances are both motivating and uplifting.’ 

Supporting female colleagues

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If you would like to get involved in the Women’s steering group or the planning for future women’s national events, please email: gender.diversity@royalmail.com.