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The Change Institute: Do we ever stop learning?

The Change Institute: Do we ever stop learning?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Hi everyone!

In today’s episode with me are four IT enthusiasts who started a platform, “Change Institute”, with a single purpose to motivate IT professionals to volunteer, mentor and guide people from the IT sector in Croatia throughout their career.

Their first program is called Mentoring Byte, and it’s their way of giving back to the community that raised them and creating an even stronger one. 

 

Who are they?

Our speakers and founders of “Change Institute” are Lora Pleško, Nataša Kapov, Andrea Knez Karačić and Marina Grljušić, who have an extensive background in the IT industry.

An absolute powerhouse of IT enthusiasts!

So what motivated them to start the project Change Institute?

They say it’s much, much easier than you would think. The team had an idea of how to make the IT society in Croatia better, and a few girls got together and quickly talked about the idea of having a mentor. In the end, a small idea turned into u big project. 

When a group of enthusiastic women get together, there is nothing they can’t do.

“You can help a person a lot by offering a new perspective.” – Nataša K.

The idea behind the “Mentoring Byte” program is to have a simple application process if you need a mentor. On their website, you can look at the list of mentors a pick the one you would like to work with. Simply write a letter to your mentor and get in touch with them. If you don’t know who to pick, in the application, you can write down what type of mentor you would like to have, and the girls will choose a mentor for you. 

The mentees need to be from the IT sector, where the goal is to encourage the growth mindset and offer a wide range of mentors from different areas of business and industries, not just for the IT sector.

  “The biggest challenge is people’s mindset” – Andrea K.K.

Let’s try to keep it simple. There are 3 types of mindset that they’ve faced over the years. 

  1. “I don’t know anything, and I’m afraid to ask.”
  2. “I know everything, and I don’t need to grow.”
  3. “I know enough in my area, but it’s not enough to teach others.”

 

Do we ever stop learning? Can a mentor, at one point, become a mentee again?

“We never stop learning.” – Marina G.

A mentor is a person who can not only help you save time and energy but he or she can provide you feedback on your progress and connect you to a network of professionals who can help you throughout your carrier.   

A mentor can become a mentee during a mentoring session. Even in mentoring sessions, a mentor can face an area that they are not so familiar with. At that point, you will start asking and learning about new things and broadening your experiences. It’s also a way to keep learning new areas and solutions that you can pass on to your mentees afterwards.

“We are not born with a mindset. It heavily depends on the environment where we grew up.” – Lara P.

If we have a supportive environment and a mentor that can guide us from our younger age, we can also develop an entrepreneurship mindset. A mentor in life can lead you to the places you might not be willing to go by yourself. 

Today, the collective mindset is changing. Being an entrepreneur is finally interesting where we are seeing a lot of success stories in Croatia, which is where mentoring jumps in. People will need to learn to ask for help. 

It’s important to know it’s ok to fail, and mentors will be there to help you along the way. 

I have to say, there is no stopping to where these ladies are headed. 

Also, do not miss the QUICK & EASY WAVES! – Random questions that I was dying to ask them!

Websites/ Reference mentioned in the podcast:

Website: https://changeinstitute.wixsite.com/mentoring-byte/info

 

Thank you for listening and watching the podcast! I hope you liked it.

If you want to reach out to me, give me your feedback of just go for a coffee, click on the link below.

Guys have fun and make some waves!

With love,

Preporuke

Maria Simurina
Maria Šimurina
Account Executive u Imago Ogilvy

S Tenom sam imala prilike raditi 2 uzastopne godine na Franck čajevima, kategoriji i brandu koji su i meni i njoj bili posebno dragi.
U odnosu Klijent-Agencija, Klijentovo je povjerenje izrazito važno, a to se kod Tene jako osjetilo, što se naravno odrazilo na suradnju i radnu atmosferu na svakom projektu.
Kreativno je promišljanje s velikim povjerenjem prepuštala Agenciji, a svojim znanjem o kategoriji dodatno obogaćivala svaki projekt.
Ono što mi se posebno svidjelo kod Tene je njeno inzisitiranje na izvrsnosti i viskojoj kvaliteti od najmanjeg komunikacijskog materijala sve do koncepata 360′ kampanja.
Ovim joj se putem želim zahvaliti na svim zajedničkim projektima, snimanjima i druženjima te joj zaželjeti puno uspjeha u novim pothvatima!

DARIO-GALINEC
Dario Galinec
CIO

Radio sam s Tenom na nekoliko projekata nakon što je postala voditeljicom digitalnog marketinga. Najvažniji projekt na kojem smo surađivali bio je Franck web shop implementacija, gdje je Tena bili voditelj projekta. Uspjela je savladati veoma kompleksno koordinaciju projekta kroz brojne aktivnosti s internim odjelima (IT, Nabava, Prodaja, Računovodstvo, Marketing, Razvoj …) i eksternim partnerima koji su radili na razvoju funkcionalnosti web shopa, dizajna, provedbe plaćanja itd. Ona je mlada, znatiželjna, ambiciozna, zna što hoće i ne boji se ići za svojim ciljem.

tea-zavacki
Tea Zavački
Poduzetnica i poslovni trener

Imala sam priliku raditi s Tenom u nekoliko navrata, među kojima je „Design thinking“ radionica. Tijekom radionice, razvijali smo rješenja koristeći se „design thinking“ metodologiju i alate kao što su dubinski intervjui, korisničko putovanje i prototip modeliranje. Zbog njezine kreativnosti i proaktivnog pristupa, Tena je bila vrijedan dio tima. Iznad svega, cijenim njezin pozitivan stav i timski duh te dolazi s mojom iskrenom preporukom.

livija-devic
LIVIJA DEVIĆ VULJANIĆ
Marketing Manager

Kao direktorica Marketinga imala sam zadovoljstvo imati Tenu u svom timu kao brend menadžer i kasnije kao voditeljicu digitalnog marketinga. Tena je bila odlična na tim pozicijama, pokazujući visoku razinu produktivnosti i kvalitete rada. Ona posjeduje ultimativni „mi to možemo“ stav kod preuzimanja zadataka s pozitivnom energijom i osmijehom. Njezina vedra osobnost i svestrani pristup radu čini ju odličnim timskim igračem te joj omogućilo efikasnu suradnju s cijelima timom. Ona je proaktivna i inspirativna osoba koja preuzima inicijativu u svom radu te ide van očekivanih parametara njenog posla. Tena ne razmišlja samo „van okvira“ – ne postoji „okvir“ u koji se nju može staviti, obzirom da kontinuirano predlaže nove pristupe i ideje u brzom mijenjajućem tržišnom okruženju.

draga-zulj
DRAGA ŽULJ
Senior Brand Manager

U zadnje dvije godine, imala sam privilegiju raditi i surađivati s Tenom dok je radila na poziciji brend menadžera i voditelja digitalnom marketinga. Profesionalno mogu reći da je Tena odgovorna, pouzdana, veliki radnik i timski igrač koji je uvijek spreman pomoći. Unatoč njenom kratkom radnom iskustvu, s njenim stečenim znanjem ona je uspješno lansirala nekoliko proizvoda, marketinških kampanja, razvijala brend strategije i pomogla u digitalnoj transformaciji kompanije. Ona kontinuirano traži nova znanja i predlaže nove ideje kako maksimizirati marketinške aktivnosti, te kako poduprijeti poslovanja kompanije. Svaki tim ili kompanija će imati benefite od njenih znanja i vještina. Prije svega, Tena je sjajna osoba i dragi prijatelj kojeg bi voljela imati i zadržati u svom životu.