0 Women in Property Program: Connecting through COVID-19 

The Property Council sat down with Elysia Liekefett, Associate at Allens to discuss her experience in the Property Council’s 0 Women in Property Program over the COVID-19 pandemic period.  

Hi Elysia, you have been involved with the Property Council’s 0 Women in Property Program over the COVID-19 pandemic period. Could you please tell me about your experience over this time? 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been predominantly working from home and only recently commenced a gradual return to the office. When the pandemic first started, I was concerned that I would miss out on the opportunity to connect with other women in the property industry through the Property Council’s 0 Women in Property Program.  

However, I have found that I have still been able to get benefit from the program through the digital platform offerings. I have been working from home for the majority of the year and have found these offerings a helpful way to connect with the program and other participants. 

COVID-19 has resulted in Property Council shifting the 0 Women in Property program to be delivered fully online. Can you tell me how you found the digital program offerings, and how it helped you throughout this period?  

Thanks to online coffee roulette, online seminars and video calls with my sponsor, I have found that I have still been able to connect with others in the property industry. In fact, I have found that my conversations during coffee roulette have been more focused, meaningful and helpful than the conversations I would usually be able to have in a typical networking function. This is perhaps due to the one-on-one nature of the calls and the pandemic also provided an immediate talking point that we could all relate to and comment on. 

Communication and connecting with colleagues, friends and family has never been more important. Can you tell me how you stayed connected to your sponsor? How have you connected with other participants? And were there any new and/or different ways you chose to communicate?  

Communication when working from home has been primarily over Teams, with the occasional in person meeting when we were both in the office. 

What would you say are your biggest lessons/take away from the program so far? Have you implemented any of the advice you received from your sponsor/coffee roulette match, or something you learnt from the property council academy courses? 

The biggest thing I have taken away from the program to date is a broader and clearer understanding of some of the roles of other women in the property industry.  

For other women in the industry, is the program something you would recommend as part of their own development?  

Absolutely. Even without having the benefit of the usual program, I have found the ability to connect with other women in property outside my industry to be valuable and insightful. 

0 Women in Property is an initiative of the Property Council’s Diversity Committees throughout Australia and is a sponsorship program. It involves a personal commitment from Property Council Members (women and men) to identify and champion women in their organisation or business sphere, who they believe would benefit from further networking and professional development opportunities. 

For more information on Property Council’s 0 Women in Property Program please visit our website or contact our National Diversity Programs Manager, Chloe Philp at [email protected]