Working Strategically

A change agent is “a group or individual whose purpose is to bring about a change in existing practices”.⁸

Our Community includes the Institute of Community Directors Australia which provides an overview of how to identify change agents and targets. 

The Change Agency provides links to a variety of resources, including an extensive Toolkit that covers topics relevant to social change, activism and advocacy. 

Kimberley She’ro is a Kimberley Jiyigas podcast hosted by Natasha Short and includes stories of Kimberley Indigenous women influencing social change.⁹ Episodes include Olive Knight, Tallulah Bieundurry and Dr Anne Poelina.

Change Agents is a SBS News podcast that interviews individuals making change, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women like Olivia Williams, Rhonda Collard-Spratt and Florence Drummond.¹⁰

Change Makers is a podcast that focuses on people who are aiming to create change across the world, and provides stories and Changemaker Chats so others can understand how social change works.¹¹ Conversations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women include Terri Janke and Tarneen Onus-Williams.

Original Power has developed Building Power: A Guide for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Who Want to Change the World which includes sections on change making, strategy and leadership and decision making. To access the guide you need to provide your email.

See further information about Change Agents under “Resources – Concepts – SMART Goals, Critical Pathway, Change Agents, Levels of Change, Cultural Capital” within Action Planning.

The Leadership section of the AIGI Indigenous Governance Toolkit includes Develop your leadership which focuses on leadership capacities for effective governance and ways to support leadership development. Five ways for supporting leadership development are provided.¹²

1. Governance and professional skills training in areas such as financial literacy, negotiation skills and strategic plan implementation. 
2. Professional development strategies can include internal training to meet specific organisational needs or external training with other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander aspiring leaders. 
3. Informal processes for example on the job training or informal sharing within and across organisations. 
4. Mentoring relationships (formal or informal) with experienced leaders.
5. Tertiary and other educational training to gain formal qualifications relevant to role. 

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency includes information, research and resources related to Women in Leadership and highlights the following 10-step recipe for getting women into senior leadership roles – see Women in Leadership: Lessons from Australian Companies Leading the Way.¹³

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A Podcast of One’s Own with Julia Gillard is part of the Australian National University’s Global Institute for Women’s Leadership and includes Julia in conversation with well-known female leaders who share stories, lessons and insights about what it takes to get women into leadership roles.¹⁵ Conversations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women include Tara June Winch and Marcia Langton. 

Business Queensland provides information about managing and leading in a small business, including the difference between management and leadership roles, characteristics of good leadership and ways to improve leadership and management skills.¹⁶ Additional links to coaching, mentoring and networking as ways to obtain leadership skills are provided. 

RMIT University suggests the following five steps for transitioning into a leadership role.¹⁷

1. Prepare yourself to lead – reach out to mentors, friends and people in your professional networks to understand leadership perspectives and styles. 
2. Build critical leadership skills – undertake specific training, including soft skills such as critical thinking and how to manage people. 
3. Build trust with your team – through respect, listening and acknowledging skills and experience. 
4. Explore multiple leadership styles – adopt different leadership styles to bring out the best in your team. 
5. Embrace your mistakes – by acknowledging them and learning from them.

“Visionary leadership can be aspired to by leaders who look to Western and Aboriginal worldviews for ideas and motivation. Visionary leadership seeks to encourage individuals to fulfil their potential and positively contribute to the well-being of their communities by employing knowledge, inclusion, and insight as guiding principles while navigating complex situations.” ¹⁸

The Alternative Board has developed the paper Visionary Leadership which describes a visionary leader and what this means in practice. A visionary leader is passionate and clear about their direction and influences others to feel the same way.²⁰

Strengths-based leadership

“A strength-based leadership approach creates resilient and cohesive teams by focusing on the inherent strengths of individuals and communities. It fosters environments where everyone can thrive, recognizing and leveraging unique strengths.” ²¹

YarnnUp includes a Blog with a section on Bridging Perspectives that focuses on Aboriginal and Western leadership and how the two worlds can meet to create positive change. 

The following table has been adapted from the NSW Government (Education) to explain a strengths-based approach and how it can apply to leadership.²²

See also Solutions-based Approaches for more information about strengths-based approaches.

The Leadership section of the AIGI Indigenous Governance Toolkit includes Leadership styles which outlines common leadership styles, the importance of connected-up and collective leadership and Indigenous leadership needs.

The AIGI Toolkit has created a Checklist: The qualities of your leaders which identifies key quality areas and skills that are considered important for effective Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders. ²³

Being inclusive, supportive and the ability to mentor

The Leadership section of the AIGI Toolkit outlines how to Develop your leadership and lists leadership capacities for effective governance, for example the capacity to: 

• work well with others including community members, Elders and different organisations and stakeholders; and
• provide and mentor strong local leadership by investing in the next generation through the sharing of knowledge and experiences.

Develop your leadership also identifies five capacity-building ideas for leaders. 

1. Reframing the role of the leader from ‘problem solver’ to ‘enabler of collective decision-making’. 
2. Encouraging the contribution of ideas and ensuring people are valued and included. 
3. Making sure peoples’ roles and responsibilities are agreed and transparent. 
4. Fostering a shared learning environment over an authoritarian structure. 
5. Applying a ‘both-ways’ approach where learning and relationships are reciprocal. 

Finally, Develop your leadership identifies behaviours that leaders can apply to promote member engagement and voice, including how to: create shared meaning; develop capacity in people; and encourage autonomy and resilience in others.²⁵

The Leadership section of the AIGI Toolkit includes Succession planning and discusses the role leaders have in mentoring and developing future leaders. 

“Mentoring is the most common activity to encourage future leaders to flourish. It is a relationship between two people with the goal of professional and personal development.  The ‘mentor’ is usually an experienced individual. They share knowledge, experience and advice with a less experienced person, or ‘mentee’”.²⁶

Barayamal explains How Indigenous Mentoring Can Benefit Your Career and Community, including the concept of Indigenous mentoring, benefits and how to become a mentor.²⁷

“Indigenous mentoring is a process of learning and growth that is rooted in Indigenous culture and traditions…Indigenous mentoring is based on the principles of reciprocity, respect, and relationship-building, and it can have a profound impact on both the mentor and mentee.” ²⁸

Naomi Moran and Jeannie Moran talk about how mentoring and support is transgenerational for Aboriginal women.²⁹

Being objective and focused on common goal

The Your people section of the AIGI Toolkit focuses on Diversity, equity and inclusion which includes the importance of understanding biases and ways representation and fairness can be addressed. Steps that can be applied to ensure objectivity are: 

1. recognising unconscious bias; 
2. acknowledging the importance of managing bias; 
3. promoting pay and role equity; 
4. undertaking specific training related to governance, transparency and equity; 
5. Accommodating and embracing differences; 
6. ensuring everyone is welcomed and included; 
7. mixing up teams / groups;
8. seeking feedback; 
9. assessing organisational processes; and
10. tracking and evaluating overall progress.³⁰

Yarning Business is a weekly Waringarri radio program and podcast hosted by Natasha Short from Kimberley Jiyigas that profiles Indigenous business women across the region.³¹ Episodes related to leadership include Dot West, Cissy Gore-Birch, Kia Dowell and Nini Mills.

Helpful by nature: the power of connection through community focuses on stories of inspirational First Nations women leaders³², including: 

• Meaningful change
• Women save women’s lives
• Spark that black joy
• Breaking the chain
• Listening, Learning, and Partnering.