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Monthly Archives: June 2009

Catalysts for Capital

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Posted by Annie Talve on June 30, 2009 – 12:28 am
Filed under Change Management, Innovate, Collaborate, leadership, learning and development
Annie Talvé, Ian Colley and Chia Moan at the graduation ceremony

Annie Talvé, Ian Colley and Chia Moan at the graduation ceremony

They came from Bega, Bombala, Pambula, Tathra, Cooma, Queanbeyan and Canberra. Eight workshops over eight months in six regional locations. Fourteen business and community leaders throughout the Capital Region of NSW and the ACT, celebrated the end of the Leaders 4 Capital regional development program in Canberra on Saturday 27 June. Sponsored by the Capital Regional Development Board and a range of local shires, the program aimed to build a network of confident, collaborative and forward-thinking leaders who could help their local towns and communities thrive into the future.

Chia Moan and Ian Colley from make stuff happen designed and facilitated a program that inspired participants to harness the skills and confidence needed to make tangible things happen in their home patch. Karen Lott from Nethercote said:

“I have felt an increased level of confidence in speaking and presenting, which developed through knowing other participants, and through gentle encouragement and support from both participants and facilitators.”

“The whole journey has been enlightening,” said Paul Pincini from Pambula. Greater confidence has helped Emma Pieper from Theordore, ACT,  “to take more risks and to put myself out there a little more.”

Millingandi resident, Ivan McKay, summed up the mood of the  group: “I can make a difference in my local community whether employed for that purpose or not.”

And all 14 regional leaders have done just that. Things like community co-operatives, growers’ markets, improved community facilities, re-vegetation and environmental initiatives, women of vision leadership awards and a youth cafe and meeting place, are just some of the projects that have come to fruition over the eight month program.

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Learning to lead

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Posted by Annie Talve on June 29, 2009 – 12:17 am
Filed under Innovate, Collaborate

When Tony Burke became the new Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in 2007,  he was in for a surprise.  Sitting down with his Department Heads to review selection committee recommendations for the next round of appointments to advisory boards, he was shocked to discover that 90 per cent of nominees were male.

“How one earth can this be merit?” he said. “How on earth, if we’re basing decisions on merit, can we have committees that keep recommending that merit somehow uniquely resides in blokes?” He didn’t introduce quotas to increase the number of women. He didn’t make a fuss. He changed one thing: he took away previous board experience from the selection criteria. In 18 months the representation of women on these boards and committees has risen from 20 per cent to 43 per cent.

Structural barriers like this are rife, particularly in the corporate sector. But so are internal psychological and skill related barriers.

Tony Burke removed a barrier that had become invisible and taken for granted. Just like the internal constraints that influence the way we think and act.

Learning to lead..

Two recent leadership programs designed and run by make stuff happen have helped senior librarians in Australia and New Zealand, and regional leaders from  NSW and the ACT,  learn more about themselves by learning together.

Amazing stuff can happen when smart people come together to change things in their profession, region or community. When they help each other learn to lead.

Reference: Tony Burke: Address to the Australian RIRDC Rural Women’s Award 2009: Monday, 25 May 2009