Sharing Success Workshop, Port Hedland, WA 26 & 27 June 2007
Participants at the Port Hedland workshop
The second of our Sharing Success workshops for the Indigenous Governance Awards (IGA) was held in June in the Western Australian coastal mining town of Port Hedland. Our IGA project partner, BHP Billiton, has operations in this region, and one of the local organisations, Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre, was a finalist in the 2006 Awards.
The two-day workshop was well attended by people from local Indigenous organisations including health services, foundations and community councils. The theme was building good governance and strong leadership with sessions covering topics such as the different roles and responsibilities in governance, how culture fits, and strategies to develop staff, management and the governing body.
Professor Mick Dodson outlined some of the key elements critical to achieving good governance, and shared some of his insights into leadership. He highlighted the importance of networks, commenting that Indigenous people frequently find themselves in leadership positions that perhaps they are insufficiently equipped for. 'This is where networks come into play', he said. 'Good leaders recognise their own weakness and where they lack skills and will call upon others with the relevant expertise to provide advice or assistance'.
Four finalists from the IG Awards shared their stories of what works for them and how they got started on building healthy, robust organisations. Lorraine Injie from the Wangka Maya language centre talked about the organisation's practical tools such as induction programs for staff and board members that ensures everyone has a clear understanding of their individual roles and responsibilities.
Clem Rodney from the Aboriginal theatre company Yirra Yaakin, explained how staff are encouraged to move around within the organisation to expand their talents and learn different tasks, so they can step into other roles when necessary. Trevor Donaldson from the Goldfields Land and Sea Council spoke about the potential for conflicts of interest when Board members wear different 'hats' and recommended governance training to clarify the different roles in an organisation to enable these kinds of governance issues to be properly managed.
Ralph Addis from Wunan Foundation believes good business practice stems from keeping things simple. He said they operate at a slow and deliberate pace - a walk before you can run approach - and the lesson they have learned is not to try and solve all the problems from day one, but to build the capacity to tackle the harder issues long term.
Facilitator Jodie Ryan, a Gunditjmara woman, encouraged participants in the small group discussions to share practical ideas and experiences, and to work together to develop strategies to overcome governance challenges.
Participants were provided with a workbook introducing governance concepts, examples of good practices, signs of problems and diagnostic checklists so they could review their own organisation on each of the topics. The content of the workbook was drawn from an analysis of all the IG Award applications, as well as the findings of the Indigenous Community Governance Research Project. Download a copy of the Workbook.
Feedback on the workshop was very positive with participants saying they gained 'lots of contacts and networks', 'strategies to implement change' and 'a greater sense of what governance is'. They also said it was a 'reminder that we are doing well, but need to continue to improve to keep ahead of the game'.
Download the Workshop Report including drawings and discussion outcomes.
Visit the Port Hedland photo gallery