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1.3 Indigenous Corporate Leadership program
Today’s Emerging Leaders program
The current Emerging Leaders, who came together
in March 2017, have visited Indigenous organisations
and met leaders in East Kimberley, Inner Sydney,
NPY Lands and Lower River Murray. They have also
spent time in Canberra at a government-facilitated
masterclass in ‘Working with Government’, and are
being coached by Emerging Leaders alumni on
how to maximise the opportunities offered through
the program.
Emerging Leader Gary Field, son of Belinda Field
and Practice and Learning Advisor at House with
No Steps, a leading disability service provider on
the Central Coast of New South Wales, explains the
change he feels ready for:
I believe before the program started I understood,
to an extent, what it takes to drive change on a
local level. I hope that with this program I am able
to build on these skills and to influence, challenge
and drive change on all levels. As Ian Trust told
us, ‘Good leaders take people where they don’t
want to go, but know where they need to go’.
His co-participant Divina D’Anna, Empowered
Communities development manager at Aarnja, looks
forward to using the program to understand how
ideas about leadership can be put into practice:
I knew what attributes a person needs to drive
change … But practising and walking the talk is
something different.
Many established Indigenous leaders have now
been exposed to the Jawun Emerging Leaders
program—nominating their young people, supporting
the program, and working with past participants at
the community level. This strengthens their resolve
to support and create opportunities for a next
generation of leaders, ones looked to as successors
to sustain their own investments in Indigenous
empowerment in the future.
Now we’re seeing the next generation
coming through. And I think the
generation after them will be even
stronger.
—SEAN GORDON,
CEO, DARKINJUNG LOCAL ABORIGINAL
LAND COUNCIL
Jawun’s Indigenous Corporate Leadership or
‘reverse secondment’ program began in early 2017.
Three Indigenous participants, each respected
authorities in their communities, were placed
for between six and 12 months in a top business
environment, in a fully managed and salaried role to
develop their leadership.
For many of Jawun’s corporate partners, the idea of
reverse secondments kept arising. Seeing how much
their employees grew through secondments, and
feeling increasingly invested in the empowerment
of the Indigenous leaders and organisations they
supported, they wanted to offer the same chance but
the other way around.
The Indigenous Corporate Leadership program allowed me to
develop skills in communication, negotiation, management and
leadership—through on-the-job training and learning from my
manager and my Qantas team.
—CHRIS INGREY,
LA PEROUSE COMMUNITY LEADER
16 JAWUN
2017 LEARNINGS AND INSIGHTS