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Page Background

Miwatj Employment and

Participation (MEP) was set

up in 2013 to support over

1,000 Indigenous (Yol

ŋ

u) and

non-Indigenous (

balanda

) people

across the vast homelands of

Yirrkala, Gunyangara, Gapuwiyak

and Nhulunbuy in North East

Arnhem Land. MEP’s employment

work covers jobs, training and

business support, while its

participation work focuses on

community development and

economic participation for highly

disadvantaged people with limited

numeracy and literacy skills.

MEP struggled to find skilled

people to work in challenging

remote areas and experienced a

high burn-out rate among its staff.

As MEP took on more community-

based activities, CEO Jeremy

Kee prioritised skills transfer

and people development. A key

challenge was strengthening

the professional capacity of

regional coordinators—frontline

managers who oversee training

and community-based work-

for-the-dole activities, manage

teams of local staff, and report to

government funding agencies.

In 2015, Gutjapin Gumana was

promoted to regional coordinator,

the first Yol

ŋ

u to take up a

management role at MEP. Gutjapin

was to manage 20 staff. Jeremy

sought Jawun secondees with

an explicit focus on skills transfer

to regional coordinators, and

Gutjapin in particular. Kate

Reaper and Courtney McKean,

Commonwealth Bank employees

with backgrounds in customer

service, training and development,

were seconded to MEP.

Kate trained MEP staff in project

management, communications and

everyday professionalism, working

with management to develop

a staff procedures manual that

became part of a formal induction

package. Jeremy found it ‘fostered

a culture of togetherness’, and

‘allowed MEP to use our limited

resources to maximum effect’.

Courtney focused on supporting

Gutjapin. She learned about

the challenges of the regional

coordinator role and guided

him on time management, asset

management and effective

administration. Together they

established a weekly progress

review system for Gutjapin’s team.

Key performance indicators around

placement of dole participants in

work activities were tracked with

a ‘traffic light’ monitoring system.

This motivated staff and by the

time Courtney left, Gutjapin’s team

had reduced the non-placement

rate from 45% to 28% and ‘left

the red’. Progress continued, with

Gutjapin triumphant a month later,

telling Courtney his team achieved

an all-time low rate of 8%, well

and truly ‘in the green’! Gutjapin

feels this support upgraded his

professional skills and ability:

Courtney’s support was

around how I should be doing

my work—it was very simple

and understandable and

such a great tool to achieve. I

already had some of the skills

but she upgraded them.

There was one issue Courtney and

Gutjapin tackled together: while

Gutjapin is mandated by MEP

to manage staff in Gapuwiyak

homelands, he is not a community

leader there, so lacks the cultural

authority that is the basis of local

governance. The ability to ‘walk

in both worlds’—respecting Yol

ŋ

u

and

balanda

ways of acting and

leading—is critically important

to Gutjapin and many Yol

ŋ

u

people. He has not always seen

this appreciated by outsiders, but

in Jawun and Courtney he was

pleased to see understanding:

People need to be aware

that Yol

ŋ

u culture is very

strong here, and that we are

working in two worlds. The

rules we are given within our

work have to line up with

our culture and customs,

otherwise there will be a lot

of misunderstandings.

People often say they care

about our cultures but they

don’t, and they trample over

us in ways that sometimes

even Yol

ŋ

u don’t realise.

But Jawun is an organisation

where people support other

cultures, in all companies

and organisations, so that

employees can do their jobs

better. I discovered that

about Jawun when Courtney

was here.

Courtney worked with Gutjapin

on ways of establishing clarity

locally around his role with

MEP, and building community

trust in how he performed his

job. Through this he has grown

professionally, filling the boots of

the regional coordinator role with

ever-increasing competence and

confidence.

The Yothu Yindi Foundation

named Gutjapin one of its Yol

ŋ

u

heroes of 2016, an honour reserved

for respected community members

and announced at the annual

Garma Festival. The foundation

cited his invaluable service to MEP

and how, in taking on a challenging

role, Gutjapin had ‘stepped well

outside his comfort zone—one of

the hallmarks of leadership’

. 14

Gutjapin sees this as an extension

of his family’s legacy and their

commitment to leadership in

two worlds:

I want to be a leader

because my grandfather and

father were leaders back in

their day, in both

balanda

and

Yol

ŋ

u worlds.

1. EMPOWERING INDIGENOUS LEADERSHIP 7