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Nyamba Buru Yawuru (NBY) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Yawuru Native Title holders through a corporate group structure The company was the Category A Winner in the 2018 Indigenous Governance Awards In t...
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Providing staff (including managers) with opportunities to improve and strengthen their abilities and knowledge is an investment for an organisation and strengthens its overall governance.
Many of the organisations that enter the Indigenous Governance Awards have realised these benefits and looked at the adequacy of their own systems for supporting staff in their work and professional development.
They have developed a planned approach to staff training, including initiatives such as:
- a staff development plan for the entire organisation, supported by approved policies
- place-based, in-house training
- staff inductions and cross-cultural training
- targeted training opportunities for collective professional development
- encouraging staff to attend relevant external courses and workshops to improve their skills
- access to mentoring, coaching schemes and on-the-job training
- work experience and job shadowing
- assistance with paid study leave or secondments
- training that is tailored to gender and age
- requiring staff to report back on insights, information and ideas from their training.
Attracting and retaining staff can be very difficult for organisations, especially organisations in remote
areas.
Many organisations do it in different ways, such as by ensuring good staff members have promotion opportunities, training and career pathways, and by managing workloads properly so that staff members don’t burn out.
- Recruit people who are respected and admired by the whole community, but make sure your recruits are also a good fit for their position.
- Ask experienced staff members—or even professionals outside the organisation—to act as role models or mentors for less experienced employees.
- Encourage greater participation among women—especially on boards—to create balance.
- Check if your organisation can become a Registered Training Organisation. This means you can train your staff inside the organisation instead of having to send them to external training courses.
- Have a comprehensive staff induction process that makes new staff feel welcome, comfortable and knowledgeable about the organisation.
- Include cultural awareness and language training for staff, if appropriate, so they can be more effective in the community.
- Include compassionate or cultural leave for staff when drafting leave policies.
- Create pathways for staff to be promoted or rewarded for good performance. Advertise new positions internally before you look outside the organisation.
- Encourage personal growth and career development through coaching, professional development programs and skills training.
- Offer appropriate salary for skills and make sure staff realise that their salary is tied to their performance.
- Manage workloads. Make contact with volunteers through an organisation like Indigenous Community Volunteers to help staff with their workloads without draining your organisation’s resources.
7.4.1 Developing local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff
“Capacity building is about regeneration of our communities from the inside out—communities renewing themselves by identifying, appreciating and using their assets … Each individual and organisation is a resource on which to build.”
(Mick Dodson, Chair Indigenous Governance Awards, Jabiru Governance Conference, 2003)
The long-term goals of self-determination and self-governance are a powerful catalyst towards building the experience and skills of local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to govern, manage and staff their own organisations.
Some organisations are fully staffed by local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Others have an Indigenous governing body, but mainly non-Indigenous staff. Most have a mix of both.
With high rates of unemployment it makes sense to provide local work to local people, and many organisations now have this as part of their objectives and policies.
This means organisations have to make an investment in training and mentoring support for local people.
While there might be an initial cost involved, in the long term it contributes to building the overall capacity of your nation or community.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations are developing many innovative ways to attract, train and retain their own local members.
Ngnowar Aerwah Aboriginal Corporation (NAAC) was a Finalist in Category A of the 2014 Indigenous Governance Awards. Here Board member Philomena Hunter talks about the wide range of services offered by NAAC and how they have evolved over time. NAAC is looking to expand their services, and is focused on developing skills and creating opportunities for their growing workforce.
- Create identified positions. If you want an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person for a job, you can say so by making it a position identified for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person. Australian laws let you do this. But be clear about why you want an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person for the job.
- Be transparent and accountable. Sometimes in communities everyone is related, so it’s hard to not see a job go to family, especially if they’re the ones qualified and interested in the job. The way to avoid a perceived conflict of interest is to have an open selection process, and ensure that any family members already working in the organisation are not directly involved in the interviews and appointment.
- Invest in tailored mentoring support and training. It’s no good getting local people into your workforce and then leaving them high and dry. Sometimes if a person isn’t used to the workforce but has enthusiasm and talent, they might need extra support. Appoint a mentor to work alongside them.
- Make accredited study available. Overcome the endless cycle of ‘training for nothing’ by focusing on completed study and accredited professional development for those ready for it. And make sure it then leads to relevant work.
- Create an employment and training plan and policy. Providing on-the-job, on-site training that is relevant to actual daily work significantly contributes to a person’s confidence and practical work skills. If you have an overarching plan and policy then it is more likely to get implemented.
- Hire young people to shadow staff, do work experience or work in public positions. This will encourage others to take a chance. But ensure they are properly supported and have a program of relevant work to enable them to build their confidence and skills.
- Acknowledge gender issues. Some areas of work may need to be done by either a man or woman. There may need to be training relevant to this work.
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