LV News

By Chris Kotur (WCLP’94), LV’s Leader in Residence 

Let’s move from community service to community leadership

We’re living through a period of prolonged crises that is changing how we live and work in ways that we don’t yet fully understand and can’t fully prepare for.

We do however know that we’re all at some risk because the health and economic crisis won’t discriminate between us.

Right now we want our leaders to tell us what will actually happen, when we’ll get back to normal (as if ‘normal’ is out there just waiting for us to come back) and really, what we just want to hear is that at the end of the day (which will come soon, won’t it?), we’ll all be ok.

In other words, we want something from our leaders, experts and people in authority that they simply can’t deliver.

During these months of successive crises we’ve seen, there’s been numerous acts of community service and I’ve got a real sense that now is the time to capture and grow this sentiment into longer-lasting community leadership and act right now, while we’re feeling vulnerable, needy and open to finding ways to be more confident and hopeful about the future.

Where are some examples of community leadership?

Community leaders can be hard to spot because they don’t care about self-promotion, and right now they’re simply getting on with helping people stay resilient and put plans in place that will help their community recover.

You may or may not find them in an organisation, a business or a department because their authority doesn’t rely on a job title or senior position or the backing of a workplace. Some of these people don’t have jobs but are very ready and able to volunteer.

Their leadership can come about because of their own changed circumstances. They’ll be out there in country Victoria today talking with other locals about how the town, district or region can become more self-sufficient, how services can be more integrated, how visitors can be encouraged back and how limited resources can be shared.

You might find them out the back of the building, working on innovative ways to keep their social enterprise going as the recession begins to bite.

You’ll recognise them anywhere where people are not coping because they’ll be asking, “How can I be useful to you?” and later simply say, “… I saw what was needed and just did it!”

What matters to them?

These people are more motivated by their values and care for others than ego, vanity, training, recognition or money.

They can see a good future beyond current stresses and want others to join them in contributing to better times.

What are their services to community?

Put simply, they turn up. And they’re good at getting other good people to turn up (that’s called leadership) thereby improving the chances of making an even bigger and better difference to others.

I bet they’re in your neighbourhood right now running a WhatsApp group, taking turns to check in on lonely people or those not coping, picking up or delivering, volunteering to get community activities back up and running and helping those unfamiliar with technology to get online.

Lockdown restrictions meant closing the community market? Look for the Strathbogie drive-through market to see local innovation that ensures it will survive despite the lockdown.

Check out how a 16 year old high school student has shown how during the lockdown, his news podcast has become the main source of news in a region of 8,000 people after the local newspaper was shut down (ABC News post 22 April 2020).

He could have found a way to reinvent valuable community connections otherwise lost during the extinction of local newspapers.

What does it take to move from service to leadership?

Encourage a mindset that grows resilience and motivation.

The community leaders I admire most think there’s good in everyone, that despite the worst behaviours that emerge during stressful times – the nastiness, divisiveness, resentments and blame – that it’s possible to bring out the best in others, that something better is always possible.

They motivate others without sugar coating hard to hear facts while focussing on what they have left rather than what they feel has been lost. They think we all suffer but we don’t all need to become victims. They think ambition where others think pity.

They simply keep people engaged, especially when they feel lonely or isolated. And incidentally, there’s plenty of research that shows engagement with others and contributing to their wellbeing can help us with our own mental and emotional health.

They network. They’re ‘connectors and joiners’ – people who get involved and who seek out others to join them. They encourage young people to be leaders especially when they see the most vulnerable disengage from meaningful interaction with others.

The challenge now is to gain more scale and value from the myriad of small, dispersed acts of community service that we see and are part of every day.

Perhaps we need better coordination. We certainly need to try to be more impactful. The next challenge then is to maintain that powerful sentiment and effort over a long time, and not just while we’re in a state of crisis.

It remains true that it’s easier to work together across communities during a crisis than afterwards when the current crisis dies down and before the next one begins.

During interviews immediately after the Black Saturday Royal Commission, I often heard people who were trying to stay resilient say “we’re getting all the attention now, we’re on the news every night, but you’ll soon move on leaving us alone to make our own way…”

I believe it’s really possible to grow strong, resilient, long lasting community leadership by assembling and learning from the numerous acts of service we’re seeing and taking part in every day.

We were unprepared for a global health crisis and its attendant recession but that hasn’t stopped a groundswell of unbidden service to others.

If we can’t grow community leadership now we’ll see the quick return of the nastiness, divisiveness, resentments and blame that will weaken us all as members of a community.

For now, while we’re in the thick of changes we don’t want and don’t yet fully understand, I’ll keep backing community leadership – including accruing the lessons from all the small acts of kindness to strangers I see and join every day – to guide us toward a better, more confident and hopeful future.

I hope you will join Leadership Victoria (and me) with ideas and energy to help turn community service into long lasting, enduring community leadership.

 

Chris Kotur (WCLP’94)

Leader In Residence

Leadership Victoria

chris@chriskotur.com

 

We’d like to update you on the changes Leadership Victoria is putting in place to help keep our participants, clients, staff and broader community safe as we face COVID-19.

While we are all dealing with the immediate disruption at the moment, LV is positive about the future. We will get through this as a community and we will learn more about our leadership and what we are capable of.

Like all Australians, we are closely monitoring the unfolding impacts of COVID-19 and are following advice and government directions as they evolve so that we do all we can to keep our community safe.

We are all having to adapt to a rapidly changing situation, and in order to protect the health and safety of our community, LV is changing its program delivery model to minimise face to face interactions over the next three months until 30 June 2020. With the situation evolving rapidly, please be assured that we will keep you updated of any changes.

This as an opportunity for us all to develop and refine the leadership skills required to meet very real life challenge of leading virtual, dispersed teams!

Programs currently in progress: face to face facilitation and events will be suspended until 30 June 2020 at least, to comply with government guidelines and to keep us all safe. We are working closely with our clients to ensure continued delivery of our leadership development programs through a combination of the following:

• Rescheduling experiential components to a later date
• Delivering programs in a virtual format over the next three months at least, and possibly longer depending on advice and how the situation evolves.

The Williamson Leadership Program is continuing in a virtual format until at least 30 June 2020 with experiential components being rescheduled to the latter half of this year. All participants have been provided details of the revised arrangements. Last Friday we were delighted to successfully deliver the belonging theme day virtually to the 2020 Williamson cohort where we heard from an array of wonderful guest speakers. Thank you everyone for your flexibility, pulling together and showing the strength of our connectivity.

Open enrolment programs: We are working to enable virtual delivery of our open enrolment programs scheduled to take place in April, May and June. We are aiming, as far as possible, to retain the scheduled dates and will notify all registered participants in the following programs, should this change:

• LeaderEvolution Series 1 scheduled dates 28 April – 5 May 2020
• Developing Self, Leading Others Series 1 scheduled dates 4 May – 17 June
• Igniting Leadership Program Series 1 scheduled dates 7 May – 4 June 2020

Please note these programs, and the programs scheduled for later in the year, remain open for expressions of interest and we will continue to provide updates on scheduling and delivery format as the situation progresses. To enquire about LV programs, contact info@leadershipvictoria.org

LV team operating virtually:  Team members will continue to be available via their individual email and mobile phone numbers, and for teleconference meetings.

Looking towards the future: We intend to keep the conversation going with you – especially as we face new challenges of social distancing and working in different ways. This is a time to support each other and to truly lead anytime and anywhere. We will keep in touch with you via our social media channels, newsletter and website.

The LV team put together this storytelling piece from the 2020 Williamson Welcome Immersive. Following this, the 2020 Williamson peer groups will take over the storytelling duties and we will be sharing these reflections from the program from time to time over the year. This storytelling piece is accompanied by a Spotify playlist – a ha moments from Williamson 2020. 

 

“Belonging is an integral part of life,” says Taungurung man and LV alumnus, Anthony Cavanagh (WCLP’15) as the group stands in a wide circle with the land beneath our feet and the cockatoos screeching their own welcome from the majestic gums above.

You are at this moment on the cusp of belonging to something new.

Something that, as Anthony tells us, is not just for the next 12 months, it is for the rest of your life.

Welcome indeed.

How does belonging happen? It starts like this.

A generous welcome that helps us all belong to the ancient land and the cultures that have shaped it.

A pair of socks – you will see a few of these – that symbolise your new belonging. Continuing (alumni, the Leadership Victoria community) and new (you lot) joined by a small gift, a symbol of all the things that will come to link you.

Let me introduce myself. I’m your narrator for this first part of the journey. Unreliable. Biased. Selective. Not of you, but observing you. None of you will have the benefit of my distance as you undertake this storytelling task over coming months – although you will be expected to climb up to the balcony. I will not have the benefit of your belonging in this special group – although I love a good session on the dancefloor.

Belonging and not belonging. Let’s talk about the monsters that lurk in the room on this first morning. Imposter syndrome. And for some of you perhaps, its opposite. What shall we call it? Ego? Hubris? Privilege?

Or maybe it is one of these monsters masking itself as another. Or a mix of both. We are complex beasts, us and our monsters.

Let’s call them and then let them go – for now.

You are here. You are here through an honest, fair (well, as fair as our world is) and trustworthy process. So you deserve to be here. So does everyone around you.

Think back to that question in your interview – why you when someone else will miss out? I could add, when some people in our world, our communities, will never even be in a position to take control of their own lives, let alone lead others.

Use that.

Use it to make the most of this opportunity. You are not here just for you. Leadership, by its very nature is about yourself and others.

So step up and in. Make the space for this in your life. Really live every moment of it. You will never have this again. Most people will never have it.

But don’t waste time thinking you are the odd one out in exalted company. Or, alternatively, that you are the exalted one in odd company.

You are here. So really, be here.

Maybe this expectation of presence is not what you were expecting. Even when the people who had come before you down this path shook their heads and with that mix of pride, ruefulness and knowing said, ‘You should do this. But it’ll be hard. It will test you.’

What might you need to give up, for a time, to be truly present? How might you need to recalibrate – the way you see the world, the way you move in it, the assumptions you make, how you use your time and the value you place on it?

What might you give up, set aside … but what richness will you gain?

So much to take in on these first few days. So many points where presence is required, already, that the head spins and aches with it all.

But let me settle on one point: Questions. Specifically, the questions you ask of the people who give their time and that little part of themselves that is their story.

What are they, these questions? A way to extract information. Sure. But so much more – they can be vehicles of your curiosity, your imagination, your empathy, your anger, your desire for change. Your learning.

Williamson is such a big program, all those days, all those trips and experiences and speakers … and yet, already here we are on Day One and it feels like there isn’t enough time.

It’s fleeting. And all of a sudden, that person who could hold the key to a revelation that could change you, change your world, is heading for the door, a pair of socks in hand.

So your presence is not just a sort of mindfulness on the day. It is practical and preparatory and reflective. It is before and after. I’m talking about research and pondering and careful, thoughtful selection.

These questions, they are about you as much as they are about the one being questioned and the wider world.

So here on Day One, as an example, some of you have before you a journalist who:

(a) asks questions for a living – hmm, might have some insights for your own question posing, especially as a Williamson alumnus.

(b) has lived through (is living through) the most massive disruption to public engagement with news and information in at least a hundred years – gosh I wonder what he sees as the future of media; I wonder how that transformation has affected him and his colleagues – what does his experience tell us about people and change?

(c) specialises in business and finance – gee, he’d have some insights into changes in corporate culture and leadership and the state of the economy and why, despite things like the banking royal commission, corporate leaders seem to be showing more direction on big issues than politicians.

But you only have – what, half an hour to ask questions? And there’s 30 of you. So it means team work and compromise too. Choice. Decision. Depth or breadth. What is the best use of our limited time and access?

This is starting to look a lot like leadership.

What do you really want to know from and about this person? Don’t waste your, their and everyone else’s time by not knowing about them beforehand; their experiences, what they might have said in the past, what they can speak knowledgeably about.

Don’t refrain from asking them the burning questions. Don’t be ignorant of what those questions might be.

And don’t take what they say at face value – respectfully, but still, with purpose and a curious mind. I was upfront with you, back up there at the start. I told you I was a biased and unreliable narrator. Everyone is of their own story. But most won’t tell you – or to be fair, they don’t realise it.

Real insights are rarely handed to us on a platter. We must earn them. Deserve them. Ponder them awhile.

Remember. You are here and so many others are not. Belonging is a privilege and a commitment.

Be thoughtful. Be present. Belong.

Welcome to Williamson.

On Wednesday 20 November, we held the 2019 Graduation at State Library Victoria to celebrate Williamson and Folio graduates alongside their partners and supporters, and the wider LV team. Elaine Montegriffo, LV CEO and Chris Kotur, LV Leader in Residence, opened the event by extending their congratulations to the 2019 cohort and reflecting on the year that was.

In the evening we held the Leadership Victoria 2019 Celebration December at Zinc, Federation Square. Our 2019 Williamson and Folio Community Leadership Program Graduates came together with friends, family, LV partners and supporters in celebration of their completion of the programs. The energy in the room was palpable as our MC Kylie Belling (WCLP’17) led us through the evening of speakers including Keynote speaker Chin Tan (WCLP’98), Race Discrimination Commissioner and Jacinda Richards, 2019 Igniting Leadership Program Scholarship Recipient and L2R Dance Founder followed by the announcement of the 2020 Williamson cohort and 2020 scholarship recipients. Thank you to all those who made it to the event and to those who couldn’t.

To see highlights of the evening, check out this great video.

We’ve put lots of photos on our Facebook page, so feel free to tag yourself and share.

You can also read about our 2019 graduates in our 2019 Yearbook – Leading with Purpose, which is now available on our website.

Interested in taking your leadership to the next level in 2020? Check out our new 2020 Leadership Programs brochure here.

 

I’m guilty. I think I have my purpose all worked out and then let life get in the way of re-examining, and possibly updating, my reasons for working and acting for others as I do; and checking to see if I can make any improvements.

The end of a year is a good time to reflect and do just that.

I worked on becoming clear about my purpose some time ago. The Williamson Leadership Program sharpened my focus.  I was certain my purpose would involve applying my skills and energy to make a positive difference for other people.

Fast forward. By now I have facilitated consultations for all levels of government, for three Royal Commissions, numerous inquiries, boards and community groups; and I routinely get to help hundreds of people work through difficult, complex problems.

Here are three ways that I use as a facilitator to reflect on purpose.

1. Stories are universal

   In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech Kazuo Ishiguro said, ‘Stories are about one person saying to another: This is the way it feels to me. Can you understand what I’m saying? Does it feel this way for you?’

   Stories show me how different people react to difficulties and unwelcome change and point to the direction of where I can improve connections between the right people, services and stakeholders.

   I gain so many new insights and fresh ideas from people’s stories. Each story is an opportunity to examine, shape and communicate purpose.

2. Questions matter

   The facilitator’s role has had me ask questions of people affected by trauma, violence, mental illness, suffering and sadness. Their answers suggest it’s sometimes best to avoid searching for absolutes, for right or wrong or good or bad.  I learn more about how I can make a difference to people by asking ‘what would better look like’, ‘what would it take to improve these circumstances’, ‘if we could do things differently to make this better, what would they be?’

   Each answer reveals ways to improve their lives and for me, ways to strengthen purpose.

3. Feeling safe is important
   
   Facilitators can offer people ways to have open conversations without being afraid – conversations deep enough for differences to emerge and the search for ways to improve lives to continue.  Looking for improvement might mean people setting aside previously comfortable routines and behaviours to learn from others and adapt.

   Here is a test of purpose that requires examining if ego and attachment to particular views get in the way of adapting to new, often unwelcome circumstances. The result is often a tense situation but always worth the effort.

   As a facilitator I get to learn from stories and explore options to improve people’s lives. By asking keen questions and offering a safe space to explore different perspectives, I get numerous opportunities to test and strengthen my sense of purpose.

After this timely reflection and after all these years, my early commitment seems to be holding up quite well.

By Chris Kotur (WCLP’94), Leader in Residence, Leadership Victoria 

Williamson participants, LV alumni and guests showed their “CLAN-do” attitude on Wednesday 30 October at our first ever #togetherweCLAN event which was a huge success. Around 120 people came along to hear the 2019 Williamson Leadership Program CLAN groups pitch their big challenges and offer their unique points of view through a group consultation process.

CLANs – community leadership action networks – are a feature of the Williamson and other LV programs and challenge participants to take a deep dive into complex issues that need smart, purposeful and collaborative leadership to address.

Popular pitches on the night asked ‘how might we …’ address issues including women’s financial disadvantage, Indigenous recognition, consumption and waste, trauma and access to housing. The room was abuzz with lively conversation as the audience joined the consultation process to explore the underlying challenges of these issues.

For LV alumni and friends, and anyone interested in sharing discussion on society’s big challenges, keep an eye out for our next CLAN event which will be taking place in March 2020…Watch this space!

If anyone else wanted to do this course, I’d say ‘just go for it’. Don’t hold back. You’ll meet a lot of great people, it’s a safe environment and you’ll make friends for life. If you’re not sure, just ask people who’ve been involved, it’s really great!”

This is Mehri Vijdani speaking of the 2019 Greater Dandenong Young and Emerging Community Leaders Program. Mehri pushed herself “out of her comfort zone” to undertake the program.

“I’m a bit shy. I want to work on my public speaking. I’m a bit nervous speaking in front of a crowd. The course has helped me talk directly…”

Mehri, a 24-year-old university student, is a community volunteer with an Iranian and Pakistani background. She’s studying psychology, family studies and health promotion at university, and is particularly interested in domestic violence. She’s the English speaker in her household and has overcome bullying and racism to become a community youth leader. The skills she hones in the program are immediately put to use. Daunted community members come to Mehri with everything from employment to parking tickets. Mehri, all about breaking stereotypes, is enjoying working with young police officers during the course. One day, she hopes to join the police force.

So is Sudanese community leader Khalid Katikang. Which is not surprising, because the youth worker is keen to become a policeman himself.

“It’s one part of why I joined the program. I’ll be asking the young officers about how to join. You get a good view of what it’s like to work for the police. I’d like to work as a liaison officer. Victoria Police is growing, and it needs a diverse group of people.”

Khalid has lived in the Greater Dandenong area for 13 years. He won a community award in 2016 after years engaging at-risk young people in after-school programs and sport. He was a key participant in a state government-funded Say No To Crime campaign. The Program is directly relevant for him.

“I hope to learn skills to take back to my community and up-skill other people and teach them what I learnt. Dandenong is potentially a very successful area. It’s a very diverse area with a lot of needs. I want to empower young people and be a voice for them.”

Rohingya refugee Amina Khatun received an Outstanding Service to the Community citation at the annual Refugee and Asylum Seeker Recognition Awards, hosted by Friends of Refugees.

The Morwell mother-of-two is also keen to join the police force.

“I’d like to become a police officer at some stage and work in family violence in the Muslim community helping women who are not comfortable talking with police.”

This ambition arose from Amina’s work as an interpreter and translator in her community. She has been the voice of her people as an advocate for women too frightened to speak out and the link between refugees and vital support services.

“There’s not much awareness of support services, there’s not much connection with them. I’ve talked to lots of organisations and I have an awareness of family violence, so I can help give the women with abusive husbands the self-confidence to seek help.”

Amina is excited by the opportunity to “educate” young police officers about what young migrants face. She’s been encouraged by the very friendly police she’s met in the course.

Amina’s activism lends urgency to her desire to build her leadership skills. “The main thing is knowing more so I can help someone. With these skills, you can save someone’s life.”

Program participant Ajulo Omot does volunteer work with South Sudanese people in Greater Dandenong.

“The main challenge I face educating my community is getting the attention of community members to the problem I want to address.”

Convening an information session about sexual assault, she had to be crafty.

“It was very difficult for us to promote the program exactly as what is was… Instead we promoted it as about women’s health because we knew if we said what the program was about people may not have attended.”

Confronting this taboo subject has been Ajulo’s greatest leadership test and triumph. “I’ve had the greatest impact as a leader I think by being able to talk about the issue of sexual violence openly and to involve the community on the discussion.”

Ajulo is another participant looking to hone her public speaking skills.

“I hope to gain the skill of good and confident public speaking. I was invited to participate in the leadership program because someone thought that I have the potential and characteristics of a leader and I also think the same, so I accepted the offer.” She wants to see police, young or old trained to consider the “big picture” of a situation or issue. She finds the involvement of young police officers important “so that maybe the young police might relate to us young people and have a bit more understanding of our issues.”

 

About Greater Dandenong Young and Emerging Community Leaders Program

The Greater Dandenong Young and Emerging Community Leaders Program develops young people from diverse cultural backgrounds and young police officers with a passion for community leadership who want to work together to make a difference in the local community. The program is a rich development experience that builds participant’s leadership capabilities and communication engagement skills to identify and seek solutions to community safety issues for young people. This will have long-lasting benefits for participants and strengthen social cohesion within the local community.