Fearless leadership at the Mid-Year Retreat

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better”. Maya Angelou

As we navigate through COVID and our ever changing environment – it was timely for the leadership team to pause, reflect and assess; to further develop our learning goals and leadership strategies as we near the half way mark of the LGSC program.

It was important for the team to reflect on the lessons learnt thus far, reflect on our own commitment and offer each other the wonderful gift of feedback whilst remaining curious on our journey. Messages which were delivered with compassion, empathy and understanding.

On a person level – I have always struggled with receiving feedback – even when it may be accurate. The moment you hear the words, you naturally become anxious and your mind begins to race and you find yourself in a very uncomfortable and unfamiliar position.  Your first instinct can often be defensive; to deny and justify your position without fully understanding the intent of the messaging.

However, once you have taken the time to dissect what has been delivered, the ability to use the honest empathetic feedback in a constructive manner means that we can learn from our weaknesses because without taking on board a well-intentioned critique, it is difficult to improve. Appropriate feedback, focused on specifics, gives all of us perspective and can open our eyes to things that we may have overlooked or indeed, never considered.

When we are defensive (instead of accepting and implementing change) we run the risk of on missing out on the important message.

It’s imperative to look at the feedback objectively and not emotionally – which can be easier said than done – but it is mark of a good leader and indeed, leadership itself.

Although we have little control over people’s opinion we do have control over how we respond to criticism.

It is important to thank the person for the gift of feedback as it comes from a place of conciliation and gratitude. Be curious about the intentions of the feedback. It will open your mind and build on the feedback to create value.

A big thank you to Corrinne Armour for facilitating the retreat and empowering us to be better leaders. Corrine’s knowledge, passion and continued support is greatly appreciated and has had an impact on us all in our journey.

Ella Credlin – 2021 Program Participant

Port of Portland connects LGSC to the world

Think global, act local was brought to life during the Taking an Industry Perspective Leadership Great South Coast (LGSC) Program Day at the Port of Portland. The grand setting of one of Victoria’s major international ports and the range of local manufacturing, energy and trade speakers allowed participants to reflect on the interplay between the major gains from international trade and the value of supporting domestic production and labour.

Steve Garner, Executive Director of Keppel Prince Engineering and Chair of the Committee for Portland, gave us a clear-eyed perspective on the strong business case for increased investment in renewable energy production and grid upgrades in Victoria and nationally. He also spoke passionately about the need for businesses to look beyond the mere dollar amount when deciding where and how to source materials and labour. Steve believes strongly in the numerous benefits and positive flow-on effects of sourcing labour and inputs locally. This strong ethic has clearly guided Steve well through his long and successful career as an engineer and founder of a manufacturing powerhouse.

Ailiche Goddard-Clegg and Loren Tuck from Deakin Hycel, a ground-breaking hydrogen research centre at Deakin University in Warrnambool, opened our minds to the huge potential of hydrogen energy use in Australia. Like most Australians, hydrogen energy was a fairly new idea for the LGSC group and not one typically included in the clean energy discussion. Ailiche and Loren helped dispel some of the confusion around the different types of ‘green’, ‘blue’, ‘brown’, ‘fuchsia’ and  ‘rainbow’ hydrogen, and got us thinking about how hydrogen could transform how we power the transport and gas industries of the future. It was also exciting to hear that Warrnambool is leading Australia’s hydrogen research and innovation, creating new local education and employment opportunities and strengthen the Great South Coast economy.

In the closing discussion of the day, participants expressed how disconnected they felt from the world of manufacturing, trade and energy production because they work in disparate industries. We were reminded by our Executive Officer that every industry relies on products and services delivered by essential manufacturing industries. Therefore, all our purchasing decisions in our professional and personal lives have flow-on effects throughout the supply chain and can be an implicit vote for domestic or international manufacturing, jobs and investment.

Thank you to the Port of Portland for hosting us and to all the speakers that gave up their time informing and inspiring the LGSC participants – Scott Hamilton Panel Member, Australian-German Energy Transition Hub and Senior Advisor, Hydrogen Australia, Smart Energy Council, Greg Tremewen, CEO Port of Portland, Steve Garner, Executive Director Keppel Prince Engineering, Mark Riley, Financial Controller Portland Aluminum, Ailiche Goddard-Clegg, Hycel Communications and Engagement Coordinator, and Loren Tuck, Hycel Project Officer at Deakin University,

LGSC 2021 Program Participant Heather Smillie

Resources for Regions

Have you ever struggled to find project or initiative funds or not had adequate resources to do your job properly? Well, our latest Safety and Wellbeing Program Day had both these in spades. Why is it that metropolitan Melbourne receives the majority of funding and resources while the country areas are under resourced?

The court system comparison from metro to county is staggering. In Melbourne, the court system is all about rehabilitation over conviction with people having access to  resources like the Neighbourhood Justice Centre and The Assessment and Referral Court (ARC). In the country we do not have this availability and that is one reason why country conviction rates are so high.

These issues don’t stop there, we learned that the police force is undermanned with many resources being diverted to cover the COVID-19 response in Melbourne, which stretches our local force to cover the basics of policing.

The resource issue continues in the mental health and addiction fields. We struggle with long waiting lists to get a bed for drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

I would like to see the gap close for all these fields. To borrow a quote from Carolyn Howe we need to use our voices and speak up, speak up for adequate funding for our region, speak up for adequate resources to aid our overworked providers. Because together, we can make change happen.

I would like to thank our fantastic presenters, Carolyn Howe, Accredited Specialist Children’s Law, Chris Asenjo, Detective Senior Sergeant- Manager, Family Violence Investigation Unit, Emma Mahoney, CEO Women’s Health and Wellbeing Barwon South West (LGSC Alumni), Christine Williams, Associate Nurse Unit Manager Drug and Alcohol Withdrawal Services and Chris Healy Research Fellow/Clinical Simulation Educator- Deakin Rural Health.

Paul Dunn, 2021 Program Participant

8 billion people, 8 billion opportunities to create a climate disturbance

With a global population of just under 8 billion people, it’s hard to believe that our individual actions can have any great impact on the climate. I can hear you all thinking we can’t single handily stop the temperature from rising, remove all the plastic from the ocean, or stop the mining of fossil fuels. But 8 billion people making small purposeful actions, might just leave the world a better place.

Climate Expert Graeme Anderson painted a picture on the state of climate change in both a global and local context. Discussing the three P’s of climate impact, Physical, Policy and People he highlighted how our weather system, our political system and our corporate and commercial systems all impact climate, allowing us all to delve deeper into our own world to understand how the decisions we make as leaders influence climate.

We discussed Practice Change, the theory that individuals will only change behaviours when it’s proven to work, when we want to change and when we can.

As leaders this gives us the tools to enable our communities to make behaviour changes necessary for climate mitigation and adaptation. By providing evidence, mitigating risks, showing tangible benefits and building capacity, our community will be set up for success when it comes to climate action.

We considered risks and opportunities that climate mitigation and adaptation provides us as leaders. Climate change can be a contentious and somewhat scary dark box of a place, however it is through exploring these opportunities that it becomes a hopeful place.

Graeme mentioned “In a stable atmosphere it would never rain, you need disturbance for it to rain”. Perhaps the same thing could be said for climate action, keeping stable and to the status quo, things will never change. There needs to be disturbance for meaningful climate action to occur. As leaders it’s time for us to create that disturbance.

A big thank you to Damon Gameau Director of the 2040 Documentary, Graeme Anderson Climate Expert, Mark Wootton & Eve Kantor Principal Managers of Jigsaw Farms, Steve Morris Founder of Close the Loop and Kylie McIntyre Sustainability Coordinator at Southern Grampians Shire Council for enlightening us on the state of climate mitigation and adaptation and the opportunity for hope.

Ashleigh Glennon, 2021 Program Participant