Community Leadership in Action

When people come together to work towards a common purpose great things can happen.

At LGSC we have four dynamic project teams working towards creating change in our Community.
Each team is diverse, providing valuable perspectives based on their own unique set of skills, experiences, backgrounds and cultures.

Each team is passionate about creating change and supporting the communities in which we love to live, work and play! That’s what the community leadership in action program day is all about – we get to delve into the synergy of creative thoughts and ideas, define concepts and as a group decide on which projects would provide the most benefit to our communities now and in the future.

We look forward to our learnings as we progress with our projects, an experience which will potentially be very different to what we could have anticipated. We will no doubt get a little outside our comfort zones during this process, and that’s where we grow, expand our beliefs and develop new skills.

The 2020 projects will acknowledge culture, start conversations, acknowledge our culture and history and support those vulnerable members of our community.

We love were we live and we feel grateful to have the opportunity to make a difference to create a bigger, better future for our communities.

Andrew Povey LGSC Alumni Blog

If you had have told me that I would address over fifty community minded attendees of an Ovarian Cancer fundraising luncheon two years ago I would have fallen over backwards.

Well on Tuesday 18^th February 2020 in Coleraine I was honored to be asked  just that, yes to talk at the annual luncheon which Coleraine Lions Club organize in memory of my mother, Jenny Povey who lost her battle with ovarian cancer in  2015.

I was approached in early January by a member of the Lions Club to see if I would be guest speaker at the luncheon and for some reason I said yes before asking what they wanted me to talk about. Fortunately, they did not ask me to talk about my mother’s journey nor cancer as I would have really struggled, they simple said: “You choose the topic”.

The start of my address was around community spirit and volunteerism, this then lead into domestic violence, focusing mainly on family violence as well as violence against women. My closing subject was social connection. The talk went for about 10 minutes and I feel it went well by the tears that I see in my family’s eyes.  When I was leaving, I was asked by Coleraine RSL Sub Branch to be their guest speaker at the Dawn Service in April, so either they are desperate for a speaker, or maybe Leadership Great South Coast has made me a better person.

Without the skills, knowledge, confidence and empowerment that Leadership Great South Coast gave me in 2019, I don’t think that I would have been capable of engaging this audience.

I sincerely thank you all – Andrew Povey

Diversity and Inclusion

Demographers tell us change is coming. Our population in Australia to set to increase to 38 million by 2050 and our communities are going to become more diverse. Knowing this, how do we create organisations where all staff feel safe, engaged and belong?

Diversity and inclusion are accepted standards within our society and statistics presented on the program day conclude that the organisations that have a strong focus on diversity and inclusion achieve higher results than those lacking in diversity. Diversity comes a range of forms including gender and cultural diversity, and it is important for organisations to reflect on what type of diversity would improve outcomes within their workplaces. Whilst it is important to have a diverse culture within organisations, this focus must not be placed above selecting the right applicant for the right position instead of filling a quota to appear to be diverse. In order to ensure diverse applicants apply for positions an organisation should visibly communicate and demonstrate their inclusive practices to potential employees.

Unconscious bias plays a major role in our decision making processes. Most of us would admit that at some stage in our life we have experienced conformity bias where we go along with the group thinking, or similarity bias where we surround ourselves with people who are like us in both the way we think and look. But what’s the overall impact to the diversity of our workplaces when this happens in a job interview situation? Acknowledging and checking our biases is essential to creating inclusive and diverse workplaces.

“Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilisation” – Mahatma Ghandi

Meet our 2020 Program Partcipants

Join us in welcoming our 2020 Particpants to their LGSC journey

1. Billy Edis, Director, Southcoast Project Management
2. Catherine Darkin, Advisor, Population Health and Community Wellbeing. Department of Health and Human Services
3. Jason Van Der Heyden, Maintenance Electrician, Wannon Water
4. Catherine Fitzgerald, Bookkeeper, Elite Cars and Trucks
   Sponsor: South West Community Foundation
5. Craig Kelson, Financial Accountant, South West TAFE
6. Dominic Conheady, Dairy Farmer, Self Employed
   Sponsor: Gardiner Foundation
7. Joe Sinnott, Human Resources Advisor, Warrnambool City Council
8. Joy Coulson, Farm Services Advisor, Saputo Dairy Australia
   Sponsor: Gardiner Foundation
9. Kara Winderlich, Risk Management Coordinator, Southern Grampians Shire Council
10. Emily Falla, Aboriginal Health Promotion Officer, South West Healthcare
    Sponsor: Wannon Water
11. Jerram Wurlod- Operations Manager – Keayang Maar Vineyard, Dixie
    Sponsor: Corangamite Shire
12. Liam Arnott, Works Supervisor – Construction, Moyne Shire Council
13. Mandy Cohen, Complex Needs Coordinator, Department of Health and Human Services
14. Troy Lovett- Wurreker Broker, Victorian Aboriginal Education Association
    Sponsor: Leadership Great South Coast – Speakers Scolarship
15. Michelle Badenhorst, Owner Suffoir Winery and Brewery, Macarthur
    Sponsor: Women In Agriculture
16. Tim McPherson, Management Accountant, Wannon Water