37 / 76
Career portfolio broadens
As well as progressing at work, a number of
secondees expanded their career portfolios
post-secondment by accepting board positions
at Indigenous organisations. Trish Clancy was
seconded to the East Kimberley in 2011 to work
at Wunan, an Aboriginal development organisation.
Later, Trish was invited to join the board of the
organisation, along with Ross Love from BCG.
Trish reflected that her position on the Wunan
board has been a valuable professional
development opportunity: ‘Board experience is
extraordinary, in terms of understanding how our
clients behave and what level of detail they want
to see in our work … Also in terms of seeing how
long things take, seeing them through.’
Richie Hadfield was invited to join the board of
Youth Connections, a not-for-profit that helps
young Indigenous people access employment,
education and training, after his secondment to
the organisation in 2013. The board opportunity
arose as a direct result of his secondment. Richie
said: ‘Jawun gave me the opportunity to get in that
space to prove myself to the directors at Youth
Connections. Without it, I would have just been
some guy with a CV.’ Richie also explained the
value of his role on the board of Youth Connections
for his professional development:
In terms of strategic development and
commercial experience, what I am learning there
is far beyond anything that I would learn here at
work, unless I was in the upper echelons of group
strategy. It is far beyond anything I would learn
doing an MBA.
In 2013, Jaimes Adlington, from the
Group Audit team at Westpac, was
seconded to Tranby Aboriginal
College in Glebe, Sydney. Tranby
is a not-for-profit organisation
that delivers vocational education
and training (VET) courses to
Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander students from across
Australia. Jaimes was motivated
to apply for secondment by the
opportunity to contribute to
community. ‘I was starting to
feel that I needed something
else—from a personal satisfaction
perspective—rather than just
coming to work every day,’
he said.
Prior to Jaimes’ secondment,
the college had been through
a challenging period, with a
reduction in federal funding and a
decrease in the numbers of staff
and students. Jaimes worked
closely with Tranby CEO Belinda
Russon to review the college’s
financial position, making several
recommendations and introducing
new processes. Along the way he
found his perceptions changing.
‘You grow up with certain
perspectives on Indigenous culture
and certain things conveyed to
you, whether it be through your
parents or through the media,
friends or school life. But you don’t
necessarily verbalise that or think
like that on a daily basis because
you don’t see it. So when you go
out there, you’re dealing with 99%
Indigenous people and all of a
sudden whatever those embedded
things were bubble up and you
realise, “Okay, that’s not right.”’
Returning to Westpac, Jaimes
found the experience affected the
way he approached his role. He
identified patience, empathy and
more considered decision-making
as key growth areas. ‘It makes you
think more about: “Where does
that person come from? Why are
they acting that way? Why are they
communicating to you in that way?”’
But Jaimes’ Tranby story didn’t
end there. In mid-2013 he was
invited to join the Tranby Board.
‘They were looking for someone to
augment the board from a financial
and commercial background,’
Jaimes says. ‘And I was looking
for a way to continue the contact
without leaving Westpac.’
Jaimes’ board role has led to
further professional development
opportunities, including external
directorship courses organised
through Westpac. ‘I deal with
boards here. So to learn more from
the other side has been invaluable.
Now when I present to a board,
I think about mindset—for
example, What are they likely to
do with this piece of information
they’re getting? Now I can put
myself in their shoes.’
Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer
endorsed the value of this
relationship for Westpac: ‘I’m not
sure who has benefited more from
this exchange: Tranby College,
through Jaimes’ advice; Jaimes
himself, through an excellent
professional development
opportunity; or Westpac, since
Jaimes has become a real leader.’
Joining the board of
an Indigenous organisation
CASE STUDY
27