Planning for the Future: The Role of Indigenous Public - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Planning for the Future: The Role of Indigenous Public Service Leadership

AFOA British Columbia

HR Conference 23 September 2015

Catherine AlthausSlide2

ContextPersonal transformationGaps in knowledge and shared experienceTRC Call to Action #57

Belief that the public sector has potential to be a site of reconciliation and healingSlide3
Slide4

OutlineAcknowledgementsVignettesResearch Questions

Methodology

Jurisdiction Backgrounder

Literature Review

Statistics

Preliminary

Findings

TakeawaysSlide5

AcknowledgementsParticipantsGerda

van Dijk, Bill Ryan,

Daryn

Bean,

Te

Aroha

Hohaia

, Fiona Main, Mike Phillips, Heather Johnston, Rebecca Middleton, Janet Leonard, Robina Thomas, Anthony Corbett, and Lyndon MurphySSHRC, ANZSOG Slide6

Vignettes...there was one other Aboriginal manager at the time and we were both being asked to participate in everything. People really seemed to want to hear what we had to say. It wasn’t terribly long though before it began to become uncomfortable. We began to realize that we were tokens at various tables...and nobody really wanted to hear what we had to say but they wanted to tick off that box of their membership. Slide7

Vignettes IIThree of our Aboriginal public servants are in reporting relationships in the public service that are a direct opposite to their kinship status. They’re good about it, but it’s not easy for them and I can only imagine what they have had to do to adjust to this imposed hierarchy…I think they also feel that they cannot stand up against those ‘in power’ up the hierarchy… they are too respectful a people

Non-Indigenous Australians from an English-speaking background tend to assume that concepts such as ‘fairness’ are universal. It follows that any system of governance that does not rest on such universal principles must either be ‘bad’ or ‘unprincipled’… In the

Yolngu

view… good governance does not depend crucially on western notions such as ‘fairness’. Slide8

Vignettes IIII think the people who consider themselves Indigenous public servants rather than public servants who happen to be Indigenous, do so because we see an affinity with the Indigenous public above and beyond our job title and our work location. I hold myself accountable to Indigenous people and not just to my employers.

I think one of the big differences is just in authenticity, wholeness and authenticity…. you do want to know the person. That's part of our culture, our protocols, who are you from, who are your mother and father? Your grandfather, who are your aunties, uncles, where are you from? It's a more impersonal

role-

oriented nature in leadership within western organizations. I mean so many people will just introduce themselves by their title and it tells you nothing about the person. Slide9

QuestionsDo public services and Indigenous cultures share common or conflicting notions of leadership?

What

possibilities and challenges exist for Indigenous peoples to exercise leadership within western bureaucracies? Slide10

MethodologyRelationshipComparative case study

Statistics

Literature reviews

Qualitative, semi-structured interviews

Indigenous researchers and advisors

Incorporates and acknowledges indigenous methodology and 4

Rs

- respect, relevance, reciprocity and responsibility

Exploratory – much more needs to be doneSlide11

Comparison Population (Millions)Slide12

Comparison Indigenous Public Servants (%)Slide13

‘Publicly available documents indicate Aboriginal bureaucrats exist but there is very little information beyond that’.

Existing Literature Slide14

Traditional LeadershipSlide15

Information on traditional leadership indicates there should be no assumption that Western notions of leadership will hold or that Western models of leadership offer appropriate analytical tools.

Contemporary Applicability?Slide16

Statistics - QueenslandSlide17

Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Employment in the QPS, % at each Salary Level 1993/4 and 2012/13

Salary level

1993/94

2012/13

Indigenous

Non-Indigenous

Indigenous

Non-Indigenous

A08+

0.2

1.3

2.6

7.2

A08

0.2

1.1

2.5

6.2

A07

0.9

2.4

3.2

5.5

A06

2.3

5.8

13.1

21.4

A05

4.5

17.8

11.1

16.2

A04

8.1

13.4

14.5

13.2

A03

17.4

18.4

21.1

14.0

A01/2

63.3

38.9

31.7

16.3Slide18

Statistics - AustraliaSlide19

Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Employment in the APS, % at each Salary Level 1993/4 and 2010/11

Salary level

1993/94

2010/11

Indigenous

All

Indigenous

All

SES

0.4

1.4

0.5

1.8

Executive level

4.1

14.6

13.0

26.4

APS 5-6

17.5

26.2

29.5

34.6

APS 3-4

35.0

29.6

43.2

33.0

APS 1-2

40.6

27.3

10.0

3.1

Trainees & Grad

1.4

0.7

3.8

1.1Slide20

Statistics – British ColumbiaSlide21

Preliminary Findings (Canada)No, there is not one specific understanding of leadership across diverse Aboriginal Public ServantsThere was a common personal approach to the way work that is undertaken by

Indigenous Public

Servants

Walking in two worlds, building bridges,

ham

in the

sandwich

, acting as an interface may be an outcome for some Indigenous Public Servants that comes from the personal desire to make an impact for their

peoplesChallenges are a by-product of this approachSlide22

Preliminary Findings (Canada)

CATEGORIES

Individual Leadership

Indigenous Leadership

Bureaucratic/BC Public Service

Walking in two worlds (as an Aboriginal Public Servant)

PROPERTIES (Dimensions)

Integrity

Benefit for all

Limiting understandings of leadership in the BC Public Service

Cultural competency

Vision

Walking the talk rooted in cultural values

Leadership perspectives in the BC Public Service Corporate Context

Cultural agility

Humility

Holistic view of persons

Challenges in the space between

Self-concept

Linking Theme

It’s personal, not individualSlide23

Comparison

New Zealand

Canada

Australia

Co-created path

Ceremonies

Personalization

Recognize

need but no clarity (will?) to do

State funding to Indigenous organizations

but no mainstreamingSlide24

Take-AwaysUnderstandings of LeadershipLinks to Traditional but not on gender

Skills match to modern public sector

Challenge to Weber

Practices of Leadership

Pre-choice

Churn, racist glass ceilings

Link to communities

Burden of representation and bridge-building (

monocultural)Cultural safetyTaboo Slide25

A Question How workplace organisation, processes, meanings, rules and routines, play

out with Indigenous PS leadership;

the extent to which

their values and ways are subsumed OR they transform western bureaucratic ways and norms?Slide26

Planning for the Future….Recognition of challenges and contributionsSpace for stories to be told and shared

“

Give-back” to Indigenous public service communities an articulation of

fit with contemporary

public

service & agendas

;

Identify training and transformation for non-Indigenous public serviceSlide27

Shared Voices (Dylan Thomas)