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September 2001 - Canberra Times
By Catriona Jackson - Education Reporter

Don't try to be blokes, it is unpleasant and doesn't work. Geraldine Doogue told a Canberra women in leadership conference yesterday.

The award-wining journalist told the gathering of influential business and public sector professionals that women needed to carve out their own leadership territory, not try to mimic the mail the mail powerbroker image.

Obtaining position through the ruthless pursuit of personal ambition, and at the expense of the group, had never been a good model or the way out.

A broader view of leading by helping others do their best was gaining in stature, and women had natural talent in that area.

None of this meant that strength and toughness were not required.

Trying to change the still-dominant blokey culture that pervaded Australia's key public and private institutions was an uphill battle.

Doogue said that for too long women had let their emotional lives sabotage their professional lives. It had taken her many years, but she had arrived at a point where her emotions were no longer tripped her up.

Male-style repression was certainly not the solution. Instead, naming problems quite specifically, not just calling everything stress , could put grief, or loneliness or heartbreak into perspective, sapping them of the ability to do too much harm.

Labor Minister Cheryl Kernot told the conference she was sick of adversarial contests dominating parliament Question Time.

There was an increasing number of women in politics and important public positions, and their voices were being heard more and more clearly. But when it came to the crunch - challenging things - women did not yet have enough influence.

The prospect of being able to push forward change had kept her in politics, not the hope of winning the daily struggles.

A Force for Change

Women Leading in Australia

Both Western and Aboriginal perspectives on leadership were aired at a recent two-day conference.

By Deborah May

THE organisers of the Women Leading in Australia conference, held in Canberra in early September, have to be congratulated. It was illuminating, relevant and motivational, bringing together high-profile women including Geraldine Doogue, Kerryn Phelps and Cheryl Kernot, indigenous women, young women in business and women from the public sector.

The conference centred on three themes: What is leadership? How do we create leaders? How do we get organisations to embrace women as leaders? TMP's Melanie Kontze began with the core competencies required of leaders. She described the need for leaders to manage performance, not tasks; to partner, not sell; to have a rough agenda rather than a strategic plan. Leaders, she said, also had to find the commitment and courage to create a diverse workforce, adapt to adversity and be generous.

Juxtaposed were indigenous perspectives on leadership provided by writer and lecturer Mary Graham. Leadership, she said, is not a concept embraced by indigenous communities because it implies a hierarchical construct that is not part of Aboriginal culture.

Indigenous culture is grounded in a custodial ethic and a non-ego-based society that contains an understanding of the laws of nature and the human psyche, where power is not vested in any one individual but in community identity and relationship.

Women and men are separate but equal in Aboriginal communities, and authority is held by both women and men. However, those in authority don't rule like a monarchy, they are keepers of the law, upholders of the rules of society and a source of knowledge about human nature and life.

Liz Little, from the Office of the Secretary in Tasmania, explored the notion of "keepers of the law and rules of society" from a Western perspective when she advocated the need for leaders to return to ethical values, honesty and integrity in decision-making. She drew parallels between decision-makers turning a blind eye to questionable standards of corporate governance and the "Auschwitz error". That is, a concept that refers to the phenomenon in Nazi Germany, where thousands of ordinary people participated in the Holocaust by in some way dissociating themselves from the most basic tenets of human compassion and civilised behaviour.

Where are the keepers of the law in our corporate structures today? Where are the leaders who will demonstrate the courage to move beyond the Australian culture of "mateship" that predisposes us to be "moral relativists"?

Australians, said Little, are strongly influenced by perceptions and values of peers and role models and bound by ties of loyalty to colleagues and work mates. This poses a particular challenge to women because of the limiting stereotypes and perceptions about women's management behaviour, and perhaps impedes us making a stand on what we know is right.

Geraldine Doogue also embraced Mary Graham's leadership notions by challenging women to move away from the concept of a leader as "the one". Surely, she said, leaders must facilitate others to do their best rather than rest on a notion of "binary leadership" that is competitive and ego-based and puts the personal before the need for greater good.

If Mary Graham described indigenous views of leadership, Kerrie Tim lived them. Tim is acting executive director for Office for Women in the Department of Premier and Cabinet in Queensland and works actively with UNESCO in its efforts to abolish racial discrimination.

Delegates heard her story, about the life she was expected to lead as an Aboriginal woman. She described growing up with racial prejudice and career possibilities that extended no further than the typing pool. She spoke of and demonstrated the integrity and tenacity it takes to move beyond these very limited stereotypes and be someone willing to stand out, make a difference and exhibit leadership.

The audience was mesmerised by Tim, who clearly demonstrated herself to be an outstanding leader. She was for me, and many others, the highlight of this conference. She embodied her cultural notions of leadership ─ clearly having a very keen sense of the human psyche, working towards upholding the rules of society, and role-modelling what we as women need to become in the world.

Synergy Plus brought together about 20 women who shared their particular stories and experiences and women need to hear these stories and to learn alternative perspectives on leadership, to be challenged, and have our experiences validated.

I encourage Synergy Plus to hold this conference annually and to extend the invitation to men. I then challenge men to come and listen, think differently and understand how we could all benefit from opening our minds to more inclusive models of leadership

Synergy Plus Training Pty Ltd  3.16 / 35 Shelley St King Street Wharf SYDNEY NSW 2000
Phone: 1300 558 252 | Fax: 1300 558 173 |  Email: info@synergyplustraining.com