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  • 01 Understanding governance
    • 1.0 Understanding governance
    • 1.1 The important parts of governance
    • 1.2 Indigenous governance
    • 1.3 Governance in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations
    • 1.4 Case studies
  • 02 Culture and governance
    • 2.0 Culture and governance
    • 2.1 Indigenous governance and culture
    • 2.2 Two-way governance
    • 2.3 Case studies
  • 03 Getting started
    • 3.0 Getting started on building your governance
    • 3.1 Assessing your governance
    • 3.2 Mapping your community for governance
    • 3.3 Case studies
  • 04 Leadership
    • 4.0 Leadership for governance
    • 4.1 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership
    • 4.2 The challenges of leadership
    • 4.3 Evaluating your leadership
    • 4.4 Youth leadership and succession planning
    • 4.5 Building leadership capacity to govern
    • 4.6 Case studies
  • 05 Governing the organisation
    • 5.0 Governing the organisation
    • 5.1 Roles, responsibilities and rights of a governing body
    • 5.2 Accountability: what is it, to whom and how?
    • 5.3 Decision making by the governing body
    • 5.4 Governing finances and resources
    • 5.5 Communicating
    • 5.6 Future planning
    • 5.7 Building capacity and confidence for governing bodies
    • 5.8 Case studies
  • 06 Rules and policies
    • 6.0 Governance rules and policies
    • 6.1 What are governance rules?
    • 6.2 Governance rules and culture
    • 6.3 Running effective meetings
    • 6.4 Policies for organisations
    • 6.5 Case studies
  • 07 Management and staff
    • 7.0 Management and staff
    • 7.1 Managing the organisation
    • 7.2 The governing body and management
    • 7.3 Managing staff
    • 7.4 Staff development and training
    • 7.5 Case studies
  • 08 Disputes and complaints
    • 8.0 Dealing with disputes and complaints
    • 8.1 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous approaches
    • 8.2 Core principles and skills for dispute and complaint resolution
    • 8.3 Disputes and complaints about governance
    • 8.4 Your members: dealing with disputes and complaints
    • 8.5 Organisations: dealing with internal disputes and complaints
    • 8.6 Practical guidelines and approaches
    • 8.7 Case studies
  • 09 Nation building and development
    • 9.0 Governance for nation rebuilding and development
    • 9.1 What is nation rebuilding?
    • 9.2 Governance for nation rebuilding
    • 9.3 Governance for sustained development
    • 9.4 Networked governance
    • 9.5 Kick-starting the process of nation rebuilding
    • 9.6 Case studies
  • Glossary
  • Useful links
  • Acknowledgements

4.3 Evaluating your leadership

 04 Leadership

It is critical to keep an eye on the effectiveness and legitimacy of your leadership in the context of governance, because so much depends upon that leadership.

Everyone in the community has a responsibility for what goes on, not just the leaders. Community and group members have to keep their leaders accountable. Effective leadership can descend into self-serving behaviour when members do not want to hold their leaders accountable, or when there are weak rules and procedures to support members doing that.

As one senior leader in West Arnhem Land said, “My community members are my jury: they keep me honest and give me their verdict on whether I’m doing my job properly”.

4.3.1 Some problem signs to watch out for

It is pretty easy to identify the signs of poor leadership qualities and values.

You’ll know something is going wrong if you notice that leaders are:

  • dishonest
  • selfish
  • corrupt
  • bullying
  • unaccountable for their actions
  • biased in their representation
  • unilateral in making decisions
  • power hungry
  • cynical
  • not turning up to meetings
  • not listening to others
  • full of talk but no action.

4.3.2 Evaluate your leadership health

This check-up is not meant to replace a thorough evaluation of your leadership arrangements. It also doesn’t assess traditional systems and practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership. Its main purpose is to help you:

  • identify major areas where leadership may be weak
  • identify leadership strengths
  • encourage discussion
  • get people involved in leadership issues
  • identify priority areas for closer evaluation and possible change.

You will find more ways of evaluating leadership in the governance of incorporated organisations in Topic 5.

Check-up: Your leadership health

PDF View/download

This evaluation is for leaders working both formally and informally in organisations or the wider community. You can use it to find out how effective, capable and legitimate your leadership is.

4.3.3 Map your leadership history

Another way to learn about your current leadership is to look back at your leadership history.

Talk with others in your community or committee about the kind of leaders you had in the past.

  • Who did a good job and why?
  • Who had too much pressure and stopped being an effective leader?
  • What kind of values and qualities did your past leaders have?
  • How did they settle conflicts?
  • How did they enforce rules?
  • How did they communicate with their group members?

Then use these questions to think about what kind of leaders you have now, and what kind you need in the future. You can adapt the mapping your governance history template in Topic 3.2 to help you do this.

4.3.4 Turning leadership evaluation into action

Once you have identified and ranked the problem areas in your leadership you can then start thinking about a strategy and actions to make the changes you want.

There are sections in the governance development and action plan described in Topic 3.1 that can help you to start working through some of the leadership challenges you’ve identified from the leadership health check-up.

In Topic 5 you will also find other resources to assist with planning and implementing your ideas and solutions about leadership within your organisation.

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Case Studies

NPY Women’s Council – strong culture, strong women, strong communities

  NPY Women’s Council (NPYWC) was set up in 1980 and incorporated in 1994.  The organisation was founded in response to the concerns of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women throughout the APY lands.   The women were concerned about the …

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Murdi Paaki Regional Assembly

Self-determination and community control The Murdi Paaki Regional Assembly (MPRA) is comprised of the Chairs or representatives of 16 Aboriginal Community Working Parties (CWP’s) across the Murdi Paaki Region of NSW. MPRA see self-determination as the key success to their …

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NPY Women’s Council: Building your cultural guiding principles into your rulebook

The NPY Women’s Council became incorporated under new legislation in 2008. The council undertook a significant period of consultation with its members—spread across a large geographic region—in the lead-up to lodging its new rulebook (formally known as the constitution) with …

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News

ORIC Top 500 Report 2014-15

The Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) released the 2014-2015 top 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations report in December 2015. This is ORIC’s seventh report on the top 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations. It collates and …

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Social Justice Commissioner launches 2014 Social Justice and Native Title Report

Mr Mick Gooda is the current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. The Commissioner has a unique role at the Australian Human Rights Commission, responsible for advocating for the recognition of the rights of Indigenous Australians. As part …

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Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2014 Report

The Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage report: Key Indicators 2014 (OID Report) was released by the Productivity Commission in November 2014. The OID Report measures the wellbeing of Australia’s Indigenous peoples. The report provides information about outcomes across a range of strategic …

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The Australian Indigenous Governance Institute

The Australian Indigenous Governance Institute is a unique Indigenous led national centre of governance knowledge and excellence. We know that practically effective and culturally legitimate governance is the staple building block for delivering real change.

We assist Indigenous Australians in their diverse efforts to determine and strengthen their own sustainable systems of self-governance by identifying world-class governance practice, informing effective policy, providing accessible research, disseminating stories that celebrate outstanding success and solutions, and delivering professional education and training opportunities.

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