Leading  Issues Journal  

Time to Focus Learning on the Team

By Dr David Clutterbuck

As organisations continue to focus on how to capture human and organisational capital, Dr David Clutterbuck, one of Europe's most prolific and well-known management writers and thinkers discusses how this can be achieved with the premise that all organisations must be learning entities, or they die. 

He explains that "The critical link between individual learning and organisational learning is the team. It is in the team that learning by the individual is most easily shared with others. It is in the team, too, that the organisation’s aspirations and objectives can best be translated into learning goals and learning approaches." 

How can teams best manage their learning? 

Clutterbuck suggests that a "key part of team learning strategy is developing the learning networks that permit and encourage teams to cross-pollinate...To become a learning organisation, it is necessary to promote the freeing up of people to participate in a wide variety of teams at the same time. In this way, they can learn from the task, from the other individuals they work alongside and from the alternative resources to which those people introduce them."

More significantly, Clutterbuck argues that one of the most effective ways of sharing learning across teams is through mentoring. "Done well, this becomes a mutual learning opportunity with extensive spin-offs, both for the people directly involved and their team colleagues. In practice, well-managed mentoring is reflective space that bridges different pools of experience."

Pointing out that "the study of the learning team is a remarkable unexplored terrain," Clutterbuck believes that "the focus of learning will increasingly shift towards the team over the next decade," where "Learning how to learn together" will become the major focus in an organisation.

To view the article, click here: Time to focus learning on the Team

How Individuals can Learn

Extract from 'Mentoring in Action' By Dr David Clutterbuck

According to Clutterbuck, the three main options for individuals are: Self-Tuition ; Learning from others in your organisation; Learning from external sources. 

The Mentor Option, however, the fastest growing developmental tool at senior management levels has a number of key benefits over traditional training and development approaches. Clutterbuck briefly explores what is mentoring, what are the deliverables and what is required to set up a mentoring programme.

To view the extract, click here: How individuals can Learn

Responsibilities and Accountabilities of Boards and Directors

Extract from 'Mentoring in Action' by Dr David Clutterbuck

What is required to help people within senior management take the step from thinking like a manager to thinking like a director?

Based on Clutterbuck's findings of director's attitudes towards their own development, he  suggests that there are six stereotypes: The Arrogant: 'I've learned all I need to know' type which is fortunately a shrinking category; The Complacent: 'I've not got that many years to go';The Harassed: 'I simply don't have the time to think about my own development' which is probably the largest grouping; The Guilty: 'I've got this development plan, but I haven't done anything about it' which comprises another large group; The Development Fanatic: who absorbs every management guru's latest book, reads Harvard Business Review, keeps several learning logs and is doing another PhD; The Balanced Developer: who relates learning to personal and business needs, emphasises learning by teaching and spends as much, if not more, time thinking as reading.

With the view that "If a board isn't developing in competence it is unlikely that the company is," Clutterbuck focuses on how a Board can create a Board Development Plan.

To view the extract, click here: Responsibilities and Accountabilities of Boards and Directors

Key Issues Facing Law in the 21st Century

• 73.3% of all legal practitioners are male.
• 68.2% of employees in legal aid offices and community legal centres are female.
• Women are over-represented in the lower levels of the profession and under represented in the senior ranks and they leave in disproportionate numbers.
• Women lawyers generally earn less than their male counterparts.
• New technologies have created instant, cost effective access to legal resources making time spent less relevant in determining legal fees.
• Billing practices impact on clients as well as lawyers who face immense pressure to meet billable target hours.
• Most Australian solicitor practices are small: 56.3% have no more than 4 staff but 1.1% of practices employ 31.5% of all practising solicitors.
• Property including conveyancing is the most commonly practised area of law and commercial law earns the highest level of fees.
• Solicitors performed an average of 71 hours pro bono work during 1998/99. During the same period barristers undertook an average of 132 hours. A key factor among young lawyers when applying for jobs is the opportunity to participate in a pro bono scheme.

Source and copyright: Law Council of Australia

To view the Executive Summary of The 2010 Discussion Paper and and the full Discussion Paper, click the link for the Law Council section of the publications page. From here, you will be able to access both items: http://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/publications.html#LCA 

Bringing Home the Truth 

By Justine Daly

Bringing Home the Truth was written by Justine Daly for Reportage Online, the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism's (ACIJ) web magazine dedicated to high quality independent journalism. The ACIJ is part of the University of Technology, Sydney and is a non-profit organisation aiming to promote high quality journalism, particularly investigative journalism. 

Justine Daly is a South African journalist who recently completed her Masters in Journalism at the University of Technology, Sydney. During her time in Australia, Ms. Daly became interested in the 'Stolen Generations' issue due to its potent influence on many Australian's everyday existence. Ms. Daly has since returned to live in South Africa and continues to explore social justice issues in her work.

Four years after Sir Ronald Wilson presented to the Federal Government The Bringing Them Home Report, he reflects on the criticism that the Report has received, how it changed his life and why the Government refused to support it.

"What they found shocked the nation, revealing Australia’s neatly airbrushed history of forced removals. During the peak period of the assimilation policy, the 1920s and 50s, almost one child in three was taken and institutionalised.

Two-thirds were under the age of five.

The lucky ones told of being fostered into good homes with all the benefits of a Western upbringing, but said they always felt like outcasts, shunned by both white and black.
Others told stories relating the torment of physical or sexual abuse at the hands of their carers, while some, middle-aged and with families of their own, had only just discovered their Aboriginality.

"It changed my life," Sir Ronald says. "Having middle-aged Aboriginal women weeping in front of you before they could even start to tell you their story, then to think I represented the race that had done these things - it was awful. Yet I was overwhelmed with a sense that they trusted me."

The great pity about the public’s focus on the finding of genocide is that the report’s other important conclusions and recommendations have been undermined.

Of the report’s 54 recommendations, an apology from the State and Federal governments acknowledging Aboriginal Australians’ suffering, and some form of monetary compensation, were at the top of the list."

 To read the article by Justine Daly click here: Bringing Home the Truth 

The Success Factors - Managing Change in Regional and Rural Australia

The Success Factors - Managing Change in Regional and Rural Australia - a Report by the Regional Women's Advisory Council describing the key ingredients for managing change was released on 27 September 01. 

The Council members are Jenny Hawkins (NSW); Janice Richardson (TAS); Elaine McKeon AO (QLD); Jenny Russell (QLD); Sue Middleton (WA); Elspeth Radford (SA); Moira O'Brien (NT); and Margaret Smith AO (NSW) and Cathy McGowan from Victoria. Established in September 1999, the Council advises the Deputy Prime Minister about issues affecting women in regional Australia. 

*In 1999, the Hon John Anderson MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services, asked, "What is it that makes some regional, rural and remote communities 'work' while other communities struggle?" and "How can Government support communities?". As he consulted with communities around the country, he noted two quite different types of response to change.

The first type is presented in this study as 'successful at managing change'. It is characterised by an enthusiastic 'do it yourself' approach. The residents of these communities are 'up and at it' people.

The second general type of response is seen in communities that appear to be overwhelmed by change and have not as yet, begun to deal with it. The Minister wanted to know what made the difference.

The Minister asked the Regional Women's Advisory Council (the Council) to identify and advise on the characteristics of communities that successfully deal with change.

Action research was conducted in seven diverse communities across Australia, covering each State and the Northern Territory. Each was considered by external observers to be successful. The communities chosen were:

• Denmark (Western Australia)
• Griffith (New South Wales)
• Ceduna (South Australia)
• Hamilton (Victoria)
• Devonport (Tasmania)
• Tennant Creek (Northern Territory), and
• Cloncurry (Queensland) *

To view the Launch speech by Cathy McGowan, President of Australian National Women in Agriculture and the Executive Summary and the Major Findings of the Study, click here: The Success Factors - Managing Change in Regional and Rural Australia

* Source: The Success Factors - Managing Change in Regional and Rural Australia Report, Rural Women's Advisory Council, Copyright 2001, Commonwealth of Australia

From Family to Region - Building Links for a Sustainable Future

By Cathy McGowan, President, Australian Women in Agriculture

Cathy is the national President of Australian Women in Agriculture, (AWiA) the peak organisation representing women with an interest in agriculture. She is also the chair of The (National) Regional Women’s Advisory Council.  This Council advises the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services on policy issues relevant to communities in rural, regional and remote Australia. In September 01, The Australian Financial Review nominated Cathy McGowan in the NGO section as one of the five most powerful people in her role as President of AWiA and Chair of the Regional Women's Advisory Council. 

The speech, "From Family to Region - Building links for a sustainable future," was presented by Cathy McGowan as part of the Darling Downs Sustainable Regional Development Seminar Series by the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in Toowoomba  on June 4^th, 2001.

Based on her experience of being part of the 6^th generation of farmers in northeast Victoria, working and living in the community with other farming families around the Darling Downs, Cathy explores what sustainable regional development needs to incorporate and be based on. She argues that various levels of understanding are critical for such development to occur as she moves from the big picture, the local economy and environment, to the microcosm, the family unit and the individuals therein.

"It is my assumption that in regional Australia -  People can and do make a difference; people can and do learn and change, and people gathered in families make a particular type of difference.  Their emotions, their goals, their needs and aspirations, their values, their history and their relationships all have a big role to play in sustainable regional development."

She advises that governments "Put families at the heart of policy," that Regional Universities can research, document and articulate local knowledge. While Universities can "teach us new and different skills; of conflict resolution of succession planning, they can reward and acknowledge the characteristics of community building and sustainable development."   

Her conclusion, "Our role is to remind others that it will be the people, working in their families and communities who create sustainable regions, " is echoed in "The Success Factors - Managing Change in Regional and Rural Australia" introduced above.

"The way people feel about their community has the most significant impact on a community's ability to manage change... The research showed that when a community feels positive,
… where there is a level of trust, … pride, joy, commitment and courage … celebrations, … optimism, … sense of fun, … of involvement, … applauding success, … they have managed success... In the same way, poor change management is related to where there are negative feelings, disillusionment, sense of powerlessness, dislocation, reluctance to be involved, and a sense of no support." (The Success Factors Report)

To view the speech by Cathy McGowan, President of Australian National Women in Agriculture click here: From Family to Region - Building Links for a Sustainable Future

Women Taking Action - Making a Difference in Regional and Rural Communities

This Report also produced by  the Regional Women's Advisory Council profiles about 74 women from all over Australia who are managing change in a manner discussed in the previous items. 

To view  Women Taking Action click here: http://www.dotrs.gov.au/rural/women/women_taking_action/index.htm 

Having a Life: Work, Family, Fairness and Community in 2000

By Barbara Pocock

Dr Barbara Pocock from the Centre for Labour Research, Department of Social Inquiry at Adelaide University authored this Report which was released in May 2001. This report examines what work is doing to Australians, by means of research amongst 150 Australian women and a small number of men.

Dr. Barbara Pocock has been teaching and lecturing at Labour Studies, now Department of Social Inquiry, since 1987. She has been involved in unions since her working life began twenty years ago, and has worked in a wide variety of jobs: shearing sheds in New Zealand and Australia, the NSW public sector, the banking and researching the textiles clothing and footwear industries and as Workers Rights Officer at the United Trades and Labor Council of South Australia. She has been a workplace representative, conference delegate, committee member and full-time union officer in a variety of settings and industries. Barbara is a senior lecturer with extensive research experience. In recent years this has included research about the labour market, the labour movement and trade unions, gender pay equity, gender politics in unions, and industrial relations issues more broadly.

To access the Report, Having a Life: Work, Family, Fairness and Community in 2000, click here: http://arts.adelaide.edu.au/social_inquiry/download/HavingALife.pdf 

Beyond 2001-Child Care for Australia Report -  Early childhood services in Australia

A Report, Beyond 2001-Child Care for Australia by the Commonwealth Child Care Advisory Council was released in September 01. 

According to Senator Vanstone, Minister for Family and Community Services, the Report shows that early childhood services are fragmented, calling for a national vision and a framework to improve early childhood services in Australia.

 "Child care gets a massive investment through the Federal Government's Child Care Benefit, however child health services and preschools are a state government responsibility...The report argues that we need a national framework for early childhood services that recognises the importance of children's early years as a foundation for life. We need to improve the status and standing of children and their carers. The best interests of children should be a central focus of Australian society. We need to look at ways to improve staff retention and training to support the highest possible quality of child care service in Australia. We need to improve access for those who most need early childhood education and care, including children at risk and those with additional needs." (Senator Vanstone)

The need for a more co-ordinated system is also supported by a number of other organisations, including the recently formed Australian Council on Children and Parenting and the National Investment in the Early Years network.

To access the Report, Beyond 2001-Child Care for Australia click here: http://www.facs.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/childcare/services-chldcare.htm