The Centre for Leadership for Women features:

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Measuring Social Capital in Five Communities in NSW

Run by the Premier's Department of NSW, the Community Builders Website, http://www.communitybuilders.nsw.gov.au/ is an interactive site for everyone involved in community level social, economic and environmental renewal including community leaders, community & government workers, volunteers, program managers, academics, policy makers, youth and seniors.  It hosts modules entitled: Be a Community Builder, Understand your Community, Get Organised, Funding Facts, Create Stronger Communities

Within the "Be a Community Builder" Module there are four Sections:  What is community building; Volunteering; Community leaders; Community Participation.   Each topic provides practical resources, case studies and related reading.

This Issue focuses on the topic, "What is community building?"  Although the site covers concepts such as community development, civil society and sustainable communities, the Centre has chosen to focus on the concept of Social Capital.

A study by Paul Bullen and Jenny Onyx 'Measuring Social Capital in five Communities in NSW' measured the social capital in five communities in NSW: Deniliquin, Greenacre, Narellan, Ultimo & Pyrmont and West Wyalong to answer two questions:

"Is there such a thing as "social capital", is, does the concept have an empirically meaningful reality? And if so, Can we develop a valid practical measure of social capital?"

The study found that the answer to both questions is "yes".  It defined Social Capital as comprising 8 elements: 

A. Participation in local community
B. Proactivity in a social context
C. Feelings of Trust and Safety
D. Neighbourhood Connections
E. Family and Friends Connections
F. Tolerance of Diversity
G. Value of Life
H. Work Connections

The Study also included  Practical Uses of the Social Capital Measure for Government, Community Service Providers, Employers and Researchers.

 In the belief that such a concept and measure can be used to gauge the "underlying health of the community" this Study offers valuable insights and suggestions about how we can assess our communities and make it stronger. 

To view this article at the NSW Department Community Builder's website, click here:  http://www.communitybuilders.nsw.gov.au/builder/what/bullen.html

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What Makes a Champion?

The NSW Department Community Builder's website also features in the  "Be a Community Builder" Module a Section entitled "Community leaders" 

This topic looks at the qualities of community leaders and provides resources to support community leaders, as well as information on training programs and stories of the achievements of community leaders.

In this Issue, the Centre would like to focus on a a two day event held by The Centre for the Mind on 3 and  4 September 2000, at the University of Sydney, on the topic of What makes a champion?  

Speakers included Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, Nelson Mandella, Sir Edmond Hillary and Peter Doherty. Professor Allan Snyder, Director of The Centre for the Mind, opened the Conference with this challenge:

"We are here today to discover the elements in common with all great achievers. We are here today to make history! Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you - what makes a champion? And I mean a champion in the broadest sense of the word. Answer this question and we will have made a profound contribution to understanding  the human mind. Answer this question and we will have captured the crucial ingredient that lets the human spirit soar. Today, this great hall at the University of Sydney reverberates with the minds of champions, champions from every persuasion, champions from the arts, from politics, from science, from business, from the military and from sports. We must seize this golden opportunity to synergise, synergise in the common goal of unravelling the universals of success."

To view the speeches and partake in this challenge, at the NSW Department Community Builder's website, click here:  http://www.communitybuilders.nsw.gov.au/builder/leaders/champion.html 

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Executive Development in Australian Higher Education:

THE WEXDEV MODEL

Dr Colleen Chesterman has been Director of ATN WEXDEV since November 1997. 

The Australian Technology Network (ATN) is a powerful consortium of five leading Australian universities: Curtin University of Technology, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Queensland University of Technology, University of South Australia and the 
University of Technology, Sydney. They share a heritage of working with industry, an emphasis on the application of the latest technology, an international perspective and a united vision for the future.

ATN Women's Executive Development Program (ATN WEXDEV) is a dynamic and strategic career development program designed for senior women on the academic and general staffs of these universities. The program is a response to the continued under-representation of women at senior levels in higher education, a situation Australia shares with the international university community.

The program has four aims:

1. To enhance personal professional development opportunities for senior women to gain appropriate skills and experience for emerging management opportunities.
2. To support the growth of organisational cultures that value diversity and encourage improved representation of women in senior executive positions.
3. To build on the tangible benefits of the collaborative network between ATN universities by providing significant cross-institutional activities for senior women.
4. To strengthen strategic alliances with other organisations, nationally and internationally

The Program is at: (http://www.uts.edu.au/oth/wexdev) 

Presented in this Issue is a Paper given at NAWE Conference, New Orleans, January 2000 by Dr Colleen Chesterman entitled: 

EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT IN AUSTRALIAN HIGHER EDUCATION: THE WEXDEV MODEL

To view the Paper, click on the title.

 

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"The Good Girl's Guide to Negotiating"

& Tips on Negotiating Effectively

Leslie Whitaker and Elizabeth Austin,  the authors of THE GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO NEGOTIATING,  describe their book "as a female-friendly guide to the everyday bargaining skills and strategies essential both to career success and personal fulfilment. This book is for every woman who thought she was too nice or naïve to get a good deal in life. Rather than advocating turning women into sharks, it helps them uncover an arsenal of negotiating skills they already possess. It teaches readers how to: 

· Stop undercutting themselves

· Use their listening skills and empathy to strike win-win deals

· Prepare for any negotiation

· Identify and counter the most common negotiating ploys

· Help their daughters become better negotiators

· Leave car salesmen gasping in the dust"

According to the authors, this book is for: "The two-thirds of the 65 million women in the workforce who consider themselves underpaid; The one in every 11 women who gets a new job every year; The 9.1 million women who own their own businesses; The 450,000 women who buy homes every month; The 200,000 women who get married every month; The 100,000 women who get divorced every month."

In this Issue, the Centre has chosen to publish an interview of them done by their publicist to promote their book. 

Also featured are 9 Tips by the authors on Negotiating Effectively 

To view both, click on The Good Girl's Guide to Negotiating 

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