Raising the bar: Setting and achieving new standards for directors of Indigenous organisations

Traditional Owner and Independent Directors of Indigenous organisations face a unique set of challenges. They need to balance cultural and corporate governance obligations, operate within a complex legislative and regulatory framework and are often exposed to harsh scrutiny from family and community. So, why do we expect someone with no training or relevant experience to step into the role and deliver effective, culturally legitimate governance? Indigenous people deserve the best leaders possible, those leaders need to be aware of their responsibilities and they ought to be set up to succeed. Co-presented with Indigenous Directors and Office-bearers our session will provide practical examples of how robust Director selection criteria and pre-qualification processes, combined with inductions and culturally informed governance training could reduce the incidents of non-compliance and help to ensure Directors have the attitude and knowledge required to do their job well. During the session we would also like to explore with participants how training community members as "Directors in waiting" could strengthen the decision making capability of a Traditional Owner Group and create opportunities for more Indigenous people to be involved in shaping the services and policies that impact them.