I sit here reflecting on what has been by far the busiest year I’ve ever had at work.

In part this has been due to:

> an increasing number of requests for programs and consulting to sporting clubs and schools;

> a new plastics recycling startup (Next Gen Waste Co – more about that here); and

> the timing of exciting things that are happening on our family farm…

But largely, the epic level of ‘busyness’ has been the result of two PIRSA funded Regional Development Australia contracts that I had the honour of delivering through Champions Academy.

PART 1: The RDA Far North adventure

Early in the year, RDA Far North engaged my services to design a community leadership workshop called Committee Basics, which I delivered in Glendambo, Roxby Downs, Andamooka, Quorn, Hawker, Marree, Leigh Creek, Port Augusta, Coober Pedy, Oodnadatta, William Creek and Yunta.

I don’t know the exact amount of kilometres travelled in the end, but it was A LOT. It was such a unique experience and one I’ll never forget.

Next, my task was to develop and deliver a longform leadership development program to empower emerging leaders across the Far North. Over a six month period, I worked closely with 23 residents. We did three intensive, two-day residentials, during which time we were also joined by 66 students from five different schools* around the Far North region who joined the leadership group for some of the key activities.

I was absolutely pumped to bring in Bernard Salt, Katrina McCarter and Sharni Bates as Guest Experts during the residentials; as well as wonderful local mentors Sasha Yantewo, Kelly Versteeg, Kate Pearce and our very own Andrea Tschirner, Louise Lynch and Greg Williams, to work with our group onsite.

Running in parallel to all of this were six online learning modules, where I plugged in the amazing Shelley Wild and the team at Human Learning Collective to teach the human operating system, drawing on Neuropower’s RELISH framework.

The program finished off with a final day of interactive leadership panels, where the group members heard leadership lessons firsthand from inspirational local leaders Scott McKay, Jen Cleary, Kirsty Williams, Ange Ruddenklau, Selina Ashton and Louise Foote.

The entire leadership development experience culminated in a beautiful graduation event at Central Oval Complex, where entrepreneurial futurist Andrew Griffiths delivered one of the most impactful and resonating keynotes I’ve heard in a long time, about the seven crossroads we all face.

If the feedback is anything to go by, this program as a whole has been transformative for those involved and I feel incredibly privileged to have played a role in this.

My deepest thanks go to Renata Hackett and the team at RDA Far North, the extraordinary guest mentors who shared their passion, knowledge and experience, and the local leaders who gave participants something to aspire to. Thank you all, for investing your time, energy and resources to empower the next generation to step into leadership within and on behalf of the Far North region.

That said, I believe the real magic of this program has been the people who took the experience on – the participants themselves. They showed true vulnerability and courage throughout; the way they socialised their learning, built trust and worked collaboratively has been such a huge reason why they grew so much over such a short space of time.

Hats off to you, Brett Devitt, Leila Day, Corrie Ferguson, Conan Fahey, Kylie Ritter, Theres Bertram, Andrea Tschirner, Tara Burns, Teresa Brady, Helen McLeod, Esther Eager, Fallon Butler, Alicia Finlay, Verity Hollobone, Hayley Nunn, Jodie Harris, Emily Roberts, Louise Lynch, Amanda Hockey who saw the program out. You know that you’re stuck with me forever now, right?

A big thank you to Peter Taylor for being our official graduation day photographer!

* Quorn Area School, Stirling North Primary School, Flinders View Primary School, Augusta Park Primary School, Port Augusta West, Willsden Primary School and Carlton Primary School.

PART 2: The RDA Eyre Peninsula adventure

EP is my home, my heart – and of course when the opportunity came up to design and deliver a place-based leadership development program for RDA Eyre Peninsula, there was no way I wasn’t going to throw my hat in the ring.

The catch was, this work was going to be rolled out in parallel timing to the aforementioned program. You can imagine this took some next-level logistical planning!

For RDA Eyre Peninsula, the leadership development experience would be for a group of 30 residents from 8 different Local Government Areas. The format and theme would again be three, two-day intensives – but for this program, each residential was held in a different location.

The first was held in Streaky Bay (where we also worked with students from Streaky Bay Area School).

The second Residential was delivered in Wudinna (where we welcomed students from Wudinna and Karcultaby Area Schools.

We hosted the third residential at Thuruna Campsite (just north of Tumby Bay).

Participants from the RDAEP cohort also had the wonderful opportunity to work with Shelley Wild and the team at HLC. In fact, by design, both cohorts did the six online modules collaboratively, working with Shelley as one group of emerging regional leaders.

The fusion of the two cohorts from different regions added an amazing dynamic to the leadership development experience. It nudged people to remove the regional blinkers (the unconscious core beliefs and cognitive bias that stem from our geographic location), and see what leadership challenges and opportunities look like through a different lens.

It was absolutely brilliant to watch everyone learning together, cross-pollinating ideas and developing peer networks that would encourage and support them well beyond the term of this program. I’ve worked with Shelley a lot over the years and been a participant in RELISH more times than I can count, but to go through it again with this group was just awesome.

During in their residentials, the RDAEP cohort also had the opportunity to learn from leading demographer, futurist and social commentator Bernard Salt in a virtual session where participants were joined by around 30 Council and RDA EP staff, board members and Councillors to gain regional leadership insights relevant to the Eyre Peninsula region.

Onsite at Thuruna, we were honoured to receive a surprise visit by Clare Scriven MLC, Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development.

The Minister held space for each member of the group to share their observations about what they see as the greatest challenges and opportunities for the region as emerging leaders. She highlighted ways that emerging leaders could continue their leadership development and step into advocacy roles, urging them to ‘take a seat at the table’ and directly influence the change they want to see.

Also at Thuruna we had a Guest Mentoring session with the amazing Sharni Bates, and heard case studies from local leaders, changemakers and drivers of key project and events around the community.

Carmen Rayner, Jasmin Piggott, Meagan Llewelyn, Chris Prime, Sacheen Hopewell, Judith Rehn, Mike Munro and Rob Donaldson each shared insights into lessons learned in their endeavours – from fundraising to grassroots advocacy, infrastructure development to conflict management, events to project management and all manner of things in between!

In the final day of program consolidation and reflection, the EP cohort were joined by local inspirational leaders for ‘ask me anything’ interactive leadership panels where Sue Chase, Dean Johnson, Rob Donaldson, Bryan Trigg, Heather Baldock and Ryan Viney gave a glimpse into their personal leadership story.

The RDAEP Graduation event was held later that evening in the Port Lincoln Hotel and it was the perfect ending to celebrate and bring the program to the close!

Our keynote speaker Andrew Griffiths held the room in the palm of his hand as he shared his own captivating story and lessons in leadership. He laid down a call to action which challenged us to recognise the personal actions we each take as leaders, as choices we get to make about the kind of future we want – not just for ourselves, but the people and the places we care about.

A special shout out to Brooke Pugsley who received the Bendigo Community Bank Port Lincoln Emerging Leader Award for demonstrating extraordinary insight, passion and purpose during her time as a member of the Eyre Peninsula Leadership Development Program, as well as beyond it, in her endeavours in the local community.

With graduation over, that was the RDAEP longform program, done!

I want to extend my genuine gratitude to Casey Peters, Tamsin Scholz and the team at RDA Eyre Peninsula, the extraordinary guest mentors who shared their passion, knowledge and experience, and the local leaders who gave participants something to aspire to. Thank you all, for investing your time, energy and resources to empower the next generation to step into leadership within and on behalf of the Eyre Peninsula region.

A big thank you also goes to Hannah Lienert of The Rural Lens for capturing the most beautiful visual record of our graduation!

To Niamh Holliday, Scott Daley, Margie Fahy, Gail Rostig, Karena Cowley, Talitha Claassens, Lyn Siviour, Brooke Pugsley, Suzie Kenny, Matthew Stokes, Gabrielle Waters, Narelle Crack, Jamie Crawford, Nicole Baty, Lauren Green, Nikki Payne, Kerryn McEwan, Courtney Beer, Sara Hetzel, Caitlin Noonan, Wenona Waugh, Aimee Jones, Megan Schumann, Melissa Benc and Brenton Williams – thank you for everything you gave to this program, and for everything I know you will use it for as you take your next steps in leadership.

There was one final stage… well, three actually.

After the RDAEP Leadership Development Program was completed, next I delivered three half-day workshops for Regional Development Australia on ‘How to Survive Committees and Get Stuff Done’. These were held in Ceduna, Port Lincoln and Cleve.

And THAT was a wrap!

A FINAL NOTE…

As you can see, it’s been a busy year. And it absolutely would not have come together without the most supportive sidekick a person could have – I’m looking at you, Jo Powell.

My deepest thanks for your perseverance and patience, your professionalism and your winning sense of humour. You made work feel like play (but still managed to get stuff done), which if you ask me, is the best way to do it.

To my family — and for that matter, the families of all of the participants in this years programs — I want to thank you too, for being enablers. We couldn’t manage the time and effort it has taken to get this job done, it without your ongoing encouragement and support.

So, that’s it for me, for 2023.

There are new and exciting things already bubbling for 2024, but for now I’m going to take this moment to sit back and enjoy the stillness for a while.

I’m going to make sandy-sunscreen-filled memories during some family time in Port Neill and play lots of beach cricket while the kids are still young enough to think I’m good at it. My husband and will have that rare window where we are get to kick back and relax together… we’ll marvel at how fast the kids are growing up, as we talk about farming over a cold beer (because inevitably that’s what happens when we’re not busy doing farming), and ponder what comes next in life.

Here’s cheers to the year that was, and all that awaits.

(This was a long one…. so if you got this far, thanks for reading)!