What would your local footy team be like if it had a great coach but no players? Or your players didn’t know which position to play on the field, and the captain and coach were fighting on the sidelines?

If a footy team practices hard, develops its skills, knows the rules of the game, and works as a team—and if the coach and captain communicate well and have a strategic game plan—then it has a better chance of winning the game.

It is the same for any organisation.

An organisation is only as good as its employees—the managers and staff members—and its ‘internal culture’ that encourages them to work together and with the governing body to get things done for the organisation’s members.

This set of internal relationships is one of the most problematic for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations.

Today, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people around the country are working to revitalise their organisations, and tackling fundamental questions such as:

• What kind of management do we need?
• How should the top manager and the governing body work together?
• How can all our staff contribute to effective, legitimate governance?
  -How can we support managers and staff to help us meet the challenges of our rapidly changing environment?

This topic gives you information and ideas about how to develop and support excellence in your management and staff members. You will also find several tools to help you monitor and evaluate their work.

Topic 9 includes more detailed information on the important relationship between an organisation and its nation or community members.

If governance is the art of steering the direction, management is the art of organising to get there.

The size of the management team in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations may be small, but managers often have to take on a wide range of roles and responsibilities, and have to be able to call upon intercultural skills and experience.

7.1.1 What is management and why is it important?

Definition: Management is about obtaining, coordinating and using resources—human, financial, natural, technical and cultural—to accomplish a goal in accordance with set policies, rules and plans. Management can also refer to the people who manage or ‘handle’ this task.

Management within an organisation has many parts, but there are several core areas of ongoing work that are perhaps the most important ones:

Managers, as a team, have a critical leadership role in the administration of an organisation and in supporting the overall leadership role of the governing body.

‘Best’ or ‘better’ practice for your management simply means what is ‘best’ for your organisation and its members in the context of your cultural, service and legal functions and goals.

It includes having sound administrative and management systems and rules that everyone can work within to get things done properly.

It also means building an atmosphere within your organisation—and internal culture—that encourages trust, honesty and relationships of respect through all levels of the organisation and with members.

You know you have a problem with the management of your organisation when there is:

• a high turnover
• internal conflicts and factions among staff members
• low productivity
• poor implementation and reporting of decisions to the governing body
• confusion over roles
• no policies, procedures or evaluation processes to resolve these matters.

7.1.2 Top managers: what do they do?

Getting the desired outcomes from the work of the organisation is the responsbility of the ‘top manager’, sometimes called the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or General Manager.

The top manager works directly with, and under instructions and delegation from the governing body of the organisation. He or she is the critical link between the governing body and staff of the organisation.

To do a good job, a top manager in an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation needs to be able to achieve the goals of the organisation and create a well-performing workplace.

By doing these tasks well, effective managers contribute to effective organisational governance.

Today, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations are designing innovative ways of handling this complex set of management functions for their nation and community members.

Some groups are ‘contracting out’ administrative and management roles so they can get on with their cultural and community development work.

Good communication, trust and mutual respect between a governing body and its senior management are essential for effective governance.

Without these factors, an organisation may begin to travel in directions that are contrary to the governing body’s overall vision and policies.

Management may be performing well, but not adequately informing the governing body of risks and outcomes.

This means the governing body will be poorly informed, make ill-informed decisions, or become marginalised and ineffective in governing the organisation.

7.2.1 A partnership with separate powers

A challenging issue for many organisations is where the governing body’s work stops and that of management begins.

The way the governing body and top manager treat each other’s respective powers does more to affect the quality of leadership and governance in an organisation than just about anything else.

In too many organisations you see senior managers operating as if they are the governing body, unilaterally making decisions, developing governance policies or setting strategic directions without the proper delegation to do so.

And just as often you can see members of the governing body side-stepping their managers and going directly to staff with instructions, or interfering in the day-to-day running of the organisation.

This simply undermines effective governance, confuses staff, subjects them to partisan politics, and brings the organisation as a whole into disrepute.

This is why it is important to clearly define (in written policy documents) the complementary roles, responsibilities and powers of the governing body and the top manager.

This is usually referred to as a ‘separation of powers’. But the term ‘separation of powers’ is a misleading one and should more accurately be called a partnership of powers, as detailed below.

The top manager is dependent on the governing body for:

• authority to function and manage the organisation
• governance leadership of the organisation
• cultural advice and mentoring
• steering the future direction and strategic goals
• representation of members’ concerns, rights and interests
• the collective wisdom it can bring to decisions and planning.

The governing body depends on their top manager to:

• exercise corporate leadership by building a successful team of staff and volunteers
• assist them to make use of their precious time most efficiently
• provide sound information, reports, risk management and options
• contribute valuable input in policy making and decisions
• carry out the day-to-day management of the organisation.

Both sets of roles need to be performed well in order for an organisation to be successful.

In other words, what is required is not so much a separation of powers, but a close working partnership between management and the governing body that is based on a clear understanding of what they each bring to the organisation.

It is important to be realistic about what is possible.

Focusing on an absolute ‘separation of powers’ won’t work in many communities where organisations simply have to make the most of scarce resources, and the talent and experience they have among their own community members who often wear many different hats. For example, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff member in an organisation may also be on its governing body, as well as several other committees, reference groups or working groups. At the same time, they may be a traditional owner with legal rights and interests, a royalty recipient, a native title claimant and the manager of a project.

These relationships are not static and overlap. There is no ‘one right way’ to negotiate them.

But a good starting point for building a sound working relationship between the governing body and management and staff is to:

• have clear boundaries written down in policy documents about their different roles and powers
• reinforce a wide understanding and appreciation of those through workable processes, inductions, training activites and codes of conduct
• realise the importance of clear communication, including making the time to meet and discuss issues.

The job of the top manager is a bit like that of a footy captain. The captain is the leader of the players (staff members) when they play, giving them inspiration, helping them to use the tactics and skills they have practised, and encouraging them to play their best.

The governing body is like the coach. They do the overall planning, setting the strategies and tactics for the game and the year. But during the game, they have to sit on the sidelines and let the captain and the team get on with playing the game.

Yes, they have different jobs to do—but if they don’t all work as a team, they won’t win the footy match let alone the premiership.

7.2.2 Reviewing the performance of the top manager

One of the most important roles of the governing body is to interview, select and employ the top manager, and then monitor his or her contracted work.

This means that every governing body should annually review the work performance of their top manager.

The survival and success of the organisation may depend upon this.

Unfortunately, very few governing bodies have the procedures or experience to do this. And even fewer have the requirement for a performance review written into the top manager’s contract.

Some do not give any feedback at all to their manager; others do it in an ad hoc way and often only when things have started to go wrong.

Definition: Performance is the act of doing something successfully, or getting something done well. Reviewing means to look back on, or to examine something again with the aim of identifying problems or making corrections.

So a performance review is a formal, face-to-face process in which an individual’s work performance is systematically assessed using agreed criteria.

The aim is to fairly and objectively consider a person’s performance over the whole year, and their potential for development, including:

• what worked, what didn’t and why
• what aspects of the person’s performance can be improved
• what support (for example, from the governing body or others) do they need in order to improve.

The benefits of carrying out such an annual performance review are considerable.

The review process is supposed to be informative and constructive; it should focus on solutions and areas for improvement.

The top manager’s position at the head of the administration often makes it difficult for them to get honest feedback. The review by the governing body is one of the few ways they can get feedback on their overall performance and areas for improvement.

It is also an opportunity for the manager to reflect on whether he or she is on track in their own work and in their relationship with the governing body, and to request additional support, mentoring or professional development.

It helps the governing body and top manager clarify their mutual expectations of each other.

If a review is not done or feedback not given, then poor management performance can often go unchecked and good management performance is not given the necessary reinforcement.
This allows differences and misunderstandings to become entrenched, resulting in mistrust, strained working relationships, and in some cases, a damaging cycle of high turnover of managers.

With Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations under increasing pressure to produce outcomes, it is important that the members of your governing body can confidently review their top manager’s performance.

Tailored training should be given to your governing body on the concept and ways of carrying out such reviews—with the aim of designing a workable review process they can carry out, and that suits the particular circumstances of your organisation.

7.2.3 The power of delegations

As part of its responsibility for the governance of an organisation, the governing body has power (usually subject to legislative conditions) to delegate parts of its responsibility to another party to enable the organisation to operate effectively and efficiently.

Definition: A delegate is a person or thing designated to act for or represent others—in this case the governing body. When a function is delegated, the governing body still holds final responsibility for it, and remains accountable for what occurs.

Financial delegations occur when the governing body authorises individuals (or sub-committees) to perform financial transactions or exercise financial controls on its behalf.

A governing body may delegate some of its responsibilities to a manager, a sub-committee, any governing body member or any staff member.

So delegations within an organisation are powerful things.

Careful thought needs to be given to what powers and responsibilities are delegated and to whom.

It is essential for delegations to be made properly or the organisation and delegate may be at risk.

In organisations where there is a low level of financial literacy among the governing body, delegations can be particularly problematic.

For example, a manager may authorise expenditure in the belief that this is within their delegation, but the governing body may believe the delegation has not been properly approved or is contrary to their policy frameworks and strategic goals. A staff member may knowingly exceed their delegation, but remain undetected because of poor monitoring.

For these reasons, it is essential to ensure regular monitoring and reporting processes by management back to the governing body, including regular internal and external review and audits, and risk assessments of all delegations.

It is your staff members who make things happen. Having staff members who are skilled, competent and trusted is an essential part of any organisation’s success.

It is not much use having a strong effective governing body and an experienced manager, if your staff members cannot do their jobs.

A high staff turnover can have many causes. It can be a warning sign of problems in management, poor governance, low staff morale, too much work pressure, conflict among staff, or a lack of career pathways and support.

The effective management of staff is a challenging job.

7.3.1 Staff responsibilities and rights

Along with their job functions and responsibilities, staff members also have rights and interests that are not all simply about legal matters or contractual conditions.

7.3.2 Build a strong internal culture

Having a strong internal culture of shared values, behaviours and standards within your organisation has been shown to significantly enhance individual and collective contribution and the shared commitment to its strategic vision and goals.

It takes time to build such an organisational culture and this needs to be given attention by management and the governing body.

But there are some very practical things you can do to make headway and give a strong message to everyone in the organisation about the style of governance, values, behaviours and working relationships you are trying to build.

7.3.3 Share the decision making?

In many organisations, the governing body and management make all the decisions. But there are benefits to sharing decision making with staff.

Increasingly, organisations want to draw on the experience, insights and talents of all their staff in order to make the best decisions they can.

How much they share decision making depends on the issue.

Sometimes managers seek staff input, but make the actual decision themselves (as they are ultimately accountable to the governing body).

In other situations, management may hand over the decision making about a particular matter to the staff members.

In all cases, shared or delegated decisions should be informed by a policy framework and actions should be routinely reported back to the governing body.

Decisions to do with the governing body or internal discipline should have little or no staff input.

Providing staff (including managers) with opportunities to improve and strengthen their abilities and knowledge is an investment for an organisation and strengthens its overall governance.

Many of the organisations that enter the Indigenous Governance Awards have realised these benefits and looked at the adequacy of their own systems for supporting staff in their work and professional development.

They have developed a planned approach to staff training, including initiatives such as:

• a staff development plan for the entire organisation, supported by approved policies
• place-based, in-house training
• staff inductions and cross-cultural training
• targeted training opportunities for collective professional development
• encouraging staff to attend relevant external courses and workshops to improve their skills
• access to mentoring, coaching schemes and on-the-job training
• work experience and job shadowing
• assistance with paid study leave or secondments
• training that is tailored to gender and age
• requiring staff to report back on insights, information and ideas from their training.

Attracting and retaining staff can be very difficult for organisations, especially organisations in remote
areas.

Many organisations do it in different ways, such as by ensuring good staff members have promotion opportunities, training and career pathways, and by managing workloads properly so that staff members don’t burn out.

7.4.1 Developing local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff

“Capacity building is about regeneration of our communities from the inside out—communities renewing themselves by identifying, appreciating and using their assets … Each individual and organisation is a resource on which to build.”
(Mick Dodson, Chair Indigenous Governance Awards, Jabiru Governance Conference, 2003)

The long-term goals of self-determination and self-governance are a powerful catalyst towards building the experience and skills of local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to govern, manage and staff their own organisations.

Some organisations are fully staffed by local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Others have an Indigenous governing body, but mainly non-Indigenous staff. Most have a mix of both.

With high rates of unemployment it makes sense to provide local work to local people, and many organisations now have this as part of their objectives and policies.

This means organisations have to make an investment in training and mentoring support for local people.

While there might be an initial cost involved, in the long term it contributes to building the overall capacity of your nation or community.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations are developing many innovative ways to attract, train and retain their own local members.