The world needs creative, innovative and courageous young people who can connect, collaborate and act. We know that youth may only be 20% of the population but they are 100% of the future. The time is now to let them share their dreams and design the future they want to see.
Inspired by the vision of the Centre for Food Integrity (CFI) in the United States and Canada Dr Holly Ludeman has created a whole of supply chain movement to build relationships of transparency and trust between livestock producers and consumers
Like the CFI Holly and her team at TLC are bringing together livestock producers to empower and support them to develop best practices and engage with consumers on issues of trust, transparency and sustainability.
We provide a united voice for the livestock supply chain. We care about Australia’s livestock sector from farms through to communities around the world. Source
The Leadership Collective is a great example of how adversity can create opportunities for people to step up and lead, and that leadership arises as much, if not more so, from the bottom up as it does from the top down
Our key takeaways from Dione’s interview with Dr Holly Ludeman, Steven Bolt and John Cunnington from The Livestock Collective are:
Farmers are passionate people who are proud of what they do.
Consumers are interested in the origins of their food and want the opportunity to talk to the people who produce their food.
Agriculture can no longer stick its head in the sand and say I am a legal business leave me alone
Its hard to stick your head out on your own, we are stronger together, together we can support and lift each other up
We can train our farmers to have conversations where they can discover what consumers care about and find common ground for connection and collaboration.
We can create safe spaces where everyone has an opportunity to be heard and understood.
We all have different areas of expertise and its important that we speak to those areas of expertise.
Respect that we all have different lived experiences and life journeys, if you can’t engage politely, don’t engage.
There is great power in authenticity, people love hearing from people who are living the experiences
Interviewees:
Dr Holly Ludeman is a veterinarian and agricultural scientist and has been involved extensively in all parts of the livestock export industry, both in Australia and importing markets. Holly is the founder and managing director of the The Livestock Collective as well as employed as a Corporate Governance and Compliance officer for Emanuel Exports
Steven Bolt is the Stud Principal for Claypans Merino Stud. Steven sits on a number of industry representative groups including the board of the Live Export Advisory Group and is President of the Stud Merino Breeder Association.
John Cunnington is the Business development Manager of Halleen Australasian Livestock Traders Pty Ltd as well as the Chair of West Australian Livestock Exporters Association, Director of Australian Livestock Exporters Council, Chair of Young Livestock Exporters Network and a Director of The Livestock Collective.
Dr Dione Howard is a District Veterinarian with Riverina Local Land Services based in Wagga Wagga, NSW. Dione won the 2021 Sydney Royal Easter Show Rural Achiever award. Dione is currently the Chair of the Youth Voices Leadership Team and a founding member since its inception in 2018, previously holding the positions of Mentor Leader, Innovation Leader and Vice Chair.
Dione’s seat on the YVLT Executive is enhanced by her completion of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Company Directors Course, which she undertook in conjunction with her role as Wool Producer’s Youth Ambassador in 2019.
“What keeps me coming back to YVLT and the YFC community is being able to assist young agriculturalists to achieve their goals and extend their leadership and communication capabilities. Since I’ve been a YFC our team has achieved some amazing things. The future is very bright for this group and if you’re thinking about it, now is the right time to apply to be a Young Farming Champion!”
In this episode of Leadership is Language CEO of Country to Canberra Han Worsley shares her tips for volunteer recruitment and engagement with Country to Canberra board member and YFC Meg Rice, and YVLT Chair Dione Howard.
Key Messages
Volunteering is about seeing and capturing potential within your network
Look for diversity in your team to reflect the diversity of your community
Extend and invest in your volunteers; create leadership pipelines
Choose volunteers motivated and aligned with your vision
“Volunteers take on a position in addition to all the wonderful things that they do. The nature of the people who apply for these positions is that they are go-getters; they do have multiple things on their plate already and they are really committed to making a change in their community. We need to be conscious that they are also the busiest people with the least time.”
About Han
Han Worsley is a passionate educator, gender equality advocate, and public speaker.
Winning Country to Canberra’s inaugural Leadership Competition in 2014 began a dedication to young rural women and non-binary people, to recognise the value of rural communities and people, and create meaningful change across Australia. They have developed and helped deliver leadership and empowerment workshops to over 3,500 students in 80 rural Australian communities as part of the C2C Project Empower Program, and spoken passionately at events across Australia for organisations such as the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, the Australian Medical Students Association, the Australian National University, and the YWCA.
A current STEM Primary Education student at the University of Canberra, Han is also committed to improving the quality and accessibility of education across Australia. Han plans to return to rural Australia upon completion of university.
Meg Rice is a Graduate Policy Officer at the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources in Canberra. She is also a passionate Young Farming Champion and credits the program with giving her the skills to have insightful conversations with current and future leaders within the agricultural industry. Meg further employs these skills as the Innovation Hub Representative for the PYiA Youth Voices Leadership Team.
Dione is a District Veterinarian with Riverina Local Land Services based in Wagga Wagga, NSW. She has been an active member of the Youth Voices Leadership Team (YVLT) since its inception in 2018; holding the position of Mentor Leader and Innovation Leader. 2021 has seen Dione step into the role of YVLT Chair.
Dione’s seat on the YVLT Executive and the Picture You in Agriculture Board is enhanced by her completion of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Company Directors Course, which she undertook in conjunction with her role as Wool Producer’s Youth Ambassador in 2019.
Canberra to Country (C2C) supports young rural women and non-binary people to reach their leadership potential. Learn more about their program and competitions here and learn about their team member job titles here. C2C embodies the phrase “be the image you want the world to see.”
Welcome to Series 3 of Leadership is Language – Conversations with Thought Leaders. Our first interview sees Dr Jo Newton OAM interview Josh Farr, Founder of Campus Consultancy as they discuss how leadership is service for the greater good.
“We take a broad approach to the notion of leadership as service. Our philosophy is if you are helping somebody else, if you’re taking proactive action and not stepping back, if you’re leaning into challenges, if you see as problems as a way to add value to the world, then that is leadership.”
Key Messages
Leadership is Service. Leadership is not necessarily a title, it’s the actions you take that make you a leader
Confident communicators don’t become less afraid, they become braver
To become an effective communicator find people you admire and study them, practice, practice, practice
About Josh
After gaining a First Class Honours Degree from UNSW and beginning work as a civil engineer, Josh underwent his first mental health training program. Realizing he had much to learn and contribute beyond his technical experience, he spent the next 2-years travelling to 39 countries before returning to Australia to work in education and non-profits. Josh worked as the Victorian Recruitment Manager for Teach For Australia and saw the impact of education on young people experiencing disadvantage.
In 2017, Josh founded Campus Consultancy and has grown the company to be a market leader to empower young leaders to be their own agents of change. His team has since taken more than 21,000 student leaders from 33-universities and more than 30 high schools through his workshops on leadership, entrepreneurship and emotional intelligence. He’s delivered 2 TEDx talks including his most recent titled, “Leadership is service.”
At the age of 31 Jo was recognised as an OAM on the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her service to agriculture through her advocacy and support of young people, volunteering and contribution to dairy research. Passionate about research that delivers tangible benefits for farmers, since obtaining a PhD in animal breeding and genetics from the University of New England in 2016, Jo’s work has focused on practical tools to illustrate the benefit of better herd-improvement decisions on farm. This includes 6 months as a visiting scientist at Teagasc Moorepark, Ireland on an Endeavour Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Jo currently works as a research scientist for Agriculture Victoria. Jo has a history of active involvement across the wider agricultural sector, particularly in advocacy and support of young people in agriculture. Her volunteer contributions span 17 years and dozens of leadership roles across 14 not-for-profit organisations including her current roles as a Non-Executive Director of Picture You in Agriculture and a member of the Youth Voices Leadership Team.
Jo’s contributions to agriculture have been recognised through numerous awards including: – Medal of the Order of Australia 2020 – University of New England’s Young Distinguished Alumni Award 2018 – Leadership Category Victorian Young Achiever Awards 2018 – Royal Agriculture Society of Victoria’s Emerging Leaders in Victorian Agriculture Award 2018 -Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence List.
“I don’t believe you can have a conversation about leadership without having a conversation about morality and ethics”
Watch the video
“How you communicate, empathise and make people feel is fundamental. There are many ways of getting your ideas out to the world – verbally, written, artistically – the key is finding the medium that suits you and that you enjoy creating.”
Watch the video
“What is enough? Why are so many people striving for things they don’t want? Gandhi said “happiness is when what you say, what you believe and what you do are in alignment.”
In this episode of Leadership is Language Lynne Strong, in conjunction with a Youth Voices Leadership Team panel of Dione Howard, Jo Newton and Tayla Field, hosts an insightful leadership expose with former federal politician Cathy McGowan.
Watch Cathy share her tips for being an effective leader here
Key Messages
Agriculture has enough leadership programs; we need people “doing” the leadership
Start with the end in mind
Harness your networks and your team
“In north-east Victoria we used to export our young people [to the cities]. Now there is a buzz in the community. Young people are wanted and respected. There is lots of energy and a sense that this is a place where young people want to live.”
About Cathy
In 2013, Cathy McGowan broke the Liberal/National Coalition’s hold on the seat of Indi, becoming the first independent member for the north-east Victorian electorate and the first female independent to sit on the parliamentary crossbench.
She entered federal parliament on the urgings of young people from her electorate and in doing so brokered a new way of community politics. Her memoirs were recently published in Cathy Goes to Canberra, an inspiring tale of the power of grass-roots activism.
Cathy believes young people have the ability, articulation and creativity to make their vision for Australia a reality.
Lynne Strong is the founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Picture You in Agriculture. Part of her vision is to see the young people who participate in our programs have the opportunity to be surrounded by role models and turn the leadership skills and knowledge they learn into daily habits. This vision is crystallised in the Youth Voices Leadership Team, where young people design and direct their future. Dione Howard is the team’s vice-chair, Jo Newton is the returning officer and Tayla Field sits on the Innovation Hub.
Cathy McGowan AO entered federal parliament on the urgings of young people from her Victorian electorate of Indi, and in doing so brokered a new way of community politics. Her memoirs were recently published in Cathy Goes to Canberra, an inspiring tale of the power of grass-roots activism.
In 2008 Cathy attended Kevin Rudd’s 2020 Summit, where four keynote speakers, under 25 years of age, talked about their vision for Australia.
“I was stunned by their ability, by their level of articulation, by their creativity, by their vision for Australia and the thought that they’d given to their presentations. My biggest take away from that summit was that older people, such as myself and most of the attendees, in fact needed to pay attention to young people in our community. They knew things that we baby boomers did not. They certainly were better educated and had new approaches that could find the answers to the problems we were facing….. I made a firm commitment to pay attention and get to know the young people, not only in my life, but in my work,” Cathy says in her book.
In keeping with her commitment to young people as Australia’s future Cathy jumped at the chance to share her wisdom with our Young Farming Champions. She spoke openly to the cohort via a zoom conference, hosted by Lynne Strong in conjunction with a Youth Voices Leadership Team panel of Dione Howard, Dr Jo Newton OAM and Tayla Field.
Cathy covered many aspects of the leadership pathway such as creating time budgets, life-long learning, the importance of networking, the power of finding, and supporting, your tribe and of having confidence in the skill set you have already developed. If these things sound familiar it is because Cathy’s wisdom mirrors closely the visions and ideals of Picture You in Agriculture.
Cathy has a passion to liberate people to be leaders and empower them to grow in confidence. She believes we have enough leadership training programs in agriculture and what we now need is more people “doing” leadership. And she believes the YFC have the skills and salutes them for Turning Up, Speaking Up and Stepping Up to develop their courage muscle by practicing the knowledge and skills they learn in training by being the face of our in-school programs The Archibull Prize ( secondary schools) and Kreative Koalas ( primary schools )” she says.
The workshop was well received by the audience:
“I appreciate Cathy’s easy going, positive nature and her efforts to continually develop her skills. I enjoyed learning it’s okay not to know the exact right path to take, to step up to challenges, build resilience and have a go.” Steph Tabone
“Time budgeting is such an effective tool, particularly making time for exercise and other important tasks that may not be labelled as “work” but are essential in creating a successful, balanced life.” Elizabeth Argue
“I appreciate that Cathy has put herself out there to achieve all that she has so far, and from the workshop I realise we need to do the work and find a team to do the work with.” Dione Howard
“I appreciate the openness with which Cathy has shared her story so that we can all learn from her experience. I found Cathy sharing her story of leadership versus stepping up as a visible leader particularly helpful.” Jo Newton
The Zoom recording of Cathy’s three tips for being an effective leaders can be found here
The zoom recording of the panel session will be loaded here shortly. Watch this space
Today’s guest blog post is by Young Farming Champion. agroecologist, farmer, author, keynote speaker, climate warrior and Climate Wise Agriculture founder Anika Molesworth
Being involved in the agricultural sector has given me a front row seat to food production. I have stood in fields surrounded by millions of tiny corn plants, filled with awe at the fragility and possibility of this new life. I have seen hour-old lambs wobble to their feet for the first time, cheering on those first steps as it finds its mothers teat. I have felt the sense of pride of being a farmer and growing food with the knowledge that this is going to be enjoyed by someone and nourish them.
One third of all food produced is lost or wasted –around 1.3 billion tonnes of food –costing the global economy close to $940 billion each year.
8% of greenhouse gases heating the planet are caused by food waste.
If one quarter of the food currently lost or wasted could be saved, it would be enough to feed 870 million hungry people.
It was with these stats in mind and determination to help address this issue that I caught up with Ronni Kahn with the Young Farming Champions Leadership is Language series.
The Leadership is Language series is part of the Young Farming Champions program, and it exposes some of Australia’s foremost thought-leaders on how we show leadership by the language and communication styles we use.
Ronni is CEO and Founder of OzHarvest. She is the yellow truck driving, dumpster-diving, food waste fighter who has recently released her memoir, “A Repurposed Life.”
Ronni and the incredible team at OzHarvest Education are doing fantastic work on stopping society’s dysfunctional food waste behaviour. Their goal is to adhttps://ozharvest.org/vocate, inspire and influence the community in order to halve food waste by 2030. It is so fantastic to see this work being done because no farmer wants to see their food end up in landfill. This is because it’s not only the food that gets wasted – it’s also all the time, labour, water, nutrients that went into producing it. Precious human and natural resources that need to be cherished, not dumped.
One of the most exciting questions to ask regarding food waste, I think, is
“How do we design waste out of the system?”
This is one of the principles of a circular economy – not just how do we recycle better – but how do we actually create systems where waste doesn’t exist?
Where can we put processes and technologies in place, that an output from one user/sector is immediately utilised as a valuable resource by another.
With one in five shopping bags in Australia ending up in the bin, there is huge room for improvement.
Ronni has a radiating smile as she talks about all the opportunities we have to fix the system and feed people properly. She definitely had me motivated to do more by the end of our conversation! Learning about their objective to collaborate with people right along the food system was particularly uplifting. The OzHarvest team is working with supermarkets, distributors, students and farmers to solve this problem.
We all need to play our part in reducing food waste – from the paddock to the plate – and by doing so, we will
In this episode of Leadership is Language Dr Anika Molesworth sits down with OzHarvest CEO Ronni Kahn to discuss food waste and how we can all play a part in reducing it.
Key Messages
We must change our relationship to food
The beautiful thing is, we’re all part of the solution
Never say its somebody else’s problem. It is our problem.
“My vision for the future is that good food is valued, respected, protected, grown locally, and looked after, and not wasted. So, I want to minimize food waste, upskill people on the value of food, and make sure that nobody goes hungry.”
About Ronni
Ronni Kahn AO is a social entrepreneur and founder of food rescue charity OzHarvest. Ronni is a passionate advocate and activist renowned for disrupting the food waste landscape in Australia. She appears regularly in national media, serves in an advisory capacity to government and is a sought after keynote speaker. Her mission to fight food waste and feed hungry people is supported by some of the world’s finest chefs. Ronni is an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) and was named Australian Local Hero of the Year. Her journey is the subject of a feature film, Food Fighter and her memoir, A Repurposed Life has recently been published.
Dr Anika Molesworth is the founder of Climate Wise Agriculture. She lives in the Far West of NSW Australia, where her family raises sheep and goats. It was the decade-long Millennium drought that spurred Anika’s interest in climate change, and how to ensure sustainable and vibrant farming landscapes into the future. Anika is a recognised thought-leader of agro-ecological systems resilience, she is an agricultural science researcher, communicator and works in international agricultural development.
In this episode of Leadership is Language ALISON PENFOLD and CATHERINE MARRIOTT explore Anticipatory leadership – what is it and how can we use it to take responsibility and protect agriculture and what do Dad and Dave have to do with it all?
Catherine Marriott sits down with Alison Penfold to find out.
Key Messages
Leadership takes curiosity, bravery and courage
Be proactive rather than reactive
Call out your own risks and change the narrative
Influence isn’t just going to be what you say, but it’s how you behave. That’s part of telling the story.
Pull Quote
“…. over time, what I’ve come to see and [what] I think is really critical, particularly in agriculture, is anticipatory leadership. It’s really about being able to use strategic foresight to identify issues and opportunities, risks and opportunities and get ahead of the curve…….we need to get on the front foot and collectively work together to get ahead, so that we’re in control of managing the risk.”
About Alison
Alison Penfold is a director of Future Eye. She has a forensic understanding of, and first-hand experience in, community engagement, risk and issues management, policy development, advocacy and political and bureaucratic processes. Her 20 years’ experience includes: Chief of Staff to a Federal Cabinet Minister, policy and political adviser to a range of State and Federal Ministers, CEO of a national agriculture sector industry body, Government Relations Manager for a major retailer and a range of senior policy, campaign and strategic advisory roles. Alison is a change agent promoting the need for business and industry to call out, act on and get ahead of social license risks.
Over the last 15 years, Catherine has worked in management, strategic and leadership roles in the agricultural, research and regional development sectors in Australia and internationally. During this time, she has become a proven business leader, communicator and entrepreneur, focused mostly on leadership development, advocacy and delivering innovative solutions for the industries in which she works. Catherine has always worked in rural and regional Australia and is inspired by the potential of our regions. She is passionate about the people side of agriculture, learning from and sharing with others. Mentoring is a role she plays with enthusiasm as she learns just as much from her mentees as she shares. She uses her Rural Science degree to understand the technical aspects of agriculture, while her experience in business helps her connect with people and maximise opportunities for others. Catherine has worked as a consultant, an entrepreneur, developed a start-up member-based organisation for the northern beef industry and plays a role on a number of private and public boards both in Australia and internationally. She is UNE’s 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award winner, a graduate of the Australian Rural Leadership Program, a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and was the 2012 WA Rural Women of the Year.
In this episode of Leadership is Language Dione Howard continues her conversation with Austral Fisheries CEO David Carter as he reflects on a tragedy that reformed safety procedures for his company and provided valuable lessons for both the fishing and agricultural industries.
Key Messages
It is possible to create a legacy from an impossible moment
Near-miss incidents are gifts that can prevent a tragedy
Incidents become part of your story – it is up to you how to shape that story
Pull Quote
“Our advice was to lawyer up and go and find the best legal defence you can and defend it to the hilt but that didn’t sit too well with me. We could have gone to court, pleaded guilty, paid the fine and moved on, and Ryan’s legacy would be his name on a dust-collecting file in the bottom of a drawer somewhere, or we could look to make right from wrong.”
About David
David Carter has worked his entire career at Austral Fisheries and its predecessors. Graduating from Melbourne University in 1978 with a degree in Marine Science, David saw an opportunity to enter the fishing industry and began working as a deckhand on a prawn trawler off the coast of Darwin. This was the beginning of what has been a 40-year career in the fishing industry.
In 2016, David led Austral in taking the next step along its sustainability journey, with Austral Fisheries becoming the first seafood company in the world to achieve carbon neutral certification under the Australian Government Carbon Neutral Program.
David was inducted into the National Seafood Industry Hall of Fame in 2012 in recognition of his significant contribution to the Australian seafood industry, and in 2020 David received the Marine Stewardship Council’s Lifetime Achievement award.
Dione is a District Veterinarian with Riverina Local Land Services based in Wagga Wagga, NSW. She has been an active member of the Youth Voices Leadership Team since its inception in 2018; holding the position of Mentor Leader and Innovation Leader. In 2020 she took the step in her leadership journey on the Executive of YVLT as Vice Chair.
Dione’s seat on the YVLT Executive and the Picture You in Agriculture Board is enhanced by her completion of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Company Directors Course, which she undertook in conjunction with her role as Wool Producer’s Youth Ambassador in 2019.
We encourage them to be life-long learners and provide them with ongoing opportunities to be critical and creative thinkers and informed and active citizens of the communities the work, live and play in.
They see everyday as a new opportunity to enhance those skills.
One way we did this during COVID was to develop the Leadership is Language webinar series where Young Farming Champions have the opportunity to host a webinar and interview some of the world’s foremost thought leaders on communicating how we can show leadership by the language and communication styles we use.
Our guests challenge us to change the way we talk as leaders by learning the language of creativity, collaboration and commitment. They illustrate the powerful intersection of communication and leadership and offer simple steps to transform your thinking, your influence and the lives in your span of care and how we can reinvent our leadership style to meet the evolving demands of the new marketplace.
In the first series our amazing guests were:
How to invoke reflective practice and bring your empathy, curiosity and openness, listening skills to the conversation with social science researcher Dr Nicole McDonald
Great leadership is not a position or authority, it is a mindset with human agronomist Rebel Black
Invest in yourself and learn to have the important conversations with succession planner Sally Murfett
Language is spoken language, body language and listening with Australian Rural Leadership program mentor Graham Smith
Put yourself in their shoes and support your audience to map out their own journey with international agriculture researcher Francesca Earp
Picking your fight “The ally fight” – who we are helping with leadership coach Dave Stachowiak
Leadership is about understanding your client or customer with Yacker co-founder Emma Ayliffe
The second series has kicked off in October with a similarly impressive line-up including:
Empowering to future consumers to tread lightly on the planet with OzHarvest FEAST director Amelia Berner
Why we should embrace the art of being curious with leadership coach Michael Bungay Stanier
Innovators and Changemakers taking the lead with Austral Fisheries CEO David Carter
Telling the Water Story with communication expert Monique White
How do we learn from the mistakes of the past and ensure everyone comes home – worker health and safety with Austral CEO David Carter
With such a star-studded list of guests how did our YFC prepare for their interviews and how did they find the experience? What have they learnt that will help them (and others) in the future?
Lucy Collingridge was thrown in the deep end as the opening act for Leadership is Language when she spoke with Nicole McDonald, and she followed this up with the internationally acclaimed Michael Bungay Stanier in Series 2.
“I have done a bit of microphone commentary/interview work at shows and our Cootamundra Hereford Heifer Show but this rewarding experience threw me well out of my comfort zone.
Before my interview I listened to Brene Brown’s podcast about FFT’s (effing first times). She speaks about naming the new thing, normalising it and embracing the suck – that it will be hard, I will feel nervous and intimidated but it won’t last forever. I needed to deal with the nerves to get to the good part.
In my first interview with Nicole I was able to catch up with her prior to our interview however I didn’t have this with Michael. I honestly didn’t know who he was so I did my research and learnt who he is and what he has accomplished. Speaking to such an amazing human with so much knowledge was daunting but Michael is such an engaging and open person.
I thoroughly enjoyed our chat, especially as he has no background in agriculture so he was a set of fresh eyes to the issues we face in the industry. I can’t wait to listen back to our chat another 10 times to keep getting things from it!”
Anika Molesworth, already an accomplished speaker, presenter and interviewer, sat down for a chat with Francesca Earl and found you can learn something from every experience.
“It was fantastic to have a chat with the inspiring Franny Earp, who has such depth of knowledge on communicating in different socio-cultural settings. It was hard not to get lost in her adventurous stories from working in South Africa to Laos. I was excited to learn from her and hear how she overcame challenges in communication that comes with doing international agricultural work. My questions came from a personal curiosity and that helped the conversation to flow seamlessly… it was difficult to end it because I was enjoying our chat so much!”
Emma Ayliffe was both interviewer (when she spoke with succession planner Sally Murfett) and interviewee (when she spoke about her new app Yacker).
“The Leadership is Language series has been exciting, fun, inspiring and challenging, but also a great opportunity to gain confidence and practices skills in interviewing, questioning and recording.
It was quite daunting to be at the helm of creating a conversation with Sally that was going to be interesting and relevant for a topic that can be controversial and difficult to breach (succession planning) but tapping into her expertise was phenomenal.
Preparation for the interview took the form of reading and researching Sally and her role in agriculture and talking to my partner and his family about their burning succession questions. From there Sally and I had a quick zoom to meeting to discuss what we were going to go through and I watched a few interviews on YouTube to see what I liked in an interviewer.
The bigger concerns I had were ensuring we captured the key points and ideas …. and hoping that the internet held up! I felt the nerves when we started but being a recording we reminded ourselves we had the ability to cut and change where needed.
The best part for me was talking to an amazing person about a topic that was extremely relevant to me.”
Here is a wrap of Leadership is Language – Series 1.
Our very first Leadership is Language conversation opened with YFC Lucy Collingridge talking with social science researcher Dr Nicole McDonald. Nicole spoke about how she found agriculture through psychology and how communication is a key tool to uniting this diverse industry.
“…..communication is how we connect and understand each other. Words are absolutely important, but then it’s also your tone of voice, it’s your volume, it’s your self-expression; it’s what you’re wearing. All of these things send messages about who you are, what you’re trying to convey. Communication is much bigger than just text or words…”
For the second conversation we engaged friends of the YFC Kirsty White and Rebel Black. Human agronomist Rebel spoke about what leadership means to her and why she thinks, at the end of the day, life is a game to be played.
“…..I think leadership, great leadership requires a high level of personal responsibility, and that’s a very challenging thing to do. It’s much easier for us to blame the outside world for the things that are going on in our lives or in the lives of the people that we care about. True leadership, I believe is a hundred percent self-responsibility, which then enables you to navigate through life in a more easeful way,….”
Third up was Youth Voices Leadership Team chair Emma Ayliffe speaking with Sally Murfett about the power of positive communication in succession planning.
“…. nothing happens without relationship and communication. If you can’t get this part right, nothing else is going to happen along the way. So invest in this process. Invest in yourself so that you can sit at the table and have these conversations that are going to get great outcomes for yourself and great outcomes for the family.”
Then it was time for YFC Hannah Hawker to sit down with Graham Smith, the Australian Rural Leadership Program Mentor, who discussed the importance of throwing out stereotypes and misconceptions.
“….leadership really is a series of processes. It’s not a product or an output or an outcome .. .and if you dig down into that, more often than not, communication will come up as the most important process in leadership.”
YFC Anika Molesworth chatted with Francesca Earp about her research work in Laos and why actively listening to your people it the most important tool to understanding them.
“…..have proper conversations with farmers about why they’re doing things and what’s influencing those decisions … tailor ag extensions to why farmers are making those decisions.”
Internationally acclaimed leadership coach Dave Stachowiak was the guest of YFC Dione Howard for the sixth instalment of the series. Together they spoke about how to build ally relationships between consumers and farmers.
“…..we can come back at look at ourselves and say, “Okay, now that we’ve figured out what’s important, or at least some indicators of what may be important, where do we have some common alignment?” That’s a great starting point then for that relationship.”
Rounding off Series 1 of Leadership is Language was PYiA journalist Mandy McKeesick getting the lowdown on the new conversation app Yacker, developed by YFC Emma Ayliffe.
“It’s particularly important to be empathetic in difficult conversations. It’s important to do the work before you go into those conversations, so that you can see things through their eyes and prepare yourself for what the potential reactions could be, and think about the best way to craft the conversation.”
Series 1 has been a remarkable success and we look forward to the next series with a diverse range of guests involved with coaching, communication, stakeholder engagement, collective impact and action, worker health and safety, fishing, water, food recycling and much more.
