I appreciated that they allowed the discussion to go into somewhat controversial territory to allow us as a team to have a deeper discussion about somewhat divisive issues.

Program Participant

Leadership for Our Regions is a collaborative project between the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation (ARLF) and Regional Australia Institute (RAI) funded by Australian Government Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development. The program was held at two locations: Wide Bay Burnett QLD and South West WA.

Polykala designed and delivered the leadership and collaboration piece in the eight-day, two-session residential program. It was an immersive development opportunity for 25 key stakeholders from both regions to connect, explore and catalyse change. The program combined economic insights from RAI, challenge based learning from ARLF and was stitched together with Adaptive Leadership development and experiential learning from Poykala. This program is designed to challenge participants to think reflectively and critically about themselves as initiators, to explore the factors affecting the economic fabric of their region and to establish viable initiatives to support the future growth of the region. 

We used the case-in-point methodology to explore the key adaptive challenges within each region. Participants were challenged to find ways of seeing shared interests and shared aspirations for the mutual benefit of Wide Bay Burnett and South West WA. The program was custom-designed to fit the needs of the experienced cohort of participants and included: 

• Distinguishing between leadership and authority
• How to diagnose and approach adaptive and technical challenges
• Creating a holding environment for crucial conversations
• Introducing a framework for authentic collaboration
• Investigating personal tendencies in a high-stake environment
• Exploring macro-scale adaptive challenges
• Learning and applying the Harvard peer-consultation methodology

The sessions were dynamic and showed how the Adaptive framework could help shape constructive action in both regions. Regional Australia is a key driver of Australia’s economic growth and a bastion of its environmental and social heritage. Polykala was proud to have contributed meaningfully to the conversations in these regions. We’re confident the participants from each group continue to mobilise their communities to make the most of the opportunities in their context.  

“The team at Polykala were excellent, really great facilitators. I appreciated that they allowed the discussion to go into controversial territory to allow us as a team to have a deeper discussion about somewhat divisive issues. This allowed us to explore different perspectives, and hear from others about how certain actions, comments etc. could be interpreted.” – Program Participant