Education Leadership

Taking a baton and moving forward

In a relay race the next person in your team takes over and completes the next leg of the race. But in a relay you already know who is completing which leg before you start. Recently some experiences made me reflect on the idea that I have taken one of the batons but it wasn’t pre-determined and I feel like I have taken a little bit of many batons.

I was opportunistic in my late teens and early 20s when the first training package for the outdoors industry was being developed and during that time I met and worked with people who were passionate influencers in the outdoors industry who wanted the industry to be a great place to work and play, with safe practices, quality training and positive experiences for the multitude of participants we all work with. These people politely told me I needed to get more experience, pushed me to grow, told me I was not yet competent and provided me with opportunities in both employment and learning, but many of these people who influenced me have left or are currently leaving the industry and I find myself working alongside other people from both the Outdoors and Vocational Education and Training (VET) who want these industries to be a great place to work and play, with safe practices, quality training and positive experiences for the multitude of participants we all work with.  

Alternate perspective

I read something recently on LinkedIn that eluded to the fact that industry representatives who are providing input into Australia’s VET qualifications are predominately faceless executives from multinational organisations.

I disagree with this because in my experience when the industry is consulted as a part of skills shortages and training packages, those employers are small, medium and large businesses, government organisations and not for profit organisations that are very focused on the well-being of their industry. Organisations and individuals who are voluntarily making their time and resources available for the well-being of not just their organisation but also the wider industry. 

Shared Leadership

My reflections made me think about shared leadership because in essence this is what I have seen occur across the outdoors industry for the last 25 years. Different people contribute at different times with different skills and knowledge. A range of people take on leadership roles in the industry most often not because they are the right person but because they can contribute something.

Personally I feel that in this context I am contributing and sharing leadership with industry peers and colleagues who I work with currently and I am also contributing to the work that was done to get us to this point. Some of the people who provided that early leadership I never knew and yet I know that they influenced and mentored the people who influenced and mentored me and now that some of those people are deceased or retired I hope that I am doing enough and that I am appropriately preparing others to step up when they are in a position to do so.