Roles Model and Leaders Australia Girls Academy

Girls Academy is the major provider of school-based engagement programs for secondary school Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls in Australia. The Academy is providing programs for 46 schools across Australia.

The Girls Academy is the flagship program of Role Models and Leaders Australia, founded in 2004 by Olympian and champion basketballer Ricky Grace. The full-time program works within schools to provide community-led solutions to overcome obstacles that prevent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls from attending and achieving at school.

74 percent of staff are highly accomplished Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. The program increases the skills, employability, mental health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls around Australia – providing them with better opportunities to contribute to the social and economic outcomes of the wider community.

The senior leadership of the Academy have made a commitment to develop their staff to take over and run the organisation over the next few years.  Integral has been involved in developing and conducting a tailored leadership development program for staff. This has involved providing 360 Leadership Development feedback and individual coaching for each manager. 

The leadership program also involves a series of on-line workshops that provide skills in dealing with the changes occurring as a result of COVID-19 which include mindfulness, having performance conversations and communicating to connect and care for the staff and girls.  Twenty-one senior and middle level managers participated in the program initially and it was so well received that is now being rolled out to over 50 Program Managers.

The program began prior to the COVID-19 crisis and went to online coaching and leadership workshops while the social restrictions were still in place. 

A competency framework was also developed to provide a clear set of skills at various leadership levels. Four areas called Head, Heart, Hands and Spirit with competencies in each area fit well with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. This framework identifies the key competencies for staff at all the levels of the organisation: Program Managers; Regional Manager; General Managers; and Executives. This framework describes the skills and values needed to perform the leadership role at each level and is being used to determine the skills needed to progress to the next level. This helps determine the training and development needed across the organisation.

Testimonial

Terry Boland, the Chief Operating Officer describes the benefit of the Integral program.

“The Integral Leadership Development program has been a very effective way of providing our team leaders and managers key skills they need in their roles. It has also built the confidence of our leaders by exposing them to best practice research on leadership and practical skills. The Integral coaches have been especially skilled at providing guidance and coaching related to the key challenges each of our staff are facing and in understanding and respecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander values and cultures. 

All Girls Academy staff have greatly appreciated the opportunity they are receiving in building their leadership and teambuilding skills at a time when schools and the Academy are facing considerable challenges.  This program has strengthened our culture and values as well as built our leadership capability for the future.”