This conversation is part of a series exploring the impact of the Changemaker Workshops delivered across more than 30 regions by the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation and the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, thanks to the Future Drought Fund. These workshops are part of the Helping Regional Communities Prepare for Drought Initiative.

In this episode of Rural Leadership Unearthed, we’re joined by Kate Coffey and Brett Thompson. Kate is the Senior Project Manager at Riverine Plains, where she leads the organisation’s Farmer and Community Engagement activities. Brett at the time of this chat was coming to the end of his role as Executive Officer of social organisation LEAD Loddon Murray, and has just completed a Masters of Teaching which will carry him into his next chapter. As leaders, Kate and Brett are both embedded in their home communities of Yarrawonga and Bendigo (respectively) and they shared the experience of completing a Changemaker workshop in Euroa in 2024.

In this conversation, Kate and Brett illustrate how the Changemaker program added a deeper layer to their leadership within community organisations. They explain why different perspectives and mindsets are vital when working out solutions to challenges. They look at the realities of engaging and retaining volunteers in our rural and regional communities. Brett and Kate both have experience working to deliver FRRR community impact programs, and they share some of the resulting benefits these projects have already had in their regions. They also sum up precisely why initiatives that are designed to build connection, networks and greater engagement within our rural communities – are essential in the face of disruption and natural disaster. It’s how we ‘get into credit’ for those times of need.

This episode is the third of an 8-part series within the Rural Leadership Unearthed podcast where we delve into stories from people passionate about transforming their communities. This is a practical resource designed to provide insight into what it takes to drive positive change in rural, regional and remote Australia.

Some highlights:

• Practical tips on offering your services and finding where you belong
• How connection with others lessens stress in challenging times
• How FRRR Community Impact Programs are making a real difference
• There’s always something new to learn about our communities
• Embracing opportunities is essential for leaders
• Why community leaders shouldn’t undersell their roles and impact

Our host:

Claire Delahunty, is a writer and journalist who has worked with the ARLF for more than ten years, interviewing leaders having a positive impact on rural and regional Australia.

Resources:

ARLF podcast blog

ARLF website

Helping Regional Communities Prepare for Drought Initiative

Riverine Plains

LEAD Loddon Murray

In this episode of Rural Leadership Unearthed, we sit down with Courtney Palmer, a proud Worimi Woman whose career has spanned corporate retail leadership and community impact projects. From leading Big W teams across Queensland and the Northern Territory to championing the Happy Boxes social impact project, Courtney has always been drawn to supporting people to be their best and achieve collective results.

Here, she shares her reflections on finding connection, combating the loneliness of leadership she experienced as a First Nations woman early in her corporate retail career, and embracing the power of networks built through the ARLF’s Milparanga Established Leadership Program. Courtney also opens up about the challenges, lessons, and opportunities that have shaped her—and the importance of paving the way for the next generation of Indigenous business leaders.

Some highlights:

• Courtney shares how her career has shaped her approach to people, culture and community impact.

• The challenge of loneliness in leadership as an Aboriginal woman, and the importance of building networks and peer support.

• Why the Milparanga Program felt like the “missing puzzle piece” in her leadership journey.

• Learning to step onto the “balcony” to gain perspective, instead of staying caught on the “dance floor” of daily demands.

• Her passion for the Happy Boxes Project and the difference it makes in remote communities.

• The importance of paving the way for the next generation of Indigenous leaders.

Our host:

Claire Delahunty, is a writer and journalist who has worked with the ARLF for more than ten years, interviewing leaders having a positive impact on rural and regional Australia.

Resources:

ARLF podcast blog

ARLF website

Rural Leadership Unearthed

Milparanga Established Leadership Program

Happy Boxes

In this episode of Rural Leadership Unearthed, we’re joined by Diana Sanchez, who lives and works in Toowoomba as a laboratory coordinator in the seed and grain industry. It’s a position that reflects her determination and drive to better herself and stretch herself. When Diana and her husband decided in 2020 to relocate from their home in Colombia to re-set their lives and develop their English language skills, they couldn’t have predicted that they’d face the extreme isolation of Melbourne’s COVID lockdowns.

After a rocky start, Diana’s background in horticulture pulled her towards a job advertised in Queensland’s agricultural sector. Diana began a role as a grain tester, working alongside other seasonal workers from diverse backgrounds, in a lab. It was in this setting that Diana experienced the frustrations of miscommunication. Spurred on to support others sharing similar experiences, Diana became focused on the ingredients of strong communication and what helps us to be understood.

Fast forward to 2023, and Toowoomba not-for-profit, The Mulberry Project, nominated Diana for the ARLF’s TRAIL emerging leaders program. The experience affirmed her leadership capabilities and the importance of the contribution made by Australia’s immigrant community.

Diana explains how the experiential program confronted her with her own vulnerabilities but also revealed her strengths as a leader. Now, Diana is modelling how to create strong bonds within her culturally and linguistically diverse team, and advocating for workplaces to understand the value of slowing down and creating opportunities for connection where all are given the chance to be heard and understood.

Diana’s scholarship on the seven-day TRAIL program was funded by the Weis Community Fund, managed by Heritage Bank Charitable Foundation.

Some highlights:

• Discovering a ‘weakness’ can reveal our other strengths

• The importance of asking for help

• Opportunities for connection makes stronger teams

• Being heard and understood is critical to everyone

• Common ground is where we bond

• Providing leadership opportunities to migrants in Australia is a key way to recognise their contribution

Our host:

Claire Delahunty, is a writer and journalist who has worked with the ARLF for more than ten years, interviewing leaders having a positive impact on rural and regional Australia.

Resources:

ARLF podcast blog

ARLF website

Rural Leadership Unearthed

TRAIL Emerging Leaders Program

Weis Community Fund

This conversation is part of a series exploring the impact of the Changemaker Workshops delivered across more than 30 regions by the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation and the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, thanks to the Future Drought Fund. These workshops are part of the Helping Regional Communities Prepare for Drought Initiative.

There’s nothing like a fresh perspective to flip a problem and transform it into a possibility. In this episode of Rural Leadership Unearthed, we’re joined by mechanical engineer, Rana Everett, who shares her experience bringing a fresh take to a regional skills shortage. When Rana relocated to Albany in WA to work on the construction of a wave energy converter, she brought fresh eyes to the challenge of finding qualified local welders.

Rana came to Albany from her home base just outside of Darwin, with the unique opportunity to observe as an outsider and learn with a curious and open mind. It was her participation in the Albany Changemaker program that gave her the impetus to conceptualise and pioneer a home-grown employment solution. Drawing on the power of partnerships, and the potential of augmented reality technology, she has opened up new horizons to young people, women and others looking to up-skill and find their place in the booming world of welding.

This episode is the first of an 8-part series within the Rural Leadership Unearthed podcast where we delve into stories from people passionate about transforming their communities. This is a practical resource designed to provide insight into what it takes to drive positive change in rural, regional and remote Australia.

Some highlights:

• How ‘fresh eyes’ helped Rana join the dots between missing skills and community capacity-building
• The genesis of using welding simulators to fast-track skills development
• How it can feel to broach a project when you’re new to a community
• Why tailored communication is needed to engage with different target audiences
• The invaluable role of collaboration and partnerships

Our host:

Claire Delahunty, is a writer and journalist who has worked with the ARLF for more than ten years, interviewing leaders having a positive impact on rural and regional Australia.

Resources:

ARLF podcast blog

ARLF website

Helping Regional Communities Prepare for Drought Initiative

Everett Consulting

In this episode of Rural Leadership Unearthed, we’re joined by David Keetch, a seasoned agricultural researcher who first embraced ag as a highschool student growing up in Adelaide. Now, as Nufarm’s Green-on-Green Program Director, he leads two national projects focused on developing advanced in-crop camera-spraying technologies and herbicide solutions tailored to Australian farming systems.

If it sounds complicated, that’s because it is. Fortunately, Dave is a skilled, patient communicator with a real adeptness for understanding how different types of people thrive with different styles of communication. A core part of his job is adapting his approach for different audiences and stakeholders. Without this ability, he says he just wouldn’t be able to lead effectively.

But it hasn’t always come easily. It was his experience with a “melting pot” of other leaders in his cohort during the 2021 Australian Agribusiness Leadership Program that brought home that the way diverse personalities connect and relate to one another directly shapes outcomes.

In today’s conversation, Dave walks us through the challenges that come with managing a project that blends AI technology with Australia’s unique growing environments. He shares how stewardship of best practice and sustainable technology use in ag is what drives him in all that he does. Dave speaks openly about managing the different pulls between his passion for research and the realities of commercial expectations. He also reflects that when we’re working towards long-term goals, it’s vital to break it down into smaller milestones and celebrate the wins along the way.

Some highlights:

• How returning to core aims help Dave manage complexity

• The importance of celebrating small wins

• If you’re not changing, you’re not growing

• How adapting to others’ communication preferences can be as simple as picking up the phone or even knocking on a door

• An ‘independent streak’ can get in the way of asking for help

• Why being rigid and inflexible just doesn’t work

Our host:

Claire Delahunty, is a writer and journalist who has worked with the ARLF for more than ten years, interviewing leaders having a positive impact on rural and regional Australia.

Resources:

ARLF podcast blog

ARLF website

Rural Leadership Unearthed

AALP

Nufarm

Rolling out green-on-green spot spraying

This conversation is part of a series exploring the impact of the Changemaker Workshops delivered across more than 30 regions by the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation and the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, thanks to the Future Drought Fund. These workshops are part of the Helping Regional Communities Prepare for Drought Initiative.

In this episode of Rural Leadership Unearthed, we’re joined by Tanya Lehmann, a leader who has made it her mission in life to un-riddle the things that sometimes hold our small towns back from taking control and shaping their own bright futures. As a leadership development coach with a community health management background, and a country girl herself, Tanya understands both the barriers to change in rural areas, and the opportunities that exist when we can unlock their greatest asset – their people.

In today’s chat, we explore just who or what a ‘changemaker’ is and Tanya’s role facilitating the ARLF’s Changemaker workshops around our regions, seeing first-hand the powerful seeds for change that can be planted in just two days. Tanya emphasises that leadership is a verb, and wherever you might be, it’s an action that any one of us can take. And it’s through tackling challenges together that we thrive and our communities thrive too.

This episode is the introduction to an 8-part series within the Rural Leadership Unearthed podcast where we delve into stories from people passionate about transforming their communities. This is a practical resource designed to provide insight into what it takes to drive positive change in rural, regional and remote Australia.

Some highlights:

• How to move from the idea of solving problems, to making progress
• The more you understand about your region’s history, the better you can shape its future
• Leadership is making the choice to stand up and take action
• Why a good story is a powerful tool to connect people for a common purpose
• Leaning in to vulnerability can help us make the rewarding move of asking for and offering help

Our host:

Claire Delahunty, is a writer and journalist who has worked with the ARLF for more than ten years, interviewing leaders having a positive impact on rural and regional Australia.

Resources:

ARLF podcast blog

ARLF website

Helping Regional Communities Prepare for Drought Initiative

Meet our team: Tanya Lehmann

In this episode of Rural Leadership Unearthed, we sit down with Jason Strong, former Managing Director of Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) and a leader with more than 30 years’ experience in the red meat and livestock industries. Since wrapping up his role with MLA at the end of 2023, Jason has embraced the chance to shift gears and follow his curiosity and passions. From this vantage point, Jason reflects on some of the big leadership lessons of his career, and the lasting take-aways from his experience on course 11 of the Australian Rural Leadership Program (ARLP).

He shares the pivotal insight the ARLP gave him into his natural introversion, and how this had influenced his leadership style. What followed was a kindling of curiosity about how others think and behave, and a new understanding of the importance of bringing others along with you throughout your career and leadership journey. We learn about Jason’s formative passion for showing cattle; and the legacy of his early contribution to the development of the Meat Standards Australia Program. He also shares the excitement of his time with MLA as their regional manager in Europe and Russia, getting to tell the story of Australian beef in the European market. Jason’s advice for the next generation of leaders in agriculture is to embrace building connections through authenticity and vulnerability.

Jason is currently a Councillor with the Royal Agricultural Society and on the Board of the RAS Foundation. He is also Chairman of Bovotica, a biotech start up, and on the Smithfield Cattle Co Advisory Board.

Some highlights:

• How the experience of showing cattle set Jason on his career path

• The power of understanding different personality types

• Getting from A to B doesn’t have to be a straight line

• Leaders with large visions need to be able to communicate each small step along the way

• The privilege of building projects for long-term impact

• Personal stories in agriculture are invaluable for learning

• Collaboration enhances problem solving

Our host:

Claire Delahunty, is a writer and journalist who has worked with the ARLF for more than ten years, interviewing leaders having a positive impact on rural and regional Australia.

Resources:

ARLF podcast blog

ARLF website

Rural Leadership Unearthed

Meat and Livestock Australia

Bovotica