Managers & Team Leaders

Coordinators, managers and team leaders

The four steps to improving services for Indigenous Australians described in the introduction apply to coordinators, managers and team leaders, i.e.:

• improving understanding
• improving competence in working cross culturally
• seeing the implications for service delivery and community development
• improving your service delivery and community development through changes to practice.

Some of the practice implications for coordinators, managers and team leaders are:

• acknowledging the the family and kinship expectations on Indigenous staff
• changing case management practices to make them suitable for Indigenous clients
• modifying the organisations policies and procedures to reflect good practice
• ensuring the organisation's staff have the knowledge and skills necessary to provide appropriate services to Indigenous Australians.

Examples of some of the more specific questions managers and coordinators may need to answer are:

• When Indigenous staff are working with their communities what are the additional pressures they experience in their work because they are Indigenous?
• How can our centre/offices be made more welcoming to the local Indigenous communities?
• What are the key issues it would be useful to discuss with staff at team meetings or in supervision in relation to making our services more appropriate for Indigenous Australians?

This web site includes starting points for working on these types of questions.

 

Test your knowledge

The web site includes a Self-Study Module.

At the end of the Module there is a Self-Assessment of 30 multiple choice questions. When you complete the Self-Assessment you will have the option of emailing the questions and your answers to yourself. You will also be able to view the correct answers.

You also have the option of emailing the questions and your answers to your employer as evidence that you have completed the Module.