National Seafood Industry Leadership Program 2015 - 2017
FRDC is in the process of developing a new strategic plan and irrespective of the themes being developed people remain at the core of all industry research and develop therefore developing the future leaders of the industry should remain a priority to the industry.
The 2012-2014 NSILP project is yet to be evaluated however there is data indicating the continued need for the program. This data includes positive outcomes for the participants, building strong understanding of diversity and strength across the industry and positive profile raising for the industry. However the greatest need remains the succession of the industry and the need for ongoing opportunity to skill-up and build the knowledgeable of the individuals who will step into leadership roles.
People development and leadership are currently identified strategies for the industry and the NSILP 2015-2017 will certainly address this strategic need.
The NSILP 2015-2017 will address the needs discussed above through providing skill development in key leadership areas such as inter-personal, team and strategy and planning. The NSILP will also address the needs of building an understanding of the diversity of the industry through ensuring a broad participant cohort and ensuring guests and program speakers reflect industry breadth and deliver addresses that also reflect the diversity of the industry/community.
The NSILP will raise the positive profile of the industry through building professionalism amongst the participants and through the delivery of a number of participant addresses to the industry guests throughout the program.
The NSILP 2015-2017 will address the succession of leadership in the industry by encouraging each of the participants, at the commencement of the program, to identify an aspirational leadership target. There will also be opportunity for program guests to identify participants who should engage with their organisations.
Final report
National Seafood Industry Leadership Program: 2009-2011
The need for this project has been suggested in the above sections but there is further evidence of need provided by the goals of the FRDC’s People Development Program. The program states the need to develop the capabilities of the people through building capacity through a three year National Seafood Industry Leadership Program (NSILP).
This project will directly contribute to the delivery of the People Development Program 2008 – 2013 prepared for FRDC by Jo-Anne Ruscoe. The NSILP will ensure outputs that address some of the goals and objectives of the People Development Program:
1. enhance industry leadership within all sectors;
2. build industry capacity to drive change to achieve goals
The Industry Leaders Enhancement Project has parallel drivers and will specifically address
1. The shortage of industry leaders in all sectors of the fishing industry.
2. The need to develop people within all sectors who have the skills to effectively contribute to debate and policy development for significant challenges, including access to fish resources.
3. The opportunities for people in industry to develop skills that are going to directly improve business profitability and sustainability.
4. The contribution in the uptake of formal training, and in particular apprenticeships.
5. The enhanced knowledge of decision makers in a complex industry through accurate information and knowledge.
It is clear that the current program delivers outcomes for the industry regarding leadership activity. The following graduates have taken significant leadership steps at a national and sector level:
Sean Savage
Kane Williams
Stanley Lui
Katherine Sarneckis
Greg Carton
Donna Fewings
David Mills
Nick Paul
Tanya Adams
Neil Green
Inga Davis
Duncan Worthington
Brad Crear
Heidi Mumme
Jonas Woolford
Scott Walter
Melanie Snart
Andrew Baker
Helen Jenkins
Louise Nock
Geoff Blackburn
Jo-Anne Ruscoe
James Newman
Chris Calogeras
Joe De Belin
Christian Pike
Alan Snow
Final report
National Seafood Industry Leadership Program 2009 – 2011 was reviewed and revised in line with the 2008 review. Adjustments were made to the program including the introduction of the third day added to Residential 2 – Sydney (Objective 1 & 3). These adjustments have provided further opportunity for skill development, networking and leadership growth.
A further NSILP stakeholder survey was conducted during 2011. (Objective 2) and although responses were low in number information gathered indicated that graduates of the program had enhanced their leadership in their workplaces and in the industry.
Average of over sixteen (16) seafood industry individuals graduated from the 2009, 2010 and 2011 NSILP. The minimum target graduate number was fifteen per annum. (Objective 4). The promotion and selection processes ensured a broad cross-section of industry participated. 60% of participants were directly working within industry as fishers or in representative roles. Recreational and Indigenous participation was achieved. The diversity of participants and guest speakers ensured an industry wide perspective was developed. This diversity is also seen as an extremely positive element of the NSILP as it ensures “big-picture” thinking for future industry leaders.
At the conclusion of the project fifty (50) graduates were welcomed by the industry as leaders who have a clearer understanding of positively impacting on decision-making processes at all levels of the industry. The graduation evening allows for the NSILP Major Sponsor Sydney Fish Market to be recognized and the nature of the evening ensures the industry understands the caliber of the graduates through a number of presentations. This project continues to provide an excellent platform for high-level networking, leadership growth, information and knowledge exchange, strategic thinking and outcomes for the seafood industry.
National Seafood Industry Leadership Program: 2012-2014
The 2008 Leadership Program review was conducted and provided information to the funders regarding the initial years of the leadership delivery. The present funding round will deliver another review of the program in the final report. This review will include graduates, program sponsors and industry organisations.
Rural Training Initiatives continues to anecdotally assess the processes and outcomes of the program through participant evaluations at the conclusion of each program residential and through conversation with the NSILP advisory group and industry stakeholders. This anecdotal feedback indicates that the program is much more than a positive learning experience.
The need for this project has been suggested in the above sections but there is further evidence of need provided by the goals of the FRDC’s People Development Program,
1. enhance industry leadership within all sectors;
2. build industry capacity to drive change to achieve goals
FRDC’s Working together: The National RD&E Strategy
Priority areas addressed through this project will be:
• identifying and understanding success drivers and factors in comparable industry and resultant opportunities for fisheries
• developing the leadership skills across all stakeholder groups
• understanding and developing strategies to enhance, decision-making and adoption practices
• developing business and business modelling capability
• building stakeholder capacity to move toward co-management of fisheries
• identifying and understanding factors that drive responsiveness or adoption of new practices and innovation and how these can be influenced
• building skills and networks that support knowledge transfer and R&D adoption
• building understanding, and commonality of objectives, between stakeholders, including researchers, managers, fishers and NGOs.
Final report
Empowering Industry: Improving two-way membership communication in peak industry bodies of the fishing and seafood industry
The seafood industry is comprised of national, state, regional and sector organisations all of whom have a "client group" with which two-way communication and connection is anticipated. It is also noted that industry organisations have identified the need to improve lines of communication between industry associations and their members as being critical for many associations survival.
Industry organisations have articulated the issues that impact on their associations'/organisations effectiveness and which they believe should be researched and could be addressed through improved and coordinated communication strategies via a research project.
The identified issues are:
• Defining how organisations are relevant and what value is being offered to members;
• Lack of clarity as to what ‘product’ is being offered;
• A lack of clarity as to what associations' key messages are for their members and broader industry;
• A disjunct between the message being sent by groups and those receiving it;
• Misunderstanding of what is being said amongst many competing messages;
• Different priorities at top and bottom of associations' organisational structures;
• Confusion amongst members as to who’s who and why. What do the different levels of organisations do? What representation do or don’t they have?
• All of the above were made more difficult by a general lack of support and funding for associations.
No one group has the resources or skills set to address all of these issues, but the issues were common across all sectors and jurisdictions and a cooperative approach was considered to be possible and beneficial.
Final report
National Seafood Industry Leadership Program 2018 - 2021
FRDC has developed the 2015-2020 Strategic Plan. The plan details the areas of investment for the industry and provides direction regarding the leadership requirements for the Australia seafood industry. Relevant sections of that document state the following:-
“All sectors of Australian fishing and aquaculture need strong, effective, connected leadership to respond well to the challenges and opportunities before them...Having strong leadership capacity will generate strong fishing and aquaculture communities that are productive, profitable and resilient to change, therefore people development remains an important focus for RD&E...projects include the National Seafood Industry Leadership Program"
The above indicates the ongoing need and support for the NSILP 2018-2020. Additionally, although the NSILP 2015-2017 project is yet to be fully evaluated, there is data indicating a significant increase industry need for the NSILP. This data includes 70 unsuccessful applicants over the course of the project time frame; applicant nominators requesting the reason for unsuccessful application responses and; extremely high caliber applicants who should be accepted into the NSILP being ‘rejected’ over two consecutive years. However, the greatest need remains the ongoing succession of the industry and the need for ongoing opportunity to skill-up and build the knowledge of the individuals who will step into leadership roles.
The NSILP 2018-2020 will address the needs discussed above through providing skill development in key leadership areas such as inter-personal communication, team building and strategy planning. The NSILP will also build industry sector understanding through ensuring an annual diverse participant cohort and seek guests and program speakers who reflect industry breadth and deliver addresses that reflect the range of the industry. The NSILP will raise the positive profile of the industry through building professionalism amongst the participants and through the delivery of a number of participant addresses to the industry.