Community control the key to Indigenous group’s transformation

Named after the traditional people of southern Sydney, the Illawarra and the south coast of NSW, TAC attracts thousands of Aboriginal people seeking help and community connection.

Politicians like to announce new programs here, families come for fresh produce, police engage the local kids, and legal aid groups and Centrelink visit to provide easy-access services.

TAC also serves as a model for effective change management. Once on the brink of closure, it is now a thriving support hub. Its transformation rests on being community-led, culturally connected, focused on stakeholders, trusted, accountable and well-governed.

TAC is one of approximately 3,500 Aboriginal corporations in the country – not-for-profits established by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups to manage their own affairs. With several hundred members and about 140 staff, TAC provides extensive services to support the health and wellbeing of its community, including:

• medical services, such as bulk-billed GPs, specialist services, nursing care and health assessments
• allied health services, such as speech therapy, physiotherapy and dietetics
• a dental clinic
• child, youth and family services including preschool and a family centre
• mental health services, including suicide prevention and drug and alcohol support
• healthy lifestyle initiatives such as community kitchens, community gardens, exercise classes and nutrition education
• programs for elders, including sporting events
• cultural teaching and education, including help for stolen generations
• housing services, including tenancy support and 120 houses
• art therapy.

“It’s better than going to Westfield. You can come in and talk to the police, talk about housing, talk to Centrelink and get legal aid. It’s all there,” CEO Darryl Wright quips.

It’s hard to fathom how an organisation can do so many things, but TAC has ambitions to do more.

When Community Directors Intelligence spoke to Wright, he was returning from a visit to a new studio where young people will produce their own television and radio shows.

Future projects include an elders’ village, a café, a nursing home, a youth hub, and upgrades to learning centres.

TAC’s new five-year strategic plan sets out the organisation’s goals to prepare for growth, expand its role as a sector leader and innovator, and maintain its efforts providing top-quality services. The strategy – with community backing – aims to expand services, rely on community feedback, boost infrastructure, diversify income, focus on preventative health, improve communication, build partnerships, conduct research and raise standards further.

With his signature grin and a laugh, Wright likes to tell visitors that the organisation provides help “from the day you’re born to the day you pass on”, helping new parents with their babies and also hosting culturally sensitive funeral services.

TAC’s hard times

But it wasn’t always this way. Twenty years ago, the organisation – established in 1983 – was in its death throes. The handful of remaining staff worked in portable buildings, the organisation was riven by factions, yet controlled by administrators, staff lacked motivation and people avoided the place. The threat of being shut down was real.

When Wright joined the then dysfunctional organisation as CEO, the community mood was “despondent”.

“They weren't feeling good about themselves, they weren't feeling good about the organisation.

“Being under administration is so disappointing, because you can’t do anything, you don’t have any control.”

‘We walk the road together’

Wright knew that transformation would need to come from building trust and strong relationships. He describes his leadership style – inherited from his family – as one in which the community must have a strong say.

“You have to make good friends within the community,” he said.

His grandmother Lena Quinlan – a member of the stolen generations – gave him the advice that continues to guide him.

“It's just keeping your head up and walking with your head up, and smiling. My grandmother always said, ‘When you get up out of bed, smile.’

“It’s good to talk to everyone.”

While Wright was well-known locally and had government connections through his work in medical administration, he built on that network, “showing them that I'm going to be fair dinkum and that I needed them.”

“I had that philosophy that I can't do it by myself. You have to come with me. We work together, we walk the road together and go through the hard times together. And there was a hard time, but we overcame it.”

Community meetings – then and now – reinforced TAC’s direction.

“You have to work that strategy for yourself – you know which way you want to go – but to have that community support it makes it much easier. And that's what I looked at, when I come here. I looked at all the people who I can get support from. With the elders, I had a word with them and said, ‘Let's work together. Let's do things together. I can't do it by myself, but let's work together and we'll make this place grow.’ And I think that's what happened.

“We've built the confidence up of the community and took it away from the factions and gave it back to the community. And they love it because it's theirs. TAC is not owned by the staff, it's not owned by the board, it's not owned by the CEO, it's owned by the community. So that's why they're coming in now. They feel comfortable.”

He recalled a visit from federal MP Bill Shorten during an election campaign. He recalls the MP remarking, “I’ve never been in a place that’s so happy, where people are smiling all the time.”

“That's what we want people to see,” Wright said.

From little things, big things grow

Wright has focused on slowly and steadily guiding TAC back to health, partly crediting its success to the willingness of its people to own up to what went wrong.

“We all take the responsibility. We still laugh, we still joke and that's what brings the best out of people. We will do it together.”

His change management strategy centres on understanding people.

"People get scared about change because they don’t know what’s going to happen, but you’ve got to stay focused on what you want [to achieve]."

That includes reassuring staff that “making a mistake is okay …. because it’s new stuff, isn’t it? Don’t be afraid of that.”

In 2018, Wright was recognised for his untiring efforts by being appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for “significant service to the indigenous community of NSW”.

Though he has no plans to quit, Wright accepts he cannot do the job forever and so encourages young talent by providing opportunities for training and taking on extra responsibilities.

“Look, I'm 72. In February, I'll be 73. I've got a contract until 2027, and I'll probably go a little bit longer after that, but you always look around, it’s like research. You keep looking at people, how they present themselves, and when you see some little things within people, I'll take them aside and I'll talk to them. I’ll say ‘Look … I think there's a lot of good in you. You might not think so, and others might not think so … can we talk about your future?’”

With a laugh, he quips, “From little things, big things grow.”

Want change? Win the staff, the board, the community

When asked about TAC’s approach to initiatives and strategies, Wright emphasises the importance of starting with staff conversations to examine possibilities, followed by seeking board support and then approaching funding bodies.

One example is the new strategic plan, developed with staff in workshops facilitated by an independent expert. The draft plan was shared with the community and the board before being adopted.

The four-page strategic plan is concise to ensure “anyone can read it and understand it”.

For other organisations seeking change, Wright stresses the value of communication, visibility and accountability.

“You’ve just got to talk, to take interest in people, and see what’s happening out there in the community, to be seen out there in the community.”

He admits that he leaves his phone on at all times to take calls, especially for domestic violence matters, and he says the visibility of TAC’s leadership – and its openness to the community – is part of the reason for TAC’s success.

‘The money comes looking for you’

TAC’s healthy budget is evidence of its good governance, and the organisation had brought in nearly $16 million in annual income at last count.

“We want to be able to show our community that we are strong on our governance, but also our funding bodies like state governments, federal government, and ORIC (the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations) who we're registered under.”

TAC has developed a good relationship with government departments, which looks to the corporation for advice about how to deliver services and alerts it to funding opportunities.

“When you’ve got a good audit, the money comes looking for you,” Wright said.

“One government department said we got $1 million. What could you do with it? You just have to spend it before June/July.”

The money largely went to surgery to help with children’s hearing, and other measures.