Our Reconciliation Action Plan
People Measures acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we conduct our business. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past, present and emerging.
Our vision for reconciliation
People Measures is proud that our Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) has been endorsed by Reconciliation Australia.
We see participation in reconciliation as essential for our work in leadership development within Australia, and we see building our own cultural competence as the starting point.
We aim to increase our understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in which and with whom we work.
People Measures is currently working towards endorsement of our Innovate RAP.
What does reconciliation look like to us?
Our vision for reconciliation is an Australia that embraces the unity between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians, and a national culture that represents equality and equity, acceptance of our shared history and removal of negative race relations.
We aspire to be a country where all Australians share opportunities to be prosperous, economically engaged, socially empowered and where food security and healthcare are possible for all.
We believe that reconciliation is fundamental for our country’s future, both socially and to ensure equality.
People Measures’ vision for reconciliation is based on our deep sadness for past injustices, and our respect for the survival and growth of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Working with Waminda and Burbangana Group
Our relationship with Waminda South Coast Women’s Health and Welfare Aboriginal Corporation has been a significant catalyst in our Reconciliation journey.
In 2017 Waminda met with participants in a senior government leadership development program at our request. Soon after they agreed to provide People Measures with a two-day cultural immersion for all our staff. It inspired us and reminded us we had plenty to learn, so we committed ourselves to doing more.
Our leadership programs help leaders focus on adaptive rather than technical responses to problems for which there are no simple painless solutions: problems that require leaders to develop their own social and cultural capacities.
Leaders often need to rethink themselves in profound ways; questioning old beliefs, identities, values and images of justice, community and responsibility. Our views on adaptive leadership and our expertise are informing our own reconciliation journey.
In 2018 Burbangana Group helped us to start develop our Reconciliation Action Plan. Bringing focus to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the social, economic and political issues impacting reconciliation, it has brought crucial learning and heightened commitment to People Measures.
We also partner with Burbangana Group on the Victorian Public Service’s Barring Djinang Aboriginal Career Development Program – where Burbangana consultants provide support to both the participants and People Measures’ coaches, including around cultural awareness.
Commissioned Artwork
As part of our Reconciliation journey, People Measures commissioned artist Dixon Patten to visualise our story.
About the Artwork
Connection, community and culture are at the centre of Aboriginal values.
This artwork is inspired by the energy and spirit of the ancestors that have passed down knowledge for millennia.
Everything is connected; from the skyward leaves to the soil in the earth and this symbolic connection is represented in the trees. The four Red Gums here represent standing tall, reaching out outwards and upwards; while remaining grounded and having deep roots.
This foundation is what guides everything we do in caring for people and Country.
Water is a sacred life-giver and is what sustains and maintains. The meandering flow represents our own journey through life.
About the artist
Dixon Patten, Aboriginal name: Bitja, is a proud Yorta Yorta and Gunnai man who was born and raised in Melbourne.
Dixon is the Creative Director and Lead Artist/ Graphic Designer of Bayila Creative. He has over 13 years’ experience in the arts and design space as an artist, curator and graphic designer, who draws his influence from his connection to his culture and family. He is passionate about storytelling in all its forms and loves the information, wisdom, knowledge and energy exchange that unites us and bridges the gap between people(s).
Bayila Creative is an Aboriginal-owned art and graphic design business business and was founded in Melbourne (Narrm) and was established with the intention of providing a platform to bring forth Indigenous culture, art and stories to the corporate world, and to interpret the Aboriginal community’s creative needs in an organic way. Bayila is the Yorta word for Red Gum. Just like the ‘Red Gum’, Bayila has its feet firmly planted in the ground. Bayila’s values mirror the Aboriginal cultural principles of respect, listening, sharing and connection.
People Measures acknowledges, respects and seeks to learn from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples, histories, cultures and connections to waterways and country. We pay particular respect to Elders and are conscious that First Nations’ sovereignty has never been ceded. We commit with energy to a future where all people have equity of opportunity and socially just outcomes. Learn More
