Emerging Leader program

When you think of a board of directors, what images come to mind? In Australia, almost 70 per cent of directors are males and their average age is 60, but some organisations are beginning to buck the trend. One of them is Terrain NRM, whose ‘Emerging Leader’ program is in its sixth year and is inspiring other organisations to think outside the square.

When the Terrain NRM Board came up with the ‘Emerging Leader’ program back in 2018, the youngest board member was in his fifties and six out of seven directors were male. Five years later, four directors are in their thirties and the Board is made up of four women and three men.

Former Chair Keith Noble says directors could see there was “untapped leadership talent in the region” and it was most noticeable in the environment sector, where Terrain is the Far North’s natural resource management organisation.

Earlier leadership opportunities for the younger generation 

“While we recognised that youth were our region’s future, the Board had very little engagement with the younger generation at the time,” Keith says.

“The very first interviews for an Emerging Leader blew us away – this program has shown us just how much the Far North’s millennials value the environment and the community we all live in, and how they are looking for ways to make a bigger contribution. It has given us the confidence to appoint younger directors and we’ve seen the benefits.”

Two-way knowledge-sharing program

The one-year ‘Emerging Leader’ program is a mentoring initiative aimed at giving the younger generation opportunities to break through to leadership positions and gain governance experience while also giving the Board a chance to tap into fresh perspectives and connect with a new audience across the region.

Since 2018, three of the Board’s six Emerging Leaders have gone on to become Terrain NRM directors. Lucy Friend is an environmental scientist and North Queensland Airport’s Environmental Manager, and this year she became a Deputy Chair on the Board.

Lucy says a seat around the table to set the strategic direction of an organisation and help shape the region’s future resource management plans has been invaluable.

“The issues facing natural resource management are large-scale, long-term and multi-faceted. It is going to take innovation and commitment from a wide range of individuals and organisations to balance environment, social and economic sustainability across the Wet Tropics region.

“Young people have a lot to contribute and they want to be involved in decision-making, but we don’t often get the opportunity to sit at the boardroom table as colleagues.

“This program gave me the growth I needed…”

“This program gave me the growth I needed to become an effective director, and it has also given me a strong foundation for further growth. I will be more effective in my profession as an environmental scientist too, because I have a better understanding of how organisational structures work and how decisions are made.