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On Friday 8 March 2024, Interfuze’s Managing Director, Lindsey Duncan, and our Chairperson, Branden Dekenah, attended the AusIMM International Women’s Day WA event series at the Perth Convention Centre.
The event featured a keynote address by Rachael Robertson, who made history as the second female to lead the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition. In Antarctica's harsh winter, Rachael managed a 24/7 role, overseeing over 120 expeditioners and a $30 million science program. Facing the challenges of a male-dominated environment, Rachael's resilience stood out.
Lindsey Duncan shares her take-aways from Rachael’s incredible story and how to apply important learnings for creating a more diverse, equity and inclusive workplace through respect.
Lindsey shared that Rachael’s application to lead the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition was to gain insights for recruiting customer-facing roles, supporting her senior operational manager position, which involved hiring and building collaborative, high-performing and resilient teams.
“What truly resonated with me was Rachael’s emphasis on “Respect” as the core value for her Antarctic team,” said Lindsey.
“In 2020 Rachael released her second best-seller, Respect trumps Harmony which provides the tools to build resilient, and high performing teams based on research and case studies collected over 15 years.”
“The concept of really struck a chord with me as harmony might initially sound ideal, but it can also stifle dissent and creativity. Whereas, respectfully offering alternative views will be far more effective.”
This year’s International Women’s Day theme is Inspire Inclusion, underscoring the crucial role of inclusion in achieving gender equality. It calls for action to break down barriers, challenge stereotypes, and create environments where all women are valued and respected.
“As teams become more diverse and larger in numbers, we won’t always see eye to eye. We won’t also always agree on everything,” said Lindsey.
"However, it's through respectful dialogue and collaboration that we can harness the full potential of our teams.”
“For example, my career stalled when I had children which is a common story for many mothers. I wanted to be there after school, which meant working part time and when I decided to join Interfuze, Branden and Time were open-minded and respectful to have a frank conversation about this and enabled me to continue up the career ladder while still being part time.”
“Our leadership team also show respect by not micromanaging. Instead, we trust our team members to get the job done and to feel comfortable asking for help when they need it. That is very important for part-timers who in some workplaces might feel pressured to always be “on” when their work is monitored closely.”
“These workplace examples are what I reflected on when Rachael shared one of her core leadership practices - “lead without a title” - a powerful reminder that true leadership isn’t about a title but about your actions.”
“As we look into another working year, I hope to work with my leadership and all team members to continue advance Interfuze’s commitment to support a respectful workplace that empower teams to challenge ideas, innovate and raise concerns.”