

Carlyn Waters, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, explains how the APS value of stewardship resonates with her from a cultural perspective, and how her obligation to respect and honour the past plays a key role in caring and making decisions for the future. Listen to Carlyn’s full episode here
Carlyn Waters, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, provides examples of communication activities that have worked well in a hybrid workplace environment in this frequently asked question. Listen to Carlyn’s full episode here
Carlyn Waters, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, explains how the golden rules of leadership and management, which include being accessible and available to your staff, being seen and on-the-floor listening to your people and communicating are as relevant today as ever in organisations and that it’s essential to practice these while using new channels to transport messages. Listen to Carlyn’s full episode here
Carlyn Waters, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, explains the importance of making learning, in all its forms, a priority and integrating it into the norm so that all employees can access some form of learning within their organisations. Carlyn also provides some of the key tips that she offers to organisations and leaders in achieving this as well. Listen to Carlyn’s full episode here
Listen in as Carlyn Waters, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, as she explains how learning in any capacity contributes to innovation, creativity, and problem-solving, especially with the complex problems we are dealing with today in the world and our workplaces. Carlyn also reflects on how, as an Aboriginal person, she feels that learning from others is a natural part of her culture, as Aboriginal people continuously learn from others by asking, observing, and listening. She notes that bringing people with diverse perspectives together in the workplace can lead to truly positive outcomes. Listen to Carlyn’s full episode here
Carlyn Waters, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, defines what a growth mindset means to her in this frequently asked question and how, as an Aboriginal person with cultural traits of resilience, adaptability, curiosity, and humility encapsulate this in the way that they don’t stop learning until they cross over. Listen as she explains why she feels that this gives Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with an advantage in working in organisations, including the public service. Listen to Carlyn’s full episode here
Adaptability and resilience are key, especially when your organisation is growing or needs to change its focus on what it might be delivering. It’s inevitable that when you’re going through a change, you will come up against many ‘new’ elements. Tess Bishop, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, shares how a quote from Martha Stewart: “When you learn something new every day, you can teach something new every day” really resonated with her, both on a personal note on reflecting how and I learning and changing, and then as a leader in how she is sharing her learning with her teams.
Listen to her full episode here
Gender and diversity are really important to Tess Bishop. As the Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, Tess is the gender champion and is passionate about supporting women in leadership. Tess explains that diversity is many things; at its essence, it’s really about embracing that we are all different and come from various backgrounds. If we can come together and bring our differences to the table, and leaders can take an open-minded approach, they can leverage great benefits.
Listen to her full episode here
In short, it’s essential. Tess Bishop, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, shares how her department is creating a safe space, both physically, and psychologically, where staff can bring new ideas and perspectives to the department and how, throughout her career, Tess has seen that the most significant policy and project outcomes have been where opens have been put on the table, research has been done, and people are open to new ways of doing things.
Listen to her full episode here
In this FAQ, Tess Bishop, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, discusses how she reframes roadblocks as challenges and opportunities. Leaders are only as good as their teams as everyone continues to face challenges and work through changes. Tess shares how her leadership team energises her and works together to navigate challenges and support their department through change.
Listen to her full episode here
Listen in as Tess Bishop, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, shares her passion for getting out and seeing how things happen firsthand. She speaks about how, while reading a brief can be fantastic, seeing policy in action enables her staff to give her direct feedback, and she can see how that impacts their work directly. Tess also discusses how she changed her role to include ‘engagement,’ as engagement is how you learn, and you need to be open to the ways that people learn by opening up different communication channels.
Listen to her full episode here
Tess Bishop, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, answers this question from an individual perspective, of how she finds it important as a leader to keep an open mind and to surround yourself with people who will challenge you, and engaging in dialogue about ideas that you’re putting forward and even questioning them. Tess also stresses the importance of being mindful of the pace you are setting for yourself and your team and not going too fast, as you can wear yourself and your team out as well.
Listen to her full episode here