LAWSON SMITH
Programs Manager at Dismantle
Awarded a New Leaders Development Program at Melbourne Business School, 2019
What sort of work does your organisation do?
Engaging, empowering and employing at-risk young people to achieve their potential, through Dismantle initiatives including BikeRescue, BikeRescue Local, BikeDr and ReNew Property Maintenance. Youth workers leverage bike activities to engage young people who are facing significant barriers to success as a student and worker, and work with them to build the emotional and social skills needed to pursue their occupational goals. Describe a typical day's work.
My main role is to train and support the team of Youth Workers that deliver BikeRescue programs across Perth and regional WA. I spend my day liaising with partner organisations, capturing program outcomes, organising new programs, supporting regional workers and working with the Dismantle team to provide transition opportunities to young people. I also help fix the odd bike problem, supervise a handful of Youth Work students and get to travel to remote WA occasionally to train workers in what we do. What were some of the key learnings from the course?
The New Leaders Development Program helped me reflect on the way that my approach to leadership impacts different members of my team, and gave me the thinking tools to understand some of the management challenges that were preventing good communication and team performance. Learning about the four stages of competence has especially applicable to the way that I instruct, encourage, support and challenge my team members. This has led to me being better at delegating and getting the most out of my best team members. How has it impacted / changed / benefited your role and your organisation as a whole?
I attended this course at a crucial time in our organisations growth. As a result of good team communication and a shared approach to learning, we have thrived in a time of uncertainty and opportunity, where it could have been equally possible to become disconnected. Our team is not only bigger but also more competent and resilient following this time of growth, which is at least partially thanks to my learning at the NLDP last year. How did you come to be working in the not-for-profit sector?
My interest has always been in people - not just our ‘clients’ but also by working in a team that was motivated by the same things as me. After helping out as a volunteer, I was drawn to the team at Dismantle by their responsive, pragmatic approach to tackling the ever-growing challenges of youth disengagement, unemployment and mental health issues. My training as an Occupational Therapist equipped me the lens I need to understand the factors influencing each young person’s performance as a student or worker, and address the underlying skills deficits - something that fits in well with Dismantle’s strengths-based and person-centred approach. Our team is great at disseminating these issues, and is nimble enough to trial new approaches — a process that is as humbling as it is enjoyable. My experience of the NFP sector is that we balance our desire for excellence with an acceptance of our limitations. That sense of freedom and challenge is perhaps what has drawn me to, and kept me in, the sector. What do you feel is most needed to sustain and build the impact of the not-for-profit sector?
I think NFP employees and leaders should have the understanding of what it takes to thrive in a competitive, changing market, especially as demand for social procurement and the payment-on-outcomes approach to funding grows in the commercial and philanthropy world. NFPs will need to demonstrate not just innovation but also evidence their ‘real-world’ impact — something Australia is desperately behind on compared to equivalent European and US markets. What is something interesting / unique / unusual about you?
Dismantle uses bikes as our engagement tool with youth, so I’ve unsurprisingly come to love working on and riding bikes. There’s nothing as exciting as picking out a dusty old frame after work and re-vamping it into a trusty stump jumper, sleek racer or a single-speed town bike — an acquired joy that has become my escape after a big day of phone calls, team debriefs and Zoom meetings.
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