The true story behind being a Mayor is rarely told, especially during an election campaign. But after 16 years on Shoalhaven Council, eight as Mayor, Amanda Findley has earned the right to speak with brutal honesty about the time, courage and in-depth understanding of community and government that a Mayor needs to survive, let alone lead a region to thrive.
Mayor Findley was elected as a councillor to Shoalhaven City Council in 2008 and then served two terms (or 8 years) as Shoalhaven Mayor. Her list of achievements is long, but the challenges were unprecedented with Findley charting new leadership territories through rolling crises of bushfires, COVID and floods - a tally of 15 official natural disasters in just the last five years.
"In the early days I used to deny that I was a politician," Mayor Findley said.
"I remember... saying there was no way I could put my hand up for the role – but in the end it was kinda like, well, put up or shut up.
"Over the years people have said why don’t you run as an independent – I don’t think people understand what it takes to run a campaign – especially compliance wise and besides just because a person labels themselves an independent – it doesn’t mean that their personal ideology is any different."
Mayor Findley said that lone ranger councillors "miss and need the solidarity of people coming together and working shoulder to shoulder to get outcomes."
"Because it's only when we work as a community that we get the very best for community."
And with that, we hand over to Mayor Amanda Findley for the final Spark Mayoralympics Q&A. For more of her unique and frank perspective, listen to this interview on the iHeart Shoalhaven podcast.
Mayor Findley asks:
There's a lot of campaign talk about teamwork and collaboration.
If the election delivers a result where all teams have one candidate elected in each ward plus you as Mayor, how are you best placed to talk/negotiate with other councillors to achieve outcomes?
Do you think it’s acceptable for a Mayor to publicly humiliate and talk down Shoalhaven City Council staff over performance?
Jemma Tribe
There are many reasons I chose to be an Independent and the major one is for this very reason; it affords the ability to work across party lines and collaborate with everyone. To assess issues based on merit and not a ‘party colour.’
Council is different to other levels of Government where there is a party in Opposition and one in Government and by nature that is adversarial. Council is structured more like a board where every member has a fiduciary responsibility, a vote/voice and a seat around the table for input/ideas. All are put there by the community.
Rarely if we start a job in a new team or become appointed to a board do we think to ourselves; ‘I definitely won’t work with those people, I’ll have to ignore them and then publicly humiliate them instead.’ Why should the Council be any different?
Imagine the outcomes for the community if a diverse group of people could genuinely debate issues openly, make amendments to accommodate issues that arise and hear each other out with respect.
Debating ideas and policy is one thing, belittling people and making things personal is completely different and completely inappropriate. Especially when it comes to Council staff who are there to do a job – steered by the strategic direction set by the elected body.
Setting the tone at the top and leading by example is critically important in this. I encourage everyone to look at the track record of those putting their hands up and seriously ask yourself if they have demonstrated the kind of leadership style/skills that are capable of this.
Kaye Gartner
If the Shoalhaven Community elects Kaye Gartner as Mayor and a Greens representative from each of the competing teams for Council, that will be a great result, bringing a generational change for Council and reflecting the diverse views in our community.
In an election, the competition overshadows collaboration, and that can sometimes lead to mistrust. As Mayor, I will look to refocus the new Council team by encouraging a culture of helping, where trust and support are the norm. It will be a big learning curve for many, so I will be focussed on how new Councillors support each other to work for the best outcomes for our varied community. My training in mindfulness and compassion practices will be useful in this work as it enables me to listen, to withhold judgement and to cultivate meaningful, collaborative relationships.
I also bring skills developed in 8 years of negotiating over diverse issues in the Greens. Strong working relationships amongst Greens candidates go back over many years and have been tested in the fires of hard decision making. I have training in conflict resolution skills and non-violent communication techniques which are invaluable when working in a new and diverse team. Even if they don’t represent most people, loud, extreme voices take up so much attention that others start to imagine everyone else must agree. As a result, many people who want to be collaborative wrongly assume their colleagues prefer to be competitive, which creates a toxic environment. I will get to know Councillors’ values and dispel negative assumptions to ensure that a collaborative mindset prevails on the team.
Finally, I will lead by example, demonstrating my trust in others and promoting and creating a supportive culture where everyone feels motivated and safe to represent their community and have their voice heard.
With these values and skills guiding my leadership, I will not publicly humiliate anybody, particularly not Shoalhaven City Council staff. This is not to abrogate the Mayor’s responsibility to manage risk. If employee performance needs to be addressed, then it is an industrial relations matter, and the CEO will be directed to attend to it. However, when we have award winning staff and award winning projects – as we do- this must be publicly acclaimed. Regularly. By all Councillors.
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