ACOSS National Conference Report by Ted Nabung

ACOSS logo2Ted Nabung, CEO Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Community College, attended the national conference of the Australian Council for Social Service (ACOSS), held in Sydney on 17-18 November 2016.  Here he reports on the talk Burkhard Gnärig, Executive Director of the Berlin-based International Centre for Civil Society.  Speaking about Disruption and Transformation, Burkhard warned that all that not-for-profit (NFP) organisations should assume that a “Global Financial Crisis” is just around the corner.

Hence organisations need to be prepared and positioned accordingly to withstand such a severe recession.  He emphasised the importance to ACT BIG – an acronym for:

A = Alliances, good corporate citizens
C = Culture of organisations to be more dynamic, the need to adapt and change
T = Transparency within organisations
B = Business models that have good balance, ie 70-80% of revenue in one source is dangerous
I = Identity of organisation that become platforms and less boxed in (internal looking)
G = Governance, must approve sound strategy and direction.

In addition, Burkhard thinks organisations must be transformative for change, meaning to:

  • Look to the outside – what is the world/environment indicating and/or trending? Not inwardly looking
  • Look to the future – change to be fit for the future
  • Foster creativity and innovation
  • Lead by vision and mission for a better world – be true to the organisation’s mission