Getting a grip on things

So it’s back down to earth with a thump today.

I may have survived the saltwater crocodile sighting, the freshwater crocodiles in the lake, being nibbled by fish in a natural waterhole, getting sunburnt despite every best effort not to, camping, camp food, snakes, learning how to drive a 4WD without killing myself (or my passengers), the Kununurra Coles, the tropical strength mosquitoes, the blistering sun, and the army of crickets at the caravan park we're staying in – but now the rubber's really hitting the road.

Let me go back a bit. You might be wondering exactly what I’m here to work on.

In a nutshell, I’ve been asked to scope out a pan-regional leadership strategy to catalyse change across the East Kimberley.

 … sound difficult? It is! And it’s even harder than you might think!

As part of my work I need to take into account a range of complex and often conflicting factors around the social and political frame both here and nationally, concepts of leadership, avenues for support for emerging/existing leaders and the cultural sensitivities and pressures they experience; not to mention a whole other bunch of things like the historical and social context; endemic and systemic problems like grog and substance abuse, minimal education, entrenched apathy, and social dysfunction

That is a lot to take in.

To help, I’ve arranged a bunch of meetings for tomorrow so that I can get a handle on the local perspective, and hear from some local leaders about their experiences and ideas.

Then with any luck, all of that info will slosh around inside my head over the weekend (while I’m taking in some of the local scenery) and provide me with a bit more clarity, so that I can actually start the hard yards of drafting up a scoping document.

Fingers crossed.