Indigenous Deep Listening Project

Supporting community and improving safety

Silcar is proud to be the major sponsor of the Indigenous Deep Listening Project. We recognise that Australia’s first people have knowledge and understanding that can benefit us all and we seek to support that culture and to learn from it.

As well as supporting the group of indigenous researchers to produce a series of creative events, Silcar has explored the organisational benefits of Deep Listening with them. The ‘mindfulness’ generated by Deep Listening has helped us develop a more reliable safety culture and helped improve our safety performance.

As our former CEO Bernie Cooper explains, ‘This concept of Deep Listening has touched us deeply at Silcar. It gets through to even the most hard headed of our people who spend their working days in the tough industrial world. They recognise in the wisdom of Deep Listening the quiet, intuitive competence of an advanced organisation leader.’

An innovative partnership:

The project is a unique four-way partnership between RMIT, the Koori Cohort, the Koorie Heritage trust and Silcar, generating mutual understanding, respect and creativity.

The Koori Cohort, formed within RMIT University in 2004, supports a group of gifted and respected indigenous leaders to undertake research degrees at the Masters and Doctoral levels. In 2009 Monash University also established a Koori Cohort and formed an alliance with RMIT. There are now more than 30 students at both universities: elders, artists, musicians and educators. The practice of Deep Listening’ underpins the research methodology of many of the students.

Silcar’s sponsorship since 2008 has enabled this group of indigenous post-graduate students to communicate the outcomes of their research to the indigenous community and the public in creative and engaging ways.
Through art exhibitions and live music performances, cultural exchanges and deep listening circles, the project has shared indigenous knowledge systems, histories and cultures. A cross-cultural exchange program with First Nations People of Canada presented exhibitions and performances from the project at the Banff Centre in Canada.

Outcomes to be proud of:

The project has become recognised internationally as a new model of partnership between industry and education sectors. Developing an excellent reputation within the Victorian and wider indigenous community, it demonstrates how formal higher education can empower indigenous people to reclaim, revitalise and celebrate indigenous culture.

An independent review panel found that ‘through its creative practices and their recording the Koori Cohort has made a significant contribution to the resurgence of south-east Australian Aboriginal culture.’ Silcar is proud to have been able to make a meaningful contribution to the communities in which it works.

Silcar and our partners in this project are pleased to be able to display the AbaF (Australia Business Arts Foundation) Awards ‘Good Practice’ symbol representing our recognition at the 2009 and 2010 Victorian AbaF awards. These awards honour the best relationships between business and the arts in the areas of partnering, volunteering and giving.

In addition, Silcar’s safety performance has significantly improved during this period. In conjunction with other initiatives, the Deep Listening project has brought new insights and approaches to the concepts of awareness and mindfulness which underpin Silcar's workplace health and safety commitments.

An enhanced safety culture

The safety of people at our workplaces is the primary consideration in all that Silcar does.

We are working to apply our learning from Deep Listening to become a ‘High Reliability Organisation’ – one that works safely in a complex, high risk environment. High Reliability Organisations demonstrate a ‘mindfulness’ that enables them to discover and correct errors before they escalate into crises.

This project has focused our attention on our development as individuals in the workplace, on safety mindfulness and on empowering our organisation through cultural development.