In the offices of the Cape York Partnership hangs a photograph. It captures the moment in November 1990 that First Nations people from across Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula united to shape the future of their land of their land.
This landmark event evolved into annual summits that allowed Cape York’s residents to voice their hopes, dreams, and expectations for the future of their communities.
In time, these summits gave rise to the Cape York Partnership, a not-for-profit organisation that works with First Nations families and communities in the region so that they can live valuable and prosperous lives.
Fiona Jose, CEO of the Cape York Partnership, explains that the organisation’s mission is ‘to build up the capability of individuals and their families’. Fiona and her team believe that capability – whether educational attainment, the opportunity to work, or the ability to manage personal finances, for example – is inextricably linked to freedom.
Delivering on the priorities of Cape York’s people
The Cape York Partnership comprises ten entities delivering cradle-to-old-age support services, education, and career opportunities. These entities include a civil construction contractor, a think tank, educational institutions, and an employment agency, all focused on the needs of the cape’s First Nations people.
True to its roots from a ground-up, citizen-led movement, the Cape York Partnership takes its direction from peninsula residents. As Rose Manzini, Managing Director of Cape York Solutions, explains, ‘The way that we're going to affect change is by listening to the people we serve’.
As the Cape York Partnership has grown, it has become a large and disparate organisation, something not helped by the fact that the communities it supports are in some of the most remote regions of Australia. This presents a challenge when it comes to coordinating different working groups and ensuring that everyone in the organisation pulls in the same direction.
Uniting a fragmented organisation
In 2022, McKinsey.org commenced a partnership with the Cape York Partnership to help it solve this challenge.
‘When we started this journey with McKinsey, I was upfront about the work it would involve,’ says Jose. ‘Some of the staff don't use technology. Literacy and numeracy can be a challenge. And we have about 50 different First Nations that work across the group. I knew we would have to lean in and do things differently.’
And that’s where McKinsey.org came in. Through its Ability to Execute (A2E) for Nonprofits, McKinsey.org worked hand-in-hand with the Cape York Partnership to build up the capabilities of its staff and meet people where they were, whether that was on Zoom or out in the field.
Delivered through workshops, behavioural assessments, peer coaching, and self-paced digital learning, the initial A2E project focused on equipping the organisation’s leadership with a set of skills and improved ways of working. Where digital learning was impossible due to technology or skills constraints, face-to-face teaching and hardcopy materials were used instead.
Putting culture at the heart of learning
CYP is now running McKinsey.org's A2E for Nonprofits program for a second time for an additional 40 employees from right across the partnership’s entities.
‘This time we are doing things a little differently,’ says Kate Lowe, Engagement Manager in McKinsey’s Melbourne office. ‘Our aim is to help the Cape York Partnership build up the capabilities of its people out in their communities, some of which are remote in the extreme. We are therefore looking to “train the trainers” by running the A2E program centrally in Cairns, for leaders to then disseminate the lessons in their communities.’
Working with Cape York Partnership’s delivery team, McKinsey.org has adapted the program to be grounded in the geography and culture of the land, and therefore even more impactful. Tyrone Bean, Kabi Kabi Traditional Owner and a proud descendant of the Wakka Wakka, Nughi of Moorgumpin and Bindal tribes in Queensland, spearheaded this work from the McKinsey’s Brisbane office.
Lowe explains the impact this work has had: ‘One of the things we teach in A2E is the “iceberg” model of understanding that people’s visible behaviours are just a small part of the person, with the things that drive behaviour often hidden beneath the surface. Of course, you don’t see that many icebergs in northeast Australia, so we switched to the analogy of a eucalyptus tree and its roots. This is just one example. We have tailored the content across the board to ensure relevance to the Cape York Partnership’s entities, employees, and the people it serves.’
A framework for common language
Already, the Cape York Partnership is benefiting from its new approach to leadership. The most important impact is that the not for profit now has a framework for a common language that can be understood and shared across its organisation. ‘We need every single division and entity to be talking to each other,’ says Manzini. ‘Interestingly, when you give them different language to speak around, there is something special about that. They suddenly forget that they are engaging around work, and they remember that they are engaging in something much bigger.”
However, the real benefit will come when the Cape York Partnership can cascade what it has leaned about leadership and put these lessons into the hands of citizens. As Jose puts it: ‘How do we share this with the 10,000 people in our region, not just the 300 in our organisation? I want my people to be up there doing this and taking this to Cape York.’
The photograph that hangs on the wall of the Cape York Partnership’s office talks of people coming together, a community tied to its land and culture, and one prepared to do everything necessary to safeguard its future. The Cape York Partnership embodies these same ideas. Working with McKinsey.org, it is further readying its organisation to make a difference in people’s lives, so that they can become the leaders of their own fates and live fulfilling lives.
Visit McKinsey.org for more information on A2E for Nonprofits.