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..continued from page 21 The ADFA Scandal: lessons on leadership and ethics

by incantation’ is not in itself proper lives. Perhaps as a result of the Broderick parameters and success, while all the
leadership, but rather merely provides Review, I’ve become less interested in time paying little or no thought to the
a template upon which real leadership where our students are going to end damage caused to the institution by
can be judged. Real leadership requires up professionally. The reality is that in poor behaviour.
us to confront the truth, however Australia, most students in our colleges
uncomfortable, face to face and to will prosper economically as educational This leads me to my final thought. I
allow the weak to be protected by the advantage leads to professional success. used to think a lot about cultural values
strong. They must be allowed a voice Rather than where they are going to be, and the role of institutional narrative in
recognised as equally valuable to the instead, I’ve become more interested in shaping shared values. I still think that
strongest voice. who they are going to be. What values institutional narrative has an important
will inform their professional lives? Will role to play. Reflecting on ADFA
I believe that Elizabeth Broderick they stand by in the face of hypocrisy, though, I have tempered my focus on
did what she knew was right. She sexism, injustice? ‘shared values’ in my understanding of
enabled and ensured that those real institutional leadership. The Australian
conversations occured between those It seems to me that we rely too much military has rafts of statements about
with the most power, and those who upon careful ethical statements as a shared values – ADFA values, Army
felt the most vulnerable. This is real litmus test of cultural practice. Our values, Navy values, Air Force values,
leadership. And real leadership has a words hover above the darker realities Defence values. They’re all pretty good.
chance of inspiring others to lead the that sometimes undermine institutional But in the end, they’re just words – and
way in their own settings. culture and practice. They can be used they certainly don’t ensure a highly
to hide from or avoid the truth for some ethical or cultural standard. Rather,
Ethical leadership requires courage, and of those within our care. We who lead ethical leadership has to come through
without it nothing much will change. institutions oftentimes assume that the example of leaders engaging with
Liz Broderick showed me that good culture is relative static, can be read students, day after day, into the night,
leaders listen. They enable a range of and interpreted merely on the basis of in all manner of ways both formal and
voices to be heard. This requires time, ‘motherhood statements’, and that it informal. This leadership needs to be
and the ability to move carefully and follows ‘logical’ patterns. The reality is grounded in a deep respect for the
respectfully within a range of cultural that in contemporary Australia social and duty of care that comes in a residential,
settings, formal and informal. Liz personal assumptions are now so varied educational setting such as ADFA.
Broderick showed me that good leaders across the community that traditional Beyond the idea of shared values, I
engage with others, respectfully, with notions of ‘shared culture’ really don’t am increasingly interested in the idea
an eye to their different perspectives. reflect our reality any more. In addition, of ‘shared practices’, as these shared
They engage with everyone they can, students and staff are well able to use practices – from the top to the bottom,
whenever they can, to reach a deeper an appropriate ‘public’ or ‘institutional’ from the strongest to the weakest –
understanding of institutional culture language of culture and values – yet inform and build institutional culture.
and its potential. They understand that they can readily hold language this
everyone plays their part in institutional tension with a vastly different set of For any leader, personal example and
cultural settings. In our university assumptions and values around their engagement with all aspects of one’s
settings, and in particular in university personal conduct. At the same time, the institution must become central. It must
residences, the cultural practices are rise of social media means that there transcend any rhetoric. It is perhaps
influenced by everyone ranging from are fewer and fewer meaningful ways to the only plausible way of showing
the Deans of Faculty to the cleaners: in disconnect or dissociate what used to be leadership around ethical practices and
this setting, one might well ask, who is called ‘public’ and ‘private’ behaviour. values. Dissonance between stated
more engaged, and more powerful, in We are still struggling to catch on to this values, and practice on the ground,
determining the cultural outcomes? changed reality. merely feeds the sense of ‘disconnect’.
Whatever the size of your organisation,
So from leadership, to institutions. At the same time many institutions - whatever your role, whatever your
Australia’s residential university colleges including, sadly, the Church - have been influence, if you’re going to lead with
and the Australian Defence Force damaged, as a source of credible moral integrity, you need to be right in the
Academy are explicit in their claims to authority, through their own hypocrisy middle of these shared practices,
offer leadership to the young women in attempting to manage scandal showing the way.
and young men in their care. Of course while avoiding external interrogation.
the students themselves may not Unfortunately, in an age of lawyers and
feel powerful. They may not be able risk management, straight and honest
to relate this public rhetoric to their talk is often missing in institutional
personal behaviour and their personal narrative. We have to be brave,
experiences in their institutions. Often, and we have to be open to external
I hear people in positions of leadership interrogation of our culture. If we are
encouraging their students as ‘the worried about this honest talk, why are
leaders of tomorrow’, exhorting them we worried? I find it interesting that so
to aim high in their aspirations as they many institutions in Australia spend so
prepare themselves for their professional much time worrying about their financial

J anet Clarke Hall 29