Impact of deficit assumption on the tech world for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

​We believe that there is still so much more room for improvement for the technology sector to enhance its understanding and engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as consumers, influencers and allies of their respective products and services.
 
Interestingly, many people may read the opening point above who are critical or “sitting on the fence” in this space will say “Why do I need to enhance my understanding of Indigenous people?” The answer is actually quite simple: because most of you work in organisations and entities that have a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and/or are influenced by the Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP). And the result is that this benefits your business and all of the people within it, whether it is through revenue and profits or impact marketing. The history of the original people of this country is actually 60,000+ years old, so while we think it is important to teach ourselves and our kids the history of this country, it needs to be done properly. This means the actual history and not selective pieces of it.
 
With the ever-growing emergence of various types of technology that are increasingly impacting our lives, we are seeing a shift in the jobs of the future to be more centred around growing and servicing the evolution of technology. Combine this with:

• the movement of corporates, organisations and governments in Australia being active in hiring and/or procuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, services and products as a result of the government's Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP); and
• the subsequent uptake and commitment of Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs).

This spells a big opportunity for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike in relation to “Closing the gap”. These initiatives have seen the growth in the engagement of Indigenous people across many areas including employment and procurement. There have been many great outputs and outcomes as a result of these initiatives, but there has also been an increase in the challenges and problems associated with the growth of these related areas.
 
There is a perception that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have little experience in the tech space and subsequently this is translated into the way that people are employed in this space. A perfect example is of a story of a young Sydney-based Aboriginal man. This young man is a software developer and has experience working on the tools for several years, as well as being a leader in his team at the large company that he works for. Another global tech company (a household name) approached this young Aboriginal man a few years ago to see if he might be interested in a career opportunity. This young man was elated and jumped at the opportunity. As the conversations between the man and the company proceeded it very quickly became evident that they were wanting to engage him in a sales-based role and not in a more technical capacity. Growing his career in the technical side of things is where he wanted to go. As you can predict, this opportunity did not come to fruition as it was more of an opportunity for the tech corporate giant, than for the young Aboriginal man. This is just one of many stories which exemplifies what is taking place in the tech industry (among other industries) and their engagement with Indigenous people and the Indigenous business sector.
 
Now, to be clear, there are individuals/champions across the tech sector and working within large corporations and the government that do care about making an impact in the Indigenous space, however, they are repeatedly brought back into the corporate machine that governs their systems, processes and presence in the market. I absolutely get it, I am the cofounder of Ngakkan Nyaagu (NGNY), a tech business, and I am driven by improving the systems and processes that my team uses in order to make their lives easier so that they don’t have to carry as much “weight”. These tools and ways of working make their working days easier and more efficient. But more needs to be done to support these individuals in exploring, experimenting and nurturing opportunities to engage, work with and hire Indigenous people.
 
Another example is the engagement of my business (NGNY) to bid for tech software and web development project opportunities. We always welcome these opportunities and certainly are not pushing these away. However, we will be invited to bid for a project, then spend time responding to the bid and answering the requirements and then be told that we don’t have enough experience. So, why were we invited to bid in the first place? Oh, that’s right. A lot of the organisations that approach us are in some way governed and influenced by the IPP and are rewarded for demonstrating that they have engaged an Indigenous business in their tender or project response process. To then “rub salt into the wound”, we often see the outputs and results of these projects at their conclusion and are able to define that what was delivered is exactly within our capabilities. Let me be clear here, 99% of the time we lose projects to non-Indigenous entities with the same or similar capabilities and often they are incumbent partners. Again, I get it, there is security and efficiency in going with an organisation that you are already comfortable with, but this is a complete waste of our time and also counterproductive to the existence of the IPP and RAPs. 

​To further extend on this, we employ a set of processes and systems in NGNY which receive comments from organisations (big and small) engaged with us along the lines of how “amazing” and “easy” our processes and systems are to work with, and that they have “never worked with an organisation like ours that is as organised and transparent in the way we get work done”. My point is that, once given the opportunity, that we have been able to deliver in line and above the expectations of most of our clients and most other Indigenous organisations are the same.
 
Ultimately, there is a reservation and a deficit mindset when it comes to engaging Indigenous people and businesses for new opportunities and this perception of deficit needs addressing. These are a few ways to address the deficit mindset:

• Firstly, for business/procurement, look beyond IPP and RAP Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are tied to a 12-month fiscal or calendar cycle and consider sustainable impact and growth. Is this not what the IPP and RAPs are designed to do? You might then ask about the “capability” of Indigenous people and businesses. This is also a journey that we are on together and is not something that is simply resolved in a 12-month period. But if you also dig deep enough, you will find that capability actually already exists. Employers just need to consider and look harder. Here are some examples of how to address this:
  • Work with industry leaders like Supply Nation and the various state-based Indigenous Chambers of Commerce around the country to invest in capability building of the Indigenous business sector. To my earlier point, as most organizations have a RAP you actually benefit from having this (whether it is marketing or revenue based), this is an opportunity to contribute to actually making an impact and not just talking about it. 
• When hiring anybody, let alone an Indigenous person, do you think it is sustainable to hire someone in a specific job role that they don’t actually want, or are not the right fit for? Unfortunately, because of the growing demand to hire Indigenous people they are often placed into ”jobs” but not “careers”. What is the difference between these? A job is an output, it is a means to hire someone to fill a role and get paid for their time. A career, on the other hand, is an opportunity to work and grow with a goal to progress. It is more outcomes based and is a shared journey between employer and employee. So, when hiring for your business and you have an Indigenous employment KPI, look beyond the number and focus on the person. This is actually the basis of human-centred design and approaches which most tech (and other) companies promote themselves and live and breathe by, so if this is indeed the case then apply this to your hiring process, especially if you are hiring Indigenous people.
• If looking outside your 12-month KPI cycle is unrealistic as it relates to hiring Indigenous people, then think about your RAP KPI as having both outputs and outcomes mixed in, for example: 
  • This year I am going to hire 5x Indigenous people into software development- based roles (that is an output). 
  • This year I am going to progress the careers of the 5x Indigenous hires from last year based on the career roadmap established with each of these team members (this is progressing toward an outcome).
  • I am going to find out about the journeys that my Indigenous hires took to get here and see how I can invest in replicating these journeys i.e., scholarships and mentoring.

 
Making a shift in deficit thinking when it comes to Indigenous people in the tech sector is improving, as is evidenced by the growing number of Indigenous people in the sector. However, obvious deficit thinking and related behaviours still exist across the tech sector in Australia and these are still inhibiting the growth of Indigenous people in this space and the first way that we will start to overcome this is by calling it out and taking the appropriate action (yes, “action”, not just words), to reduce deficit thinking and deficit ways of doing.

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ABOUT:
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My name is Liam Ridgeway. I am a descendant of the Gumbaynggirr people with connections to the Dhungutti and Yuin nations (paternal) and the Wakka Wakka people (maternal). I am the cofounder of Ngakaan Nyaagu (NGNY) and Indigitek. I have worked in the tech industry for 14 years in the global corporate space and also as an entrepreneur.

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