5 Good reasons why you might struggle when you meet with Aboriginal people for the first time

The Aboriginal led CultuRecode Research Study - Restoring Collective Harmony Program

To highlight Instinctive inheritance, we focused on Colonialist heritage people as a comparative Belief System to Indigenous peoples. As an Aboriginal person who had worked in multiple positions and experiencing my large extended families Aboriginality each day. I was already clear we thought very differently to Colonial Heritage Australians. It became obvious that there is an urgent need for people as the first step to true empathy, to understand there are different Instinctive Belief Systems in play that are causing people to quit, hate their job, become depressed and give up on their dreams and aspirations.

We have identified multiple Belief System incentive reasonings that occurs between Collective Group Mindset people and Individual Group Mindset people when an action, proposal or decision is required. By isolating these reasonings we found;

1) Collective First Instinct Belief System members think entire group first and then themselves as part of their relationship and responsibilities to their Inner circle. (Are my group happy, so I can be happy?) (Are my group being looked after, so I can feel confident to have fulfilled my responsibility to my Inner circle?) Handed down for over 80 thousand years

2) Individual First Instinctive Belief System members think Individual first and then their relationship and responsibilities to their group. (Am I happy, so I can make my Inner circle happy?) (Am I being looked after, so I can feel confident to have fulfilled my responsibility to my Inner circle?) Handed down for over six thousand years.

For thousands of years’ Indigenous people have verbally problem solved in a group around the campfire – no matter how long it took to find a solution. In earlier times, hearing, observing, and memorising were important skills, since all aspects of Ancient Indigenous culture were transferred orally or through example. Storytelling, oratory, and experiential and observational learning are skills that have been perfected over thousands of years in Indigenous cultures.

This is a sample of our discoveries in the multiple meeting scenarios we ran with both Collective First and Individual First Mindset people.

1) Time is Non-linear and symbolic (Collaborative Group Learning)

Although astronomers don’t know exactly how planets are formed, we do know that that they take a few million years and that certain events have to occur for them to establish. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. Stemming from thousands of years of trust in not changing anything the Ancestors gifted to the landscapes. Even down to not moving a small rock because that is where the Ancestors believed that rock should be. Aboriginal people today take people/things/events as they come. Believing there are energies and forces at work controlling outcomes. Statements such as – “It will work out if it is meant to”, or “if the universe says so,” are commonly heard in most Aboriginal families. 

To predict how long each section of a project, session or workshop will take is difficult for a Collective Mindset first person to do. You are not respecting the process and seem to be taking the engagement journey and joy from the work according to the Collective First Mindset person. 

Linear time concept, that we can perceive says that time moves from past to present and present to future. So, future is basically a set of conditions that will be achieved relative to the present condition and similarly the past is the set of conditions that resulted in the present condition.

This means linear time does not allow for time to go back (negative time), it merely moves with the tick of the clock forever forward, relative to nothing.

 Time is an infinite line, and we are just at different points on it. Our perception of time only lets us “see” it as moving forward, but we can in theory move back and forth on this line

Now imagine a web. A group of infinite time lines. Running into and out of each other, in such a case time does not move with the tick of a clock but with the choice of path taken.

We are lesser beings unable to wrap our heads around the concept of time, so we try to “count” it giving it values of seconds, hours, and so on. This is Individual First Mindset people’s “illusion” of time.

If we were able to perceive it, I imagine it would be like we were “in” time rather than flowing with it.

Where we would be able to move along various “time spots” and past, future and even present would just be other “time spots”

According to Ancient Aboriginal Philosophy, a complete understanding of Non-linear time and the perception of it, will make us move with the universe, instead of trying to control the uncontrollable.

Aboriginal people moved between the same camps in the same seasons for thousands of years. Therefore they knew their country intimately. Critical to their survival was the knowledge of where water was located. Water holes therefore were a way to predict time (I am going to yellow billabong) and also a map to show locations (we are going to camp near red billabong)

 Most people in Australia look at the calendar or how hot or cold it is to know what weather season they are in. Indigenous peoples for thousands of years have looked at what the plants, weather, sky and animals all at the same time are doing and then estimate the weather that is coming.

Signs tell Ancient Australian people when a weather season is beginning or when a weather season is ending. Signs predict time.

 Most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Language groups had many more weather seasons than the people of modern Australia. Some groups had up to twelve weather seasonal changes they named, described and looked out for: Here is an example of just some of the seasonal signs followed by Indigenous Australians

Season before the wet

The weather is cool, and the stars shine brightly through clear skies while breasted wood swallows arrive, along with Magpie larks. The weather starts to get humid and hot. The rains are coming, hear the thunder.

Season of heavy rain

Everywhere plants are growing. The air is warm, and the rain makes the earth soft. There is no more thunder just heavy rain and strong winds. The huge flocks of birds come to feast on the insects and the flowering trees.

The flowering season

This is the season of very little bush food. There are lots of flowers and plants, sunny days and cool breezes. The flies come out and only some food such as the bush potato and waterlilies can be eaten.

The fruiting season

This is the season of fruiting plants. Lots of animals come to feed on the new grass and the many insects. Aboriginal people feast on yams, native grapes and cocky apples.

The early dry season

Heavy rains and strong winds come from the southeast. This is harvest time. It is also when the fires are lit throughout the bush. The wild peach is ripe to eat and the mango trees flower. The women collect pandanus leaves which they strip and dye to weave into baskets.

The main dry season

This is when the Stringy bark tree flowers, snakes lay their eggs and all types of honey are found. It is time to burn the last of the grass and hunt goannas, wallabies and bandicoots. It is warm weather with clear nights.

2) Indirect communication (Negotiation Skills)

Have you ever watched the majestic Wedge Tailed Eagle glide around and around on the wind currents, watching patiently and respectfully for any prey that catches his attention? Do you remember feeling frustrated at how long he was taking? Ancient Aboriginal people and those cultures who are Collective First Mindset have inherited an instinct where you did not talk in a direct manner, you spoke around your intended topic, in case you embarrassed or shamed a person in your group. 

Collective First people have inherited a Belief system where everything is discussed. Because it was rude in ancient times and still now to pull another member of the group down (particularly in front of others to lose face and shame them) their communication is around the issue not straight at it. So, if you hear of how the Chinese businessmen need you to “read the air”, this is what that means. You must learn to read facial and non-verbal cues and notice subtle hints in the conversation to realise what is really going on in your meeting.

 3) Direct Charity (Spatial Learning)

The Sun In the duality of opposites that underlies much of Aboriginal belief, women are equated with light, life and wisdom, whereas men are equated with darkness, the shade, the night and death. So, the sun is almost always considered to be female, and thus is connected with light, warmth and the giver of life.  In Aboriginal groupings if people who are considered within your grouping (In-Group family which is a modern version of the Skin Family Grouping) need assistance then they get it or at least are supported to get the help they need. It might take a great deal of effort and time to research or make some calls or ask around, but it is what our instinctive mindset tells us is the right thing to do. Ancient Aboriginal people undertook the philosophy of Mutualism, where you do for them and they do for you. In early Aboriginal Skin Families, if someone asked you for a favour, it was law to give it. It was also law for the person who received the favour to return it otherwise it was now the responsibility of the person’s family to do it

 A constant clash of Instinctive difference that occurs between Collective First Indigenous cultures and the more Individual First Australian Colonist cultures is in the area of relationship boundaries.

Many Individual focused people have many boxes for different relationships – there are work, social, sporting, family, friends and romantic relationships. The Individual focused people seem to be able to move in and out of those relationships with comparative ease and are comfortable with their boxes, which of course change over time. For each of these relationship boxes there are rules and boundaries. You do not as a rule talk too much about your personal life to work colleagues and they are not usually included in your family events for example.

Collective Mindset (Indigenous) people usually only know one type of relationship. You are my friend and immediately part of my family! This is not overstating how Collective Mindset people relate at all. If you become part of their relationship pool (at work, sport, or in social settings etc.) then it is accepted that you are now privy to family information, community information, history & cultural information and you will be invited to many family and community events and there are very few rules or boundaries in place.

This Instinctive cultural difference can of course cause much discord and misjudgement especially when communicating, learning and each mindset trying to get their message clear. Consider a work situation where a Collective Mindset worker talks openly about his personal life (believing that you are part of his group/family now) to an Individual Mindset Colonial Australian. It is a recipe for both good kind people to feel completely offended or at least quite awkward.

Aboriginal culture is based on social relationships and mutual obligation. People are seen as belonging to their family and tribal group/clan as well as their traditional lands.

When they meet, Aboriginal people will nearly always ask, “Who’s your mob?” or “where you from?” This stems from in Ancient times when you had to know your relationship to this person for the following reasons;

How are they related to you?

Whether you can marry them

Very importantly whether talking to them is taboo – mother in law etc

shame or embarrass the other person. You have to gently gain trust and then allow if possible, the other person to ask, by indirectly hinting what you need.

Many people shared with our team they have experienced meetings when - no matter how hard you try you feel like you cannot get it right. I sure have and by the way that was the most common feeling that continuously came up by both Instinctive Belief System’s in our study.

Our hope is that people can see from this one scenario (and we have many, many more) once we learn how to identify each other’s Instinctive needs, then we can adjust how we engage, present or communicate information to achieve collaborative greatness. The walls will come down.

 4) Pragmatic (Mistakes are positive)

The practical Mallee Fowl is an amazing bird who only uses his ability to fly to avoid danger. The Mallee Fowl mother will eat extra nutrients before laying an egg and will vary the number of eggs according to the conditions, such as rainfall and the length and timing of the previous summer.  Ancient Aboriginal people and those cultures who are Collective First Mindset have inherited an instinct where work was always directed to a distinct purpose and is done when it needed to be done just like mother Mallee Fowl. The non materialistic orientation of many

Aboriginal people is one outcome of this value. Only that which is actually needed is accumulated through work

 Aboriginal people in ancient times, work was always directed to a distinct purpose and is done when it needed to be done. The nonmaterialistic orientation of many Aboriginal people is one outcome of this value. Only that which is actually needed is accumulated through work. Ancient Aboriginal people tended to be practical minded. Many Aboriginal people have less difficulty comprehending educational materials and approaches that are concrete or experiential rather than abstract and theoretical.

As an example of practicality, Ancient Aboriginal people systematically use/d fire to burn off areas to promote new plant growth. This new growth attracted animals that could be hunted or trapped for food. Smoky fires were also used to attract birds of prey and to conceal hunters.

Full use was made of natural resources to produce whatever possessions were needed. String, cord and hair were woven into nets, baskets, mats and fishing lines.

Wood and bark were used to make dishes, shields, spears, and boomerangs, to make dugout canoes, and other types of watercraft, such as rafts.

 5) Collective First Trust (Relationship skill building)

The Ring-Tailed Possum waits for the right signs and trusts his instincts to know he can trust another completely. Consistency and patience are some of those signals that the reserved Possum looks for in any relationship. In ancient times, you were educated from birth that you must trust always your Skin Family group, as they would ensure your very survival.  Your role in the group was to live by the laws, follow the protocols and undertake the Rituals and ceremonies so everyone could live in harmony. So, trust at the outset is the instinct of the Collective First Mindset people, then to observe if there is a commitment by any new people (outside their Inner Circle) to the collective.

When you try to build a relationship with a Collective First Mindset person via impersonal means such as a phone or email, they cannot build trust with you. Face to face is paramount so they can watch your non-verbal cues to see if you are genuine or not. Skype works as a great backup. Trust was also questioned as to why Individual First Mindset people need the outcomes first. It seemed to Collective First Mindset people that the Individual Fist Mindset societies do not trust the Collective First Mindset person’s story or work. Effective trust committed to the group is key to any working or collaborative relationship with Collective First Mindset people it trumps money, position, image or success.

According to the participants in our study;

What is most Collective First Mindset Relationship rules and boundaries of engagement in a work situation?

Mutualism in action – if you do a favour for me I do for you - vice versa

Don’t ask directly for things – hints and indirectness to not shame a person

Give to others directly if they need help

Listen while others discuss their problems until they have a resolution (not solve or edit)

Promote extended family members (their in-group) in their work (get a family member a job, call a character in a book after someone, use the artwork of family/friends etc.)

Talk using mostly “We” or “our”

Reveal information about knowledge, strategies and opportunities (sometimes to their detriment, in that other people will benefit before them)

Constantly look for opportunities to make people in their Inner circle or extended family happy (see a good opportunity, contract, rental place, gift, good deal etc.)

Put the needs of their In-Group ahead of their own. So do not promote themselves openly

Accept things/people as they are (no modifications, adjustment, airs and graces or change needed) Not impressed with qualifications – experience and knowledge only

Equal minded – not influenced by hierarchy or positions – everyone’s opinion equally important

 What is most Individual First Mindset Relationship rules and boundaries of engagement in a work situation?

Keep conversation impersonal to not invade other people’s personal space

Get to the point quickly to be respectful of others time

Encourage people to speak their mind and be direct

Talk in the “I” or “My”

So, they are better placed to help their family/country/community, Individual First Mindset people need to put the needs of themselves first,

Support & encourage other people to improve themselves

Start on time and finish on time

Solve workplace problems for others (great editors)

Show outcomes up first when presenting/sharing information so there are no surprises or shocks to embarrass people

Happy to share specific knowledge and skills with others

 Contact us to develop and expand your staff's cross mindset communication and collaboration skills in our face to face Collective First Engagement training