Reaching the regions. Part TWO - making contact

So. You want to start working in the regions or enhance the potency of your current regionally based work.

You have considered the best places to plug in (if you haven't this guide will assist) and you're ready to kick things off.

Woah Nelly !! (slow down). There are a few things to consider before you catapult yourself into the bush.

1. Yes, your marketing strategy may point towards the vast territory of the regions, but do regional people want your service?
2. Is the bag of goodies you are offering fit for purpose? Or is it something was well received in your metro base and you only assume it will work where you are going?
3. And considering your response to question 2 - what informs that?
4. Do you know which regions would actually benefit through what you have to offer or are you just throwing the line out there and hoping for the best?
5. Are you prepared to do the time? Or are you just showing up, regurgitating your thing and then bailing out?

Consider this...

When you're working (or volunteering) in a public facing role being contacted to provide contacts, to share information, to promote programs and to plug gaps in your community is a daily activity. This escalates in regional communities because (a) they can be hard to get to and (b) they can be hard to engage.

More often than not this is work that's considered "off the desk" work. That is, the work you do when you're not getting your work done. Let me assure you that over time this wears you down.

While there is great logic in picking up the phone and contacting any one of the 'hubs' mentioned in Part ONE of this series (where to connect) it's not actually that simple.

Yes, you might strike it lucky. I rarely pick up numbers that are unknown to my phone, however if there's some bookkeeping or housework I'm needing to do you can rest assured this will be your lucky day. I'll speak with just about anyone as I procrastinate on the tasks I'd prefer to ignore. When does that happen? Your guess is as good as mine.

But the key to that is that it's my choice.

Over the years I've had many an opportunist barge through my office doors asking me to open up my address book and purge the contacts or, at the very least crow about their thing. This has happened both via a public facing role and in my own private business. Why? Because over time you just get to be known as that person who knows that place.

When I was a little younger I was polite about how I handled such requests. And I may have even bought into the sales pitch which focused on the paramount skills of the servicing entity and the lack of my poor regionally influenced peasant abilities.

I'm much more discerning these days.

Not only because I value my own time more, but also because I value my contacts and connections and capabilities and demonstrate this by allocating my time and networks with people and entities I feel I can trust.

While on rare occasions this may come quickly I can assure you it will never happen because someone demanded I assist. Call me impossible, judgie or unhelpful if you like - but if you are in my contact book I can assure you that you will only be getting linked with people I trust. I already know other regional connectors are nodding their heads in agreement over this one.

So, how can you fall into the good graces of a regional connector if you're an out-of-towner?

First, take some time to find out how you can contribute rather than what you can extract.

You may be offering up the best program the region has ever seen and while you may be convinced the community needs to indulge in your wares actually, maybe they don't. And, chances are you are funded by money the community would have liked to see spent IN their community, rather than adding another layer of capabilities they didn't actually need nor ask for.

To bridge this set your mindset to building something over a longer term, not just a wham-bam-thank you (or not) mam situation.

Some tips to build a collaborative over extractive partnership with a regional connector:

• Create a lead in time and make it months, not days
• Keep in mind there is a good chance these people are either funding their own way entirely or already spending double their work hours in external volunteer work. Respect that fact.
• Get yourself to the community and not just once. There's nothing quite as respected as someone who shows up
• Be useful. Do you have skills, resources, knowledge to share? So share it !
• Demonstrate your ability to collaborate. There are plenty of what we call "Johnny come lately's" in the queue well equipped with the toolkit of words, promises and sparkly rhetoric. Be prepared to sit back and chip in. It will be noted.
• Offer support to your local support person. In the regions and particularly in the human services sector decent professional support is very limited. Do you / does your organisation have a resource that can provide support from professional services through to mentoring / debriefing - share it ! That support will go a long way.
• Care. Do what you need to in order to demonstrate that (and not just be swamy, that will be noted, time and follow up will sort that one out)
• Prove yourself. There's a fine line between what regional folk call 'up yourself' and demonstrating the credentials you hold that enable trust. Gently find that line and prove your value to the community.

I've no doubt more could be added to this list. Please comment to add.

Why do I care?

Hi, I'm Kerry Grace. I'm a seventh generation regional Australian and have worked in community and economic development in regional Australian communities since 2004. In this time I've seen too many programs, initiatives and great ideas tank because the funding or the energy ran out. And I'm part of that clutter. The problem with this isn't only that our problems don't get solved - it's that our communities lose hope as they forget how to do and wait for the next person to come along and cast a lifeline. It's one thing to care, in theory about the people who are suffering in these communities. It's another to see them, and generations following fall foul to the same avoidable ailments.

In 2023 I departed the system as I knew it and started an event called Social Impact in the Regions with the goal of building the strengths of the people who are doing the strategic and front-end work in our regions. In 2024 this was amplified through the work of Ready Communities with my co-founder, Dr. Chad Renando.

In 2025 I will publish my first book, Spiraling Up. This book is a call to action and guide for the accidental leaders who are called to serve their regional community. The book explores three simple steps; understand what matters, come together and play with possibility.

For more information and to get in touch further information can be found here www.kerrygrace.com.au