The winner of the Rural Women’s Award for New South Wales, Pip Job, is on a mission to help primary producers stop fearing change. But don’t worry – she’ll do it gently.
Story By Ken Eastwood
Pip Job doesn’t fear change. In fact, she relishes it. When the beef producer became chief executive officer for the local Little River Landcare Group, in central New South Wales, she threw out the old model of committee by representation and election, and instead selected a team based on the skills they had – in accounting, management, human resources and marketing.
“You can’t beat a skills-based committee – it’s a no-brainer,” Pip says. “If community groups are going to adapt to the modern world, they’ve got to start adopting that professional thinking.”
The Little River Landcare Group is now known as one of the most successful groups of its kind in the country, and Pip, 35, is often asked to speak about its success. “We’ve got a 78 percent engagement rate within our catchment,” she says. “Most organisations cannot boast that. We have membership of 490 individuals and 180 farming businesses. A lot of people watch our space and ask, ‘How do you do that?’ It purely and simply comes down to honesty and trust. Our people trust us. We don’t ram stuff down their throats.”
This Story is from Issue #95
Outback Magazine: June/July 2014
