Navigating complexity: in conversation with Tim Muirhead
At our Janali & Co. company launch event last month, we had the privilege of hosting our long-time friend, community development collaborator, and mentor, Tim Muirhead.
As Tim transitions into retirement, we were honoured to celebrate his remarkable contributions to the community development sector through a thought-provoking fireside chat. During the conversation, Tim reflected on his 42 years of practice, sharing his experiences, challenges, lessons, and hopes for the future.
His insights left a profound impact on everyone in the room. For those who couldn’t join us, we’ve captured the conversation in its entirety here. We hope you find inspiration in Tim’s reflections, just as we did.
Sarah: Tim firstly I just want to say thank you for your contribution to the sector. Tim is someone that many of you have worked with. My first introduction to Tim was reading your book Weaving Tapestries in my Masters Community Development unit back in 2007. Then we worked together on quite a few projects at the City of Stirling and then at the City of Canning as well. I learnt so much from you along the way. I remember introducing you once to my team at Stirling as a ‘guru’ and I got told off by you because in community development—the success of your work is really determined by the extent to which you know that you don’t know everything. That’s just one of the many things I’ve leant from you.
Tonight Tim I have a few questions that I’d love you to reflect on.
Firstly, what aspects of your work in community development have brought you the most joy and fulfilment over the years?
Tim: It’s been 42 years, so it’s hard to talk about specifics, but I was thinking about this beforehand. I have always been fascinated by exploring how we can best be human together. And community development is basically all about that; being human, together. How can we best be human together? How can we support others to be human together? A number of conversations I’ve just had tonight have highlighted the privilege of being engaged in this work; it puts you in the middle of conversations about that question. That can be fantastic, and incredibly confusing! One of the things that we need to get used to in working in community is that it’s inevitably confusing! This is particularly true for a culture like the one that’s formed me (individualistic, non-Aboriginal, white Australian). ‘Community’ isn’t really a natural entity like it is for other cultures that live and breathe it.
Another part I’ve enjoyed is those little ‘frameworks’ I’ve developed over the years, to try and help me and others make sense of this confusing work of being human together. There was a moment, at least 30 years ago when I decided that in everything I do I want to be involved in developing spirit, in unwrapping the human spirit and allowing people to fully breathe their spirit. That for me has provided this really clear focus that defines my approach to community development. (Somebody was just telling me a few minutes ago that she found that concept – when I introduced it in a University lecture some years back—immensely clarifying—a focussing point for what matters. I like that 😊.)
Sarah: A lot of the work that we, I, did in local government involved working with others to navigate complexity. That’s one of the exciting parts of community development, those of you who work in the space will know that some of those complex dynamics can be really tough to navigate in community, but it is also really rewarding when you can sit back and look at how maybe you have developed relationships over time and gone from a point of things feeling messy and complex to things maybe working a bit better together.
Tim: Yes. Because community is a world where we can join around the stuff we don’t know and we learn from each other in that. In my first two years in London working in community development I was utterly confused the whole time. Since then I’ve been trying to make sense of it but not a assume I know it.
Sarah: I think that’s what I love about working in intercultural contexts—that opportunity to learn more about difference and get comfortable with the uncertainty of not knowing everything and to see that as your opportunity space; a place of learning.
What positive changes have you seen over your career as you reflect on community development and practice in WA?
Tim: For me a big part of it has been the mainstreaming of community development. When I first started working in community development it was sort of an ‘edgy’ thing. Early on I worked with what is now the WA Local Government Association (WALGA) as Director of Community Development; I really believed that local government should be the home of community development. But I quit after about ten months. I got out because there was such culture clash between me and them, and I left in a huff. (That’s why I became a consultant actually; because I was so unhappy in that work.) Then Michelle McKenzie took over my role and hung in there and transformed things. I watched local government and community development transform. I can’t take any credit for it, but it has really warmed me to see how much it’s been mainstreamed. And I learned, from that experience that a) you need to find your allies and work with them and b) change can happen if you persist with confidence. Michelle and so many others did that, and I’ve taken those lessons to heart.
Back to that work of being human together… I’ve obviously loved the work with Danny Ford and Kim Bridge and many other Aboriginal colleagues which has focussed on how we be human together as Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. This has been an eye opening part of my journey and my work. And many people have joined that challenge. One of things that pushed me to retirement was that I went to a conference session about partnership between local government and Aboriginal people and I heard these amazing talks by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people and I thought “I’ve got nothing to add”. So for me I walk away with a real confidence that community development, and reconciliation, is an ongoing part of our language and our work and lets never stop being confused but let’s celebrate that and continue to walk forward.
Sarah: I find the use of the term ‘place-based’ really interesting at the moment. It seems to be the latest buzz phrase, and when you unpack it, it really is community development in place. There are a lot of big organisations talking about being place based and when I reflect on that term, I think—well that’s what I did (and I can see those of you who work in local government smiling) and what we have done in local government for the last twenty years, we just didn’t have a word for it. So that is an iteration of the practice, an example of mainstreaming you could say. So yes I agree, having worked in local government 15 years it feels as though capability has really built around community led practice and if you don’t work in that way now you’re not really in line with mainstream practice. I reflect on the fact that it is people like yourself who have invested a lot of time in building knowledge and skills in the sector; in sharing knowledge and training that have contributed to that.
Thinking about us (Janali & Co.) starting out on this journey what were some of the challenges and frustrating points for you, and how did you work through those.
Tim: I think a number of people in this room would share the frustration that community development is often seen as just a ‘feel good’ thing on the side, or a place where you put the stuff that you don’t know where to fit. That was frustrating for me because I increasingly formed the view that community development is at the core of well-being. The evidence is in, that connection and belonging are profoundly important to human well-being. Yet we have a culture that keeps breaking connection and belonging—through our politics and governance, and through our profit-focussed (rather than human-focussed) values—and then says, ‘ooo quick let’s put in crisis services to fix things’. We need a culture that is genuinely about connection and belonging. If we are serious about human well being then we really should be putting community development at the core.
Sarah: There’s lots of important things I’ve learnt from you on my journey. One thing, I remember is you telling me ‘Sarah, you need to focus on the people that are there and that want to be on this journey. There will be people that don’t get it or aren’t vested in it, don’t focus on them for now, because they’ll probably come along somewhere along the way. Focus your energy on the people that are there, that are engaged, that are willing.’
Tim: Yeah, for me that has been one of the key lessons. Step 1… find your allies, rather than obsessing over the ‘enemies’. When I first worked in community development, I was working with Travellers, (sometimes called Gypsies), in London who were living on a terrible terrible site. We took the Secretary of State and the local council to court, (over their living conditions) and we won!! But nothing changed. Years later I met a bloke here in Perth who used to work in that local council. He said ‘we really really wanted to work with you guys to support the Travellers, but we weren’t allowed to because you were taking us to court”. Reflecting back, I went in saying ‘you’re the enemy’, instead of seeking out like minded people within the council. It was a really important lesson. Find your allies instead.
Sarah: Since leaving the City of Canning in 2022 I haven’t done any proactive marketing of the business till today, see – banner (points)! The team was so impressed that we actually had a banner😊. I’ve had a lot of people come to me, people who share my values and want to work with me because there’s that alignment. I feel like that’s a nice way of working. We’re fostering relationships where there is a mutual goal and an appreciation for the power of community to drive positive change, as opposed to pushing uphill, which is maybe what we should be doing too.
Tim: And you’re very, very good at that Sarah! In my work in reconciliation we used to say ‘we’re not trying to get people interested, we’re trying to get interested people active’. So lets go out, find the people who are interested in this, and let’s get active. That’s not preaching to the converted, it’s activating the converted. We’re bringing tools and equipment to the converted.
(Now don’t mention the referendum. It was really crushing that that didn’t work; that good community development practice can be so undermined by misinformation.)
Sarah: You’ve talked a bit about what you’ve learnt, now I’d love to hear your hopes for the future of community development and perhaps some reflections on the role you see yourself playing in that. You’re stepping back from full time consulting work and retiring, but knowing you, I’m sure there are ways that you are wanting to contribute as you follow your own path. You’ve talked a little bit about mentoring …
Tim: Well, not to put pressure on the people in this room, but I am troubled about the future. We have a really really weird time coming up and maybe the only thing that can hold us together through that is each other. We have this toxic mix: an obsession with profit; populist politicians who weaponise fear; an online barrage of misinformation and dramatic changes like A.I. and, of course, the impacts of climate change. It’s going to be a difficult time. So I guess I’d like us in the community development sector to take our role seriously; to look at all this with a fresh set of eyes. Maybe we can build and bring the lifeboats that will carry us, together, through this stormy time ahead.
In terms of my place: a young Noongar bloke said to me “when I’m with my own mob I feel like I’m with people; when I’m with Wadjellas I sometimes feel like I’m with robots.” I said to him “yeah, and being a robot sux; it really hurts.” Maybe with AI coming, we can leave the robot work to AI because for me, a big part of this community development work, at least in my culture, has been about rehumanising: rehumanising practice, rehumanising policies, rehumanising culture. So I’m thinking what my part could be…. I want to be an advocate for the soul. I want to be an advocate for our humanity and to keep saying ‘being human matters. Paying attention to each other really really matters’, much more than the programs and efficiencies and so on and so forth. So I think I’ll be sending little ideas from the side about human spirit and human being.
Sarah: On behalf of those of us who have learnt so much from you over the years, I’m really looking forward to learning more from you in whatever form it is you choose to share and just really thank you for your contribution to the sector and for the support that you’ve given me as a mentor.
