Manual of Me

My positionality

I'm Kate, a facilitator, researcher, and consultant with over 17 years of experience in community development. I'm a cis-gendered woman of Hungarian/Yugoslavian (Croatian) and Welsh/Scottish ancestry. I use she/her pronouns.

I was born on Tandanya, the traditional and unceded lands of Kaurna people, also known as Adelaide, South Australia, and now live on Kenbi, Larrakia (Gulumerridjin) Country at Wagait Beach, Northern Territory.

What I do and how I work

I work with communities, organisations, and government to strengthen how they work together, make decisions, and build their own capacity for change.

Some principles that guide how I work:

• Building genuine relationships: I focus on building trust. Lasting change happens through ongoing relationships, not quick fixes.

• Creating space and breathing room: I maintain room for focused thinking, creativity, and play. This extends to keeping my life uncluttered, allowing flexibility in my choices and contributions.

• Embracing different perspectives: I learn from people who think and work differently to me. Diverse perspectives strengthen what we can achieve together.

  Deep listening and dialogue: I care about how we gather. I create spaces for genuine listening and dialogue – sometimes inclusive, sometimes purposefully focused.

• Staying curious and learning: I approach my work and life with wonder, valuing curiosity and continuous learning. I'm energised by new ideas, practices, and perspectives.

• Understanding systems and connections: I'm interested in how broader structures and systems shape local realities and individual behaviour, and how change at different levels connects.

• Rest and reflection: I value slow productivity and believe that rest is constructive. Impactful work takes time and requires periods of reflection.

• Just, fair, and kind: These guide my interactions and the work I choose to take on.

My approach is not about solving or saving, but about listening with curiosity, creating space for honest conversations, and bringing a sense of play to serious matters.

My working preferences

These are the conditions that allow me to contribute my best work, and align with my values and interests:

• Working by invitation: I prefer to engage in projects through existing relationships or by invitation, so we start with a foundation of trust, alignment, and shared values.

• Long-term partnerships: I favour ongoing engagements over short-term contracts. This allows me to understand the nuances of your context, build trust, and contribute more effectively over time.

• Focused project load: I work on a small number of significant projects at a time. This means I can be more accessible to each partner and maintain high-quality work.

• Neurodiversity-affirming: As someone with Autism and ADHD (AuDHD), I work best with focused projects and dedicated blocks of time. This allows me to recognise patterns and bring new perspectives.

• Focus on Australia: While I'm open to international work, my primary focus is within Australia, particularly the Northern Territory and northern Australia. This is my home, and I want to contribute locally and be accountable to the region I live in.

Who I work with

I'm selective about partnerships; I prefer to work with people and organisations who value long-term engagement and are open to challenging conventional approaches.

My ideal collaborators:

• Care about the process as well as outcomes

• Are open to self-reflection and reconsidering their current practices

• Understand that issues are connected to broader systems

• Want inclusive decision-making that considers everyone affected

• Create healthy work environments that balance structure with flexibility

• Approach serious work with emotional intelligence, kindness, and humour

Given my focus on long-term engagement and the range of work I'm involved in, I'm often booked several months in advance. I appreciate patience in scheduling and will be transparent about my availability.

What I need to know from potential work partners

Before we commit to working together, I like to have one or two conversations to explore questions like the ones below. These aren't a checklist – just the kinds of things I find helpful to understand.

Based on our discussions, I'll provide a detailed proposal and quote.

Context and purpose

• What's your story, and what brings you to this work?

• What change are you trying to create, and why does it matter?

• What's the relevant history and context I should understand?

• What work has already been done, and what have you learned?

• What background information would help me understand your situation?

Roles and relationships

• What's your role and decision-making authority?

• Who are the key stakeholders and decision-makers?

• What relationship dynamics should I be aware of?

• Who else needs to be involved and why?

• What important conversations aren't happening yet?

Outcomes and success

• What specific outcomes are you hoping to achieve?

• What does success look like to different people involved?

• How can we build ongoing capability through this work?

• What would make this investment worthwhile for you?

Readiness and constraints

• What support exists for this work within your organisation or community?

• How ready are people for the changes you're proposing?

• What concerns, constraints, or sensitivities should we consider?

• What resources are available?

• What timeline factors should we plan around?

Our working relationship

• What specific capabilities do you need from me?

• What challenges are you hoping I can help address?

• What's your preferred way of working and communicating?

• How would you like to handle feedback and course corrections?

Availability and communication

Meetings: I'm generally available to meet Tuesday to Thursday, 10am – 3pm (ACDT). I appreciate at least 24 hours notice for meetings.

Phone/Text: For brief messages, please text me. For urgent requests or longer conversations, phone calls are welcome. If a call is likely to run longer than 10 minutes, let's schedule it in advance.

Collaborative platforms: For team and multi-stakeholder work, I prefer Slack. I also use WhatsApp for group messaging in some contexts. I monitor these platforms during working hours.

Email: I encourage email for most communications and generally respond within 2–3 working days. I follow the principles of The Email Charter, which means:

• I send and respond to emails when it suits me, and encourage others to do the same

• I don't expect immediate responses

• I'm comfortable with brief, to-the-point messages

Professional insurance

I hold public liability ($10M AUD) and professional indemnity ($20M AUD) insurance, both valid until July 2026.

Rates and engagement

I believe in the value of social change work and price my services fairly.

My hourly rate ranges from AU$110 to AU$250, depending on the nature of the work. In some cases, I offer reduced rates for long-term partnerships or community-controlled organisations. I have a minimum engagement of AU$1,000 (plus expenses), and I'm happy to provide customised cost estimates for specific projects.

Payments are accepted in AUD via BPAY, bank transfer, or credit card. I use HNRY for quoting, invoicing, expense tracking, and tax payments.

A note on pricing: As a sole trader, my rates reflect operating expenses: insurance, superannuation, licences, and general business overheads.

Money philosophy and practices

I believe our financial choices reflect our values. I’m committed to profit for purpose, building wealth sensibly, and redistributing income. My income is reinvested:

• 12.5% in Verve Super

• 10% in high-growth exchange-traded funds (ETHI and HACK) through Pearler

• 2% in First Nations Futures, an organisation advancing First Nations-led economic justice in Australia, redistributing all funds to community-driven initiatives

Credit

Emma Blomkamp and Lina Patel's 'Manual of Me' offered a blueprint for this section, inspiring both its structure and approach.

This was written with reference to:

• Conversations and discussion notes with trusted peers, including Bianca Anderson, May Miller-Dawkins, Emma Blomkamp and Lina Patel

• Peter Block's Flawless Consulting, recommended by colleague Lisa Ryan

• Transcripts capturing streams of thought recorded on SuperWhisper.

• Analysis of discussion notes and transcripts by AI — Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet

A note about this website

I've built this website using Squarespace, sourced graphics from CanvaPro, and reviewed the colour palette using GitHub Accessible Color Palette Builder. Where noted, I've used AI tools—specifically Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet and SuperWhisper.