Bundyi Girri for Business

The design methodology of Bundyi Girri originated through a series of Australian Research Council funded nation building activities, internationally and throughout Australia, conducted by Wiradjuri man Professor Mark McMillan, Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor of Indigenous Education and Engagement and Peter West, Bundyi Girri Lead and PHD Candidate in the School of Design.

Bundyi Girri for Business is based on the core findings of an ongoing strategic change initiative at RMIT University, on the unceded lands of eastern Kulin. We begin by supporting non-Indigenous people into understanding their relationship to Indigenous sovereignty and invite each business to co-design their ecology of change.

As the Bundyi Girri for Business team started working with individuals, their ideas of what they could contribute to Reconciliation started to mature. As they shared and innovated together, they suggested new ways of describing how and where they conduct their business, they started to reposition learned frameworks and assumptions. These matured brand narratives acknowledge the relationship to First Nations peoples and an ongoing brand value commitment.

This is a world first. Bundyi Girri for Business is intentionally designed to relieve the identified burden of Reconciliation from Indigenous peoples, whilst enriching the mindset, skills and capabilities of non-Indigenous people.

RMIT University partnered with Public Journal to develop a comprehensive pilot program that captured ground-breaking commercial data of the landscape of Australian business in response to Reconciliation. This has led to evidenced impact on the non-Indigenous lens and activity of business and offers significant pathways for reimagining ways organisations see themselves in relation to more than 350 Indigenous Nations and language groups across Australia.

Bundyi Girri for Business offers partners a model to support ongoing transformation of the organisation’s brand narrative and supports the role and function of employees through governance inquiry and integrated co-design methodologies.

Bundyi Girri for Business is designed to transform systems and governance structures of organisations; offering a shared commitment to Reconciliation. The program design encourages iterative and ongoing change; ensuring impactful Reconciliation initiatives that attach to the unique brand values and business metrics of partnering organisations. We develop capacity in all key staff, ensuring that Reconciliation is understood as a shared future vision and a core brand value.

Mechanisms within the program prompt ongoing change, continually advancing brand narrative and market positioning; to ensure talent retention and acquisition through the signalling of like values to the future workforce.

As part of the program content design, a partnership was formed between RMIT University and SBS; providing credible evidence of the need for transformation of business in response to Indigenous peoples and Country.

The program develops capacities to signal the relationship to First Nations internationally; transferable in global contexts.

Research based diagnostics tools enable the customisation of modular programs, consisting of an iterative library of face-to-face sessions, online activities and co-design workshops at staff and leadership levels.