Frequently asked questions.

Marina Bowshall, Chief Executive of Preventative Health SA, provides insights into the outcomes she saw when she gave her leadership team more autonomy as a result of a machinery of government change in this frequently asked question and shares how the polarity of responses from individuals was fascinating: Some found the changes exciting, while others recoiled.

Listen in as Sue McCarrey, CEO of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Authority (NOPSEMA), reflects that in life and in your career, you learn so much more from when things didn’t go the way you thought they would and how over time, that’s how you grow. Sue also stresses that it only becomes learning if you have someone to talk about it with, and that’s important advice for leaders in how they approach and support younger leaders today.

Sue McCarrey, CEO of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Authority (NOPSEMA), talks about how different groups of people in an organisation need to be treated and approached differently in considering new challenges and opportunities in their organisation. Sue explains that in addition to people who naturally love and are up for taking on new challenges, it’s important that leaders also recognise and encourage others who have the ability to take it on but may lack the confidence to think about giving opportunities a go before they’ve lost the chance to.

As a regulatory organisation, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Authority (NOPSEMA) is an independent, statutory decision-maker. And with that, it means that their decisions can be challenged in court. Sue McCarrey, CEO of NOPSEMA, talks about how leaders need to provide a safety net for their staff in this FAQ and how that’s about supporting them in challenges in court or day-to-day decisions, acknowledging that they are trying to do their job with the information they have, and if they had all the right reasons and intention, how it’s important to be a coach in helping them and the organisation learn from it so you don’t fall down that trap again.

Listen in as Sue McCarrey, CEO of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Authority (NOPSEMA), explains that as a regulator, one of the most important skills to do what you do is courage in this FAQ. Sue explains how it takes courage to make their decisions and approach their role and not to interfere where you don’t believe it’s your role to interfere.

Sue McCarrey, CEO of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Authority (NOPSEMA), provides the attributes she looks for, particularly in the leadership part of the organisation. These include the ability to be able to critically analyse issues that can be complex and good communication skills. Sue also distinguishes that being a good communicator isn’t just about being a good talker, it’s also about having the ability to listen, understand the world and context that they are working in, being respectful to others, and providing a safety net for their team so that they feel they are able to put ideas forward.

Sue McCarrey, CEO of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Authority (NOPSEMA), explains in this FAQ how she rarely looks at anything and says that it failed. Instead, she acknowledges that things didn’t go as expected or to plan but then focuses on who they need to work with and talk to, how she supports her team to take it to the next step, and how having that mindset and approach helps you achieve things.

Sue McCarrey, CEO of National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Authority (NOPSEMA), provides her perspectives on timing in this FAQ, and how often it comes down to the time potentially not being right for a project or plan to move forward, but it doesn’t mean that circumstances won’t change in the future when the need arises and you need to pull up that work and move forward.

Sue McCarrey, CEO of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Authority (NOPSEMA), provides an honest reflection from earlier in her career when she was younger and how, like many of us, she would often perceive things that didn’t go to plan or when things went wrong as failures and take them to heart. Sue shares that as time goes on and you build your experience in your career, you develop the ability to look at things more critically, observing what’s occurred and distinguishing if it was really a failure, if it was potentially inevitable, or if it’s something you can look at to see then the opportunity to do it differently in this FAQ.

In addition to the learning approach provided by the Australian Public Service Commission, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner is translating that into more of a formalised approach to embed capability development and support the value of learning and development in their organisation. In the mix, they are establishing cross-collaboration teams, cross-professional teams, and communities of practice to help fuel new ways of thinking, share expertise, and develop people. Lizz Tydd, Australian Information Commissioner, also provides an example of one initiative that they are working on in reviewing their publications informed by stakeholders in this FAQ.

As a values-led organisation, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, or OAIC, also attracts values-led people who care about the organisation's impact and are committed to preserving human rights. Liz Tydd, the Australian Information Commissioner, also shares that it's increasingly important for their organisation to build skills in regulatory craft and strategy, helping them to be agile and having people that want to grow and adapt and help others do the same. She also speaks on the value of curiosity in asking the how and the why questions to contribute to new thinking in the new environment. Liz also takes us through the four pillars the OAIC hopes to manifest in its culture and organisation in this FAQ.

Liz Tydd, the Australian Information Commissioner, explains how her organisation is really focused on ensuring that their deep expertise is applied throughout the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner in this FAQ. Liz describes how their organisation's effectiveness comes from knowing the environment they are regulating and taking swift action to preserve rights and maximise their impact and provides ways that they are supporting their staff with the tools and guidance they need to act confidently and consistently.  

Listen in as Liz Tydd, the Australian Information Commissioner, describes what success will look like for the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, or OAIC, in this FAQ, from an internal perspective for their workforce, from an industry and agency perspective, and importantly from the confidence of the community in their interactions with government and industry, knowing that their privacy and freedom of information rights are preserved.

Liz Tydd, the Australian Information Commissioner, shares the perspective of being a regulator in looking at the rapidly changing digital environment, nationally and globally, and how responding to that is driving the change and need for the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, or OAIC, to adopt and education and enforcement focus. Liz expands on this further in this FAQ.

As a regulator, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, or OAIC, has a unique vantage point from the top of the hill. They can look at all the sectors they regulate and then pull out common themes that inform their guidance. Liz Tydd, the Australian Information Commissioner, explains this further in this FAQ and provides a helpful starting point for how they work with their broader stakeholder ecosystem through a program of strategic engagement.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, or OAIC, is a knowledge-based environment, and therefore, it needs a structure and culture that supports knowledge development in its workforce. Liz Tydd, the Australian Information Commissioner, shares her perspectives on how the OAIC needs to openly share knowledge internally so that they can share knowledge externally in this FAQ, acknowledging the importance of data and structuring to support their data-driven organisation and the role that collegiality plays in supporting a more horizontal approach in their workforce, and in their relationships with domestic and international regulators too.  

Liz Tydd, the Australian Information Commissioner, shares her organisation's consolidated thinking in the AI space. In this FAQ, she outlines the eight key elements of a human-rights-centred approach to AI.

Liz Tydd, the Australian Information Commissioner, joins us in this FAQ to first inject an important word in a human-rights-centred approach to designing for trust. Liz explains how the community expects her organisation to uphold legislation and how they need to preserve their rights in the digital environment by examining the ever-changing regulatory environment and thinking about the risks that are being presented. Liz expands on this further using an example of supply chains.

Liz Tydd, the Australian Information Commissioner, in this FAQ, reviews the latest figures on data breaches from her organisation's recent report. She also explains how an additional dimension of misinformation can become an accepted truth in the audience's mind, highlighting how even the human brain is grappling to adjust to this very real and growing threat and its manifestations.

You don't always get to choose when your good idea can be implemented, especially in local government, where there may be other external constraints at any given time. David MacLennan, CEO of the City of Vincent in WA, provides a lesson he has learned throughout his public sector career, in that a good idea should stand alone, and you should never kill a good idea on the basis that it may not work now. His advice is to keep working on that idea, innovation, or reform which you think will add value to the organisation or community so it's ready to go when the time is right, and the door of opportunity opens for it to see the light and grow. Listen to his episode here

Even with extensive experience in various management and executive roles throughout his career, David MacLennan's first challenge as the new CEO of the City of Vincent in WA was to learn how to become comfortable in this role and to figure out what his priorities were and what to start working on from the infinite number of demands that CEO's have on their time. Listen to David explain this further in this FAQ. Listen to his episode here

Listen in as David MacLennan shares one of his proudest achievements over the past five years as CEO of the City of Vincent in WA in this FAQ. David talks about how he was keen right from the beginning to put in place a strategic planning program for each of the 14 areas that run distinct businesses within the organisation that aimed at improving their maturity in terms of service delivery and project management year-on-year and how through a self-assessment that rated the levels of maturity on a capability matrix enables teams to put in place short, medium and long-term business plans in a scaled way without going through painful change management processes. Listen to his episode, and read the full case study here

David MacLennan, CEO of the City of Vincent in WA, talks through how they have developed their organisational performance program in this FAQ. David describes how he has given extreme accountability for each of the fourteen business areas to self-manage and lead their own performance journey and how the cohort of managers has embraced this decentralised approach, which is done at a team level.  David shares the details of this program, and how he has set an organisation-wide goal for each team to work to a level of maturity of at least three, with one being adhoc to five being high-performing. Listen to his episode here

Listen in as David MacLennan, CEO of the City of Vincent in WA, shares his perspectives on the importance of continuing to talk with staff, getting their feedback, and figuring out the pain points regarding internal functions that can slow their work down. David shares how while they are on a path to improvement year after year and no organisation is perfect, by addressing the sources of most pain and inefficiency on a systematic process, things that were causing staff pain years ago when he first started have fallen off the list of things that needed to be addressed and how by staff continue to volunteer different things that need to be fixed is a good sign that they feel engaged, listened to, and can see how the organisation is responding to their needs and improving. Listen to his episode here

When David MacLennan started as a CEO for the City of Vincent, he received multiple lists from the council, mayor, and former mayor of externally focussed things to work on and improve. These included project management, community engagement, financial sustainability as an organisation, and dealing with aging assets. As many leaders would appreciate, you can't fix medium and long-term things in the short-term, so you need to set up a process of how you will improve as an organisation and have an agreed understanding of the issues you need to work on. Importantly, in tackling external problems, David also recognised the need to carve out enough time to work internally to improve the organisation's capability and performance all around. David shares his approach to doing this in this FAQ. Listen to his episode here

Listen as David MacLennan, Chief Executive Officer for the City of Vincent in WA, shares his perspectives on how budget constraints and limited resources can actually drive innovation and how that's certainly been the case for his organisation. David shares how these limitations can help staff stop doing things that are inefficient and ineffective and focus on reforming initiatives, and how by filling the gaps in internal governance functions like HR, finance, procurement, and technology support and deliver to people and their line function needs, it can improve the speed and performance of the organisation. Listen to his episode here

CEOs in local government act as the lynchpin between the council that they report upwards to and the organisation which they are responsible for leading, managing, and supporting. David MacLennan, CEO of the City of Vincent in WA, shares how the staff survey showed the pain points around systems, processes, policies, and procedures when he joined as CEO. He acknowledges that while you can't fix these overnight, he could help staff by determining what prickliness he could take out of the way in the short term to then set up systems and processes around how they could improve things over the longer term. Listen to his episode here

Mentors have made a huge difference in Sam Palmer's career personally, and she has also worked with teams to set up mentoring programs and to find mentors for others as well. Sam is the Secretary and Fellow of IPAA and current APS reviewer on the independent review of the Commonwealth Department of Education, on secondment from Austrade. Sam shares that, unlike supervisors, mentors don't have a responsibility to you, but they are a person you can talk with and play back what they have heard, ask questions, and make suggestions. Sam also provides a great metaphor for how champions in organisations are like elephants in this FAQ.  Listen to her full episode here

Listen in as Sam Palmer, Secretary and Fellow of IPAA and current APS reviewer on the independent review of the Commonwealth Department of Education, on secondment from Austrade, talks about a time in her career when she was on secondment to the Director General of a department in WA, and on her fourth day, joined an executive meeting when it was announced that one of the most senior staff was being arrested for corruption and fraud, and how they wanted Sam to take on that person's job and fix many of the problems across various areas of the organisation that had created the conditions for that person to steal millions of dollars. Sam reflects on how stressful that situation was and how important communication with staff was at that time, as staff need to know what is going on, why things are happening, and what they need to do. Listen to Sam's full episode her

Listen in as Sam Palmer, Secretary and Fellow of IPAA and current APS reviewer on the independent review of the Commonwealth Department of Education, on secondment from Austrade, shares how there can be different contexts to change in this FAQ. Sometimes, change can be unexpected, but at other times, you may seek it because you want to improve and achieve a better outcome. Regardless of the context or what’s driving change, learning is an inherent part of it, and you do have to stop, think about your options, and steer a path into the change that will be effective. Listen to Sam's full episode here

Listen in as Sam Palmer, Secretary and Fellow of IPAA and current APS reviewer on the independent review of the Commonwealth Department of Education, on secondment from Austrade, shares her perspectives from both sides of running HR teams and working with HR teams as an individual leader in this FAQ. Sam talks about how essential it is for leaders to work with HR in collaboration, understanding how they can support organisational strategy and support the HR team as an effective contributor, and how leaders need to do more than communicate the programs that HR is running to their teams, but also engaging with those programs directly, reflecting on that with their team, and feeding back into HR to enable change, growth and adjustments as well.  Listen to her episode here

Listen in as Sam Palmer, Secretary and Fellow of IPAA and current APS reviewer on the independent review of the Commonwealth Department of Education, on secondment from Austrade, shares more on why diversity and inclusion are so rewarding in this FAQ, not just from the human part, but the potential in making a real difference to an organisation. Sam shares an example from when she worked at the Department of Health and Ageing and how the Commissioner provided a new direction of using young people with an intellectual disability by removing some barriers to obtaining permanent employment through a different merit-based process. Sam reflects on how this group of people made such an amazing difference and had a positive influence everywhere they went in the department.  Listen to her episode here

Listen in as Sam Palmer, Secretary and Fellow of IPAA and current APS reviewer on the independent review of the Commonwealth Department of Education, on secondment from Austrade, reflects on how diversity and inclusion have been one of the most rewarding parts of her career, and shares some of the reasons why in this FAQ.  Sam talks about how so many amazing people in the community come from different areas and have different characteristics that are an untapped resource for employers. Sam also provides compelling statistics on how inclusive workplaces and employing people with a disability are better for wellbeing, performance, innovation, and business results overall. Listen to her episode here

No one-size-fits-all answer to this question exists, as all organisations are different. However, leaders ensure that at all levels of the organisation, it’s important to understand people’s motivations when you’re in the hiring frame, your needs, and the likely timeframe for that individual, and if that fits within your requirements. The second part is maintaining regular conversations about what your staff are seeking in their role, providing timely feedback, and having a broader discussion about what they are looking for. Listen in as Sam Palmer, Secretary and Fellow of IPAA and current APS reviewer on the independent review of the Commonwealth Department of Education, on secondment from Austrade, shares how important it is to give people the chance to grow and how as public sector leaders have an obligation to grow the skills across the public service, being realistic as their role as stewards in supporting people across their career. Listen to her episode here

Listen in as Sam Palmer, Secretary and Fellow of IPAA and current APS reviewer on the independent review of the Commonwealth Department of Education, on secondment from Austrade, shares how at Austrade, they have benefited from bringing other people into their division from different parts of the organisation, rather than always just having someone act up from underneath. It’s about finding the right balance for your organisation’s needs, but encouraging and providing movement across the branches, at level, can strengthen the organisation, build individual understanding, and fuel collaboration. Sam also explains that opening yourself up to other views and perspectives helps to achieve the best outcomes as it provides different ways of thinking about solving problems and addressing issues. Listen to her episode here

Listen in as Sam Palmer, Secretary and Fellow of IPAA and current APS reviewer on the independent review of the Commonwealth Department of Education, on secondment from Austrade, shares the value of taking up mobility opportunities and how in moving sidewards throughout her career into different roles and experiences, has assisted her to understand things from a different framing or mindset. Sam also provides specific examples of how she has used what she learned from these opportunities to test, trial, and adapt the learnings as she progressed in new roles. Listen to her episode here

None of us really know what 2040 will hold for us but we do know it’s going to be radically different to what it is in 2025. Listen in as David Thodey, Business Leader, Chair of Xero, Chair of Ramsay Health Care, and Chancellor of The University of Sydney, provides his perspectives on how we can prepare our workforces for the future. David explains that when you look to the future, you’ve got to keep focussing on what the workforce you have and the flexibility and agility of the workforce to keep adapting, responding and changing to new situations to help us face other black swan events as they arise. David also shares his views on future trends and the role that technology will play in that. Listen to his episode here

The pandemic was a common problem that affected everyone. And in those situations when you have a common problem that’s sitting in front of you, it can make it easier to collaborate. As David Thodey, Business Leader, Chair of Xero, Chair of Ramsay Health Care, and Chancellor of The University of Sydney, explains in this FAQ, it sounds simple, but it can be hard to do. When you don’t have a global pandemic, it has to be based around what we are trying to achieve as a nation, and if you have a common vision about where you are going and what you want to jointly achieve that transcends personal and parochial interests, then you get collaboration. If you have good leadership, then people will work together.  Listen to his episode here

Listen in as David Thodey, Business Leader, Chair of Xero, Chair of Ramsay Health Care, and Chancellor of The University of Sydney, explains how failure is part of the innovative journey in this FAQ. He discusses that to innovate you have to push the boundaries on what you’re working on and with that comes the risk of failure. Failure is a natural human process, but it doesn’t mean that it’s pleasant to experience or that we want to fail. David also provides examples of how in science and astromony they perform experiments or have hyptotheses that they test until they fail or prove them wrong so failing really is a learning opportunity and provides a way to improve. Listen to his episode here

Using GenAI to analyse a situation with all the history and develop a set of recommendations can be great, but especially in the public sector, we need to make sure that the human element is always in any decision-making.  David Thodey, Business Leader, Chair of Xero, Chair of Ramsay Health Care, and Chancellor of The University of Sydney, explains the essential considerations of using AI in this FAQ and how, in his role as Chancellor of The University of Sydney, he is encouraging students to use AI, exercising their judgment and discernment, and being transparent about when they have used it. Listen to his episode here

Technology is the major enabler of so much change in society, industry, and public policy. It pervades everything. Digital enablement and the digital underlying of everything we do are the magic ingredients that allow us to do things differently. Listen in as David Thodey, Business Leader, Chair of Xero, Chair of Ramsay Health Care, and Chancellor of The University of Sydney, shares his perspectives on the role of technology in innovation. However, he stresses that we need guardrails in place for how we use these technologies, as data and algorithms are not pure. Listen to his episode here

When you have a trusting environment, accountability always goes with it, and it's about getting the right balance. David Thodey, Chair of Xero, Chair of Ramsay Health Care, and Chancellor of The University of Sydney, joins us to discuss this further in this FAQ as he reflects on his time at Telstra. He also goes on to provide a great example from NetFlix in how they managed expenses and took a more trusted view and stresses how leaders need to set up an authorising environment that mitigates people's accountability so there is a worthiness of trust. Listen to his episode here

Listen in as David Thodey, Business Leader, Chair of Xero, Chair of Ramsay Health Care, and Chancellor of The University of Sydney, talks about trust and how it's a really important element in empowerment in this FAQ. David also discusses how trust isn't blind faith or anarchy; it's deliberate, and accountability goes with trust.

Listen in as David Thodey, Business Leader, Chair of Xero, Chair of Ramsay Health Care, and Chancellor of the University of Sydney, reflects on the importance of driving innovation in a world that's changing rapidly and how great leaders are able to adapt to the ambiguity around them. David also reflects on his time working on the APS Review in 2018-2019 and how, when they looked at the characteristics of leadership between industry and the public sector, it was public sector leaders who had the attribute of leading in ambiguity. Listen to his episode here

Taking the time and effort to capture the sentiment and feedback and presenting this back to your decision-makers in a format they would appreciate and understand cannot be underestimated. Listen in as Maree Bridger, Chief Operating Officer at the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communication, and the Arts, discusses this further through her experiences working in the public sector.

Listen to her full episode here

Listen in as Gina Dolan, General Manager of People and Culture at the ACCC, as she myth busts the perceptions of what works in terms of working from the office and from home. The truth is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and leaders today need to deliberate about creating rituals and ways of working that encompass the diversity of the people they are working with. While you may not have the right answer, and things that work today may not work tomorrow, you must continue to adapt to find the right balance to create a healthy culture that gives people the flexibility they need.

Listen to her full episode here

Kate Driver, CEO of IPAA ACT and co-founder and board member of the CoRE Learning Foundation, talks about the importance of thinking about the impact you are trying to achieve in this frequently asked question. Kate talks about how valuing diversity and the impact of what you are doing, not necessarily how you get there, can help to start opening up a different culture that speaks to different interests and focuses, and by grounding these conversations in respect and curiosity, you can begin to shape it differently. Listen to her episode here

Listen in as Janet Schorer, Chief Delivery Officer for TAFE NSW, looks back at her experiences early in her career when she took her first step into leading people. Janet talks about the importance of having an open mind, listening to feedback from leaders and champions around you who see potential in you that you may not see, and learning how to be that mentor for someone else. Listen to her episode here

After much examination and discussion, Dr Rachel Bacon, Deputy Commissioner of Integrity, Reform, and Enabling Services at the Australian Public Service Commission, explains how a growth mindset comes down to elements of learning agility. Perhaps an even simpler answer is being open and willing to learn and try new things. Listen in as she explains this further in this frequently asked question. Listen to her episode here

“You can’t be strong for others and create the environment you want if you aren’t feeling safe yourself.” Mandy Young, Chief Executive of the State Insurance Regulatory Authority, shares some wise advice for leaders in starting to become more inclusive to begin by being kind to themselves, giving yourself space and time to retreat and rebuild if that’s the right place for you and that it’s all about getting the right balance and getting to know yourself too.  Listen to her episode here

“Kindness is always the answer, and being inclusive is just about being kind and respectful of other people.” Mandy Young, Chief Executive of the State Insurance Regulatory Authority, explains this further in this frequently asked question as she talks about how important diversity is and the diversity of thought, which enables people to have real conversations that can achieve better outcomes. Listen to her episode here

Being your authentic self is something that you need to bring to the workplace. Listen in as Judith Formston, Deputy Chief Executive of Corporate Services at the Department of Health and Wellbeing SA, talks about her experiences as a leader and how important it is for others to see you as a relatable human being and that when you do go through tough times, they will sit on the floor with their team and chip in to come up with solutions together. Judith also talks about how, as leaders, you must be willing to take on feedback, pivot, be open and transparent about why you have made decisions, and communicate well.

Listen to her full episode here

Erma Ranieri, Commissioner for Public Sector Employment in South Australia, provides an example of a mentoring program that she set up off the back of International Women’s Day about five years ago where she took a group of ten younger women over the course of twelve months and helped them to develop their career plan and navigate challenges that they were experiencing. Most of those women have now gone on to achieve things, but above that, they have become better people. Erma also details how mentoring programs are crucial in raising awareness of important issues. Listen to her full episode here

In the past, leaders who wore their hearts on their sleeves were often not seen as strong leaders. Once seen as a sign of weakness but now seen as a sign of strength, authentic leaders who show vulnerability are the leaders that people want to follow. Erma Ranieri, Commissioner for Public Sector Employment for South Australia, explains how she has shared her lived experiences with her staff and how she has used these to make a difference so that others will not experience the same disadvantages that she has experienced throughout her career. Listen to her episode here

Gender and diversity are really important to Tess Bishop. As the Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, Tess is the gender champion and is passionate about supporting women in leadership. Tess explains that diversity is many things; at its essence, it’s really about embracing that we are all different and come from various backgrounds. If we can come together and bring our differences to the table, and leaders can take an open-minded approach, they can leverage great benefits.

Listen to her full episode here

At the Australian Institute of Teachers and School Leadership (AITSL), they are coming from the perspective of AI in understanding firstly what is at the core of the human interaction between a teacher and their learners and how best to preserve that and then how they can use AI to enhance that learning. Tim Bullard, CEO of AITSL, explains this further in this FAQ. Listen to his full episode here

Listen in as Tim Bullard, CEO of the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership, explains that everyone has a choice in how they manage their time. Over many years of working with schools and school leaders, Tim has often seen how these leaders don’t see that looking after themselves is a real benefit to learners, and how he has spoken at many inductions where he will tell leaders that taking time for yourself will mean that you are more available for others. Tim urges organisations to think really carefully about this in this FAQ. Listen to his full episode here

The link between adaptability and engagement is very strong for a good reason, especially in the teaching profession, as teachers come to work wanting to make a meaningful difference to children and young people and can feel disheartened when they feel they can’t. With the complexities in teaching, which have only increased since COVID-19, adaptable teachers know how to use their knowledge and skills in that environment, and they can leave the classroom at the end of the day knowing that they have made a real difference. Tim Bullard, CEO of the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership, explains this and its counter in this FAQ. Listen to his full episode here

Firstly, it’s important to recognise that volatility, uncertainty, and ambiguity in the world are here to stay. As a result, we really need to adjust our way of working. Secondly, that recognition can cause discomfort for ourselves and others when dealing with that complexity. Tim Bullard, CEO of the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership, talks about how important it is for organisations to build a real sense of team as while as an individual we may not have all the answers, as a team, you probably do. Listen to his full episode here

You can see change fatigue and burnout in the disposition of your teams, but leaders mustn’t confuse stress with burnout as they are different. Stress is short-term adrenaline when you’re under pressure and, if well managed, can be really productive, while burnout is more of a cynicism, disconnection, and an unwillingness to participate. Tim Bullard, CEO of the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), explains further the red flags that can be a sign of burnout in this FAQ. Listen to his full episode here

Tim Bullard, CEO of the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), provides an education context on how the perspectives and advice from younger generations of teachers can impact the engagement of younger people in learning. Tim shares how AITSL has used advice from young teachers to develop 30-second and 1-minute bites demonstrating practice and support for teachers and how these produce excellent results. Listen to his full episode here

Tim Bullard, CEO of the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), knows too well how adaptability can directly influence your engagement at work, having managed the Department of Education and then the Department of Education, Children, and Young People in Tasmania through tremendous amounts of change. He reflects on these experiences in this FAQ. Listen to his full episode here

Like many human dispositions, adaptability can come naturally to some, such as those who embrace change and are always looking for the next opportunity or adventure. Others, though, need the certainty of their job and don’t necessarily cope well with changes in their environment. But it doesn’t mean it can’t be developed. Tim Bullard, CEO of the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), provides his perspectives in this FAQ.  Listen to his full episode here

Past research has shown that in brain science, having a growth mindset and openness to learning new things results in much higher performance than having a closed mindset. Tim Bullard, CEO of the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), explains how, in terms of productivity and staff engagement, he has found that a growth mindset sits front and centre and how he often challenges leaders and teachers to think about where and how they can build those professional learning communities and other bodies where they come together and have a real focus on learning. Listen to his full episode here

In short, it’s personal. Only individuals will understand what gives them joy and what makes them feel physically and mentally well. Tim Bullard, CEO of the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), shares his perspectives on how organisations need to make time to come together as a team, celebrate success and have a sense of humour to help build that physical and mental wellbeing of your team, as it will serve you over time in this FAQ. Listen to his full episode here

There is much to learn from every generation – from the graduate teachers to the veteran teachers in the education industry. From an experienced leader’s perspective, having younger employees in the workplace can be really motivating. Older generations weren’t usually encouraged to contribute when they were starting out in their career. Still, Tim Bullard, CEO of the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), always encourages teaching graduates to speak up because they have a perspective on the world that others in older generations don’t have. They have ideas that people in these generations haven’t even seen. Tim discusses this further in this FAQ. Listen to his full episode here

Ivan Williams, Chief Medical Radiation Scientist at ARPANSA, joins us to outline the vast range of methods they use to galvanise learning across their organisation and how they expect their staff to invest in their learning at a business-as-usual level.  Ivan also explains why it is essential for staff to be aware of contemporary developments, how they are being applied, their effect, and how this learning is used in the many advisory roles that ARPANSA staff serve.

Listen to his full episode here

It can be difficult sometimes in organisations like ARPANSA, where people change their area of expertise regularly for others to be aware of it, but usually, the title of the section or the person's job title is a good indication. Dr Ivan Williams, Chief Medical Radiation Scientist at ARPANSA, joins us in this question and provides an example of an agency-wide celebration they do every couple of years where the entire agency comes together. Each area presents what they are doing and what they have been working on. These presentations can be enlightening for other agency areas and encourage engagement and consideration of how techniques could be applied to similar areas.   

Listen to his full episode here

It's a common challenge that many organisations face to ensure that staff continues learning, maintaining their skills, and developing new ones, while still delivering on their remit. Dr Ivan Williams, Chief Medical Radiation Scientist at ARPANSA, also recognises the tension and stress of his workforce in facing this exact challenge. Listen to hear Ivan explain how critical it is to create a culture where staff are comfortable in communicating, and having those open conversations both formally and informally through regular meetings is important, as well as acknowledging that these conversations are not static and set in stone either.

Listen to his full episode here

It's important to recognise that people are individuals, their work packages are different, and what they need to do at a particular time is different too. While all components of learning are relevant, their relevance can differ depending on where people are at and what they need to do. Ivan Williams, Chief Medical Radiation Scientist at ARPANSA, explains how, because of the technical and hands-on nature of his team's work, they find on-the-job training particularly beneficial, and he explains why in this FAQ.

Listen to his full episode here

We talk a lot about leaders being authentic in how they lead others, which also goes for how they communicate with others. If communications are written in a certain way or with jargon that doesn't reflect how the leader speaks, then people can see through that, and it may lead to them creating their own version of the truth. David Coltman, Chief Executive of TAFE SA, provides his advice that you can never communicate too much and that it is important for leaders to be physically present as it provides an anchor to others, especially during times of change.

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David Coltman, Chief Executive of TAFE SA, shares his experiences of coming into his role at TAFE and the strategies he used to build connections, engage employees, and create unity within this workforce in this FAQ. These included leading with kindness, humanising himself with the workforce, being open to answering confronting questions, and providing a way forward by taking the organisation back to delivering on its core purpose.

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David Coltman, Chief Executive of TAFE SA, is no stranger to leading in challenging and uncertain times, as David came into TAFE SA when the organisation needed to transform and be led in a new direction. In this FAQ, he explains how he dealt with a reasonably large number of hostile rooms that he walked into and how it was important he confronted that and called it as he saw it. He also goes on to explain how it's essential that leaders provide boundaries for people to work with and be consistent with those.

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At times, we all feel a bit change fatigued when facing ongoing uncertainty, and we may want things to calm down for a little bit. Working in ambiguity can be tiring as there are so many possibilities to take into consideration about possible scenarios. Fatigue can creep in when it becomes overwhelming, and you feel you have lost control over a situation. David Coltman, Chief Executive of TAFE SA, provides his advice on giving the opportunity for others to be heard and have a voice to get that buy-in as it's important to find a way to remove the fear that your workforce may be experiencing and provide a way for them to see themselves at the end of the journey can be helpful.

Listen to his full episode here

Taking time, being kind, and showing kindness to others in response to their emotions at a specific time, whether they are feeling vulnerable or elated, cannot be underestimated. Taking a breath and thinking about another person, where they are, and how they may have come to work that day rather than being hard on them for demands demonstrates empathy and can give you buy-in that money can't pay for. Listen in as David Coltman, Chief Executive at TAFE SA, talks about this further in this FAQ.

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David Coltman, Chief Executive of TAFE SA, shares his experiences working with Siemens and the AI group at Swinburne University, preparing people to work in advanced manufacturing. Fundamentally, preparing people to work in future jobs now is about teaching them how to think and question things critically. Human skills like critical thinking are what we bring to the workplace and will continue to be the unique contribution we make to a highly digitised environment.  

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For many organisations, change is constant, and when the change stops, it's usually the end. Listen in as David Coltman, Chief Executive at TAFE SA, explains how he looks at his work as the place where he does his learning, but how structuring the reflection and thinking time is important, and it doesn't matter where or when it happens. David shares how, for him, it's his drive home that he has that space to think and reflect, where there are no other demands on him to reflect.

Listen to his full episode here

Listen in as David Coltman, Chief Executive of TAFE SA, talks about how, with organisational change, a change of market situation, or a change in policy position for the public sector specifically, it's critical for leaders to bring it back to their people and help them see their role and how they fit into that both now and in the future. Doing this is the important part of getting good change buy-in and effectiveness.

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Learning is core to everyone, and it's really about being alive, being stimulated, thinking, and reflecting on things. Listen in as David Coltman, Chief Executive of TAFE SA, provides his perspectives on how learning could be viewed in either of two ways. It could be challenging, or you could approach it with curiosity and be open to the possibilities that it provides. David explains that learning can be overwhelming to some, especially with so many choices out there, and how it's the job of leaders to help people see pathways through what sometimes can be a dense forest.  

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Adaptability and resilience are key, especially when your organisation is growing or needs to change its focus on what it might be delivering. It’s inevitable that when you’re going through a change, you will come up against many ‘new’ elements. Tess Bishop, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, shares how a quote from Martha Stewart: “When you learn something new every day, you can teach something new every day” really resonated with her, both on a personal note on reflecting how and I learning and changing, and then as a leader in how she is sharing her learning with her teams.  

Listen to her full episode here

Gender and diversity are really important to Tess Bishop. As the Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, Tess is the gender champion and is passionate about supporting women in leadership. Tess explains that diversity is many things; at its essence, it’s really about embracing that we are all different and come from various backgrounds. If we can come together and bring our differences to the table, and leaders can take an open-minded approach, they can leverage great benefits.

Listen to her full episode here

In short, it’s essential. Tess Bishop, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, shares how her department is creating a safe space, both physically, and psychologically, where staff can bring new ideas and perspectives to the department and how, throughout her career, Tess has seen that the most significant policy and project outcomes have been where opens have been put on the table, research has been done, and people are open to new ways of doing things.

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In this FAQ, Tess Bishop, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, discusses how she reframes roadblocks as challenges and opportunities. Leaders are only as good as their teams as everyone continues to face challenges and work through changes. Tess shares how her leadership team energises her and works together to navigate challenges and support their department through change.

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Listen in as Tess Bishop, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, shares her passion for getting out and seeing how things happen firsthand. She speaks about how, while reading a brief can be fantastic, seeing policy in action enables her staff to give her direct feedback, and she can see how that impacts their work directly. Tess also discusses how she changed her role to include ‘engagement,’ as engagement is how you learn, and you need to be open to the ways that people learn by opening up different communication channels.

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Tess Bishop, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, answers this question from an individual perspective, of how she finds it important as a leader to keep an open mind and to surround yourself with people who will challenge you, and engaging in dialogue about ideas that you’re putting forward and even questioning them. Tess also stresses the importance of being mindful of the pace you are setting for yourself and your team and not going too fast, as you can wear yourself and your team out as well.

Listen to her full episode here

Having conversations around finding out what your goals are and having a planning session around that are essential in every organisation. Judith Formston, Deputy Chief Executive of Corporate Services at the Department of Health and Wellbeing SA, shares the importance of determining common goals with your team and then working out how each team member fits into that puzzle in this FAQ. Judith also provides an example from her Department of acceptance of others and how doing that can make a profound difference in confidence.

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Celebrating days of significance is really important. Offering the opportunity for people to join communities of practice can enable people to connect with others who have things in common and feel that they can be themselves in these groups and express themselves freely. Judith Formston, Deputy Chief Executive of Corporate Services at the Department of Health and Wellbeing SA, provides an example in this FAQ of how a Carer's morning tea in her department had a huge turnout and how she could see people talking about their experiences with each other.

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Being your authentic self is something that you need to bring to the workplace. Listen in as Judith Formston, Deputy Chief Executive of Corporate Services at the Department of Health and Wellbeing SA, talks about her experiences as a leader and how important it is for others to see you as a relatable human being and that when you do go through tough times, they will sit on the floor with their team and chip in to come up with solutions together. Judith also talks about how, as leaders, you must be willing to take on feedback, pivot, be open and transparent about why you have made decisions, and communicate well.

Listen to her full episode here

We've come a long way in society about understanding mental health. Indeed, initiatives such as "Are you OK" day have helped people feel more comfortable asking that question to others and feeling better equipped to respond or follow up further when someone they've asked isn't OK. Judith Formston, Deputy Chief Executive of Corporate Services at the Department of Health and Wellbeing SA, talks about how leaning into peers can be important in learning how they might respond in a situation, as well as appointing officers in mental first aid and undertaking mental first aid training can be a big difference in the workplace.

Listen to her full episode here

Listen in as Judith Formston, Deputy Chief Executive of Corporate Services at the Department of Health and Wellbeing SA, explains Covid's impact on flexible working in her team and how she had to encourage particular cohorts of workers to take breaks from working around the clock. Judith provides examples of how they maintained connections with others through initiatives, including 10 am catch-ups and 5 pm Friday night wines when everyone was invited to get together, disconnect from work, and connect to talk about anything but work.

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As a leader, it’s really important to be able to read your staff and find out what is going on in their lives to understand how that may be affecting how they show up to work. It can be as simple as asking them how they are going in the tearoom. Listen in as Judith Formston, Deputy Chief Executive of Corporate Services at the Department of Health and Wellbeing SA, explains how her department is always looking at ways that they can make the experience for their employees as good as it can be and how they are trailing meditation sessions for improving mental health with their teams.

Listen to her full episode here

Progressive organisations today should be focussed on how they can leverage the benefits of flexibility in their workforce. Gina Dolan, General Manager of People and Culture at the ACCC, provides how her organisation has had an innovative approach to recruitment and attracting of talent across the country and how, as a leader, is about balancing what is right for the person with what is right for the organisation and having that threshold of what is consistent for all. Gina also states how critical it is when you have a geographically dispersed workforce that has a range of flexible working arrangements and is diverse that you have clear channels of communication built on what works for your people and that relationships are built on respect and trust.

Listen to her full episode here

Leading people from up to five generations in the workplace isn’t easy. Listen in as Gina Dolan, General Manager of People and Culture at the ACCC, explains how, as a leader, you need to be adaptable and work on that every day in how you’re engaging with people and really listening to what they are saying with the ability to reframe what you’ve heard. Having conversations with staff around what the best way to engage with them is and what they need from you is important, and so too is acknowledging that whilst you can’t give them everything, you can be clear about what you can do and what you can’t do.

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Listen in as Gina Dolan, General Manager of People and Culture at the ACCC, as she myth busts the perceptions of what works in terms of working from the office and from home. The truth is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and leaders today need to deliberate about creating rituals and ways of working that encompass the diversity of the people they are working with. While you may not have the right answer, and things that work today may not work tomorrow, you must continue to adapt to find the right balance to create a healthy culture that gives people the flexibility they need.

Listen to her full episode here

The idea of perfectionism as a metric of success is embedded in our human psyche. In many big businesses today, mistakes can be costly, and there can be significant consequences, so of course, it’s essential to understand all the risks and how to interpret them. But that doesn’t mean we must have a black-and-white mindset about the world and how we approach risk. Listen in as Gina Dolan, General Manager of People and Culture at the ACCC, explains how she has found that taking a breath to think about what the right response is, even if it’s just for 30mins, can make a big difference in how you approach things and move forward.

Listen to her full episode here

It’s only human nature to want to try our best at work, but sometimes, we can put unnecessary pressure on ourselves to make everything perfect. The benefit of hindsight in looking back on your career and experiences is that you realise that it can be unrealistic. Gina Dolan, General Manager of People and Culture at the ACCC, shares how she feels that admitting to making mistakes, reflecting on those, and adapting decisions moving forward can be a power move in this frequently asked question.

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Leaders have a critical role in today’s challenging organisational climate. Gina Dolan, General Manager of People and Culture at the ACCC, explains how having real clarity around “why we are here?” and” what is our vision and purpose?” for an organisation is paramount. Equally important to that is how leaders provide the linkage for individuals to know their role in contributing to that whole organisation vision and acknowledging that every role will have challenging parts. Managing and supporting that risk with your team can make a significant difference.

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Is grit an innate trait, or can it be learned? Listen in as Gina Dolan, General Manager of People and Culture at the ACCC, explains how, in her experience, it’s a bit of both and that, like a muscle, its strength can be built over time, especially through making mistakes and persisting through those times to build resilience. Another critical element of exercising grit through Gina’s experiences is having leaders around you to be your champions and advocates.

Listen to her full episode here

Listen in as Gina Dolan, General Manager of People and Culture at the ACCC, provides her perspectives on grit and the role it plays in having a growth mindset. Gina shares that she feels grit is a requirement for any role in the environment that we operate in now, which is filled with uncertainty and complexity. She also discusses how grit can be key to maintaining momentum, effort, and interest when dealing with failures and adversity.

Listen to her full episode here

Martin Hehir, Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer for the Governance and Corporate Group within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, has put together several multi-disciplinary teams throughout his public sector career. In this frequently asked question, Martin talks about how essential it is to have role clarity for members of these teams so that you have the critical skills needed for everyone to be able to question things, but also have something to add to the conversations.

Being authentic as a leader requires you to take a look at yourself to see if you are part of the problem, especially when your team is experiencing ongoing friction. Martin Hehir, Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer for the Governance and Corporate Group within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, explains this further as he looks back over his career in leading others. He also speaks about how, as leaders, you have to be willing to change how you lead and be able to question why people are responding the way they are and adapt accordingly.

Martin Hehir, the Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer for the Governance and Corporate Group within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, talks us through how many organisations can experience a level of friction when putting together teams in organisations, especially when they haven’t typically worked that way previously. He explains how, as leaders, if done respectfully with everyone engaged, permitting people to disagree can help determine and achieve the best outcome possible.

How would you adapt your leadership style when faced with the opportunity to take on a senior leadership role in a new department with 20X the number of employees to lead? Listen in as Martin Hehir, the Deputy Secretary, and Chief Operating Officer for the Governance and Corporate Group within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, explains how, in his earlier career, when taking the step into senior leadership roles, he adapted part of his style in terms of how he communicated, thought about the work itself and engaged. Martin talks about the importance of keeping part of his style so that he felt he wasn’t entirely out of his comfort zone but that stretching in new ways and experiencing a degree of discomfort was worth it for the results achieved.

For leaders to manage failure within their teams, it’s important that they reflect on their own careers to remember the times when they have failed to help foster resilience and create a work environment where it is ok to fail. Maree Bridger, Chief Operating Officer at the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communication, and the Arts, provides some important lessons for leaders in acknowledging their own mistakes early, being accountable for the mistakes of their team, and not shooting off blame to an individual as these actions lead to create teams that are loyal and resilience and helps to build an environment full of trust and respect.

Listen to her full episode here

Taking the time and effort to capture the sentiment and feedback and presenting this back to your decision-makers in a format they would appreciate and understand cannot be underestimated. Listen in as Maree Bridger, Chief Operating Officer at the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communication, and the Arts, discusses this further through her experiences working in the public sector.

Listen to her full episode here

Maree Bridger, Chief Operating Officer at the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communication, and the Arts, shares some of the challenges of running a large department where there can be vast differences in projects being delivered. She also speaks about running projects in an agile way where there is a degree of flex with balancing the needs of central agencies who require costings and reporting to be provided in a more traditional and formal format.

Listen to her full episode here

Innovation isn’t just about creating something new and shiny; it is also about finding new ways of doing something. Listen in as Maree Bridger, Chief Operating Officer at the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communication, and the Arts, provides her unique perspective on innovating in the public sector. Maree explains that in her experience, innovation can take time, it can be slow and it can be incremental. Often, you may not think that you are innovating or moving forward, but when you look back, the tweaking and adjusting along the way has led you to a new place. That’s innovation, although it may not be called out as that at the time.

Listen to her full episode here

Maree Bridger, Chief Operating Officer at the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communication, and the Arts, describes how her department adopted ‘Red is your friend’ in how they viewed and presented projects that weren’t going to plan. Maree explains that at first, it had a high degree of scepticism, and it took 18 months of a concerted effort for teams to understand why a project was going red and how, at a corporate level, they were supported and helped to turn it around.

Listen to her full episode here

Erma Ranieri, Commissioner for Public Sector Employment in South Australia, provides an example of a mentoring program that she set up off the back of International Women’s Day about five years ago where she took a group of ten younger women over the course of twelve months and helped them to develop their career plan and navigate challenges that they were experiencing. Most of those women have now gone on to achieve things, but above that, they have become better people. Erma also details how mentoring programs are crucial in raising awareness of important issues. Listen to her episode here

Resilience comes from experiencing difficult knocks and setbacks that make you go back and try a different approach or way to achieve something. Erma Ranieri, Commissioner for Public Sector Employment in South Australia, shares her experiences of surviving knockbacks throughout her career and never giving up. She also explains how younger generations need to experience setbacks to build their resilience and how it makes them become better leaders as they understand their own underlying purpose of where they want to go and use that to keep moving forward. Listen to her episode here

Listen in as Erma Ranieri, Commissioner for Public Sector Employment for South Australia, talks about the key opportunities and challenges for younger generations in the workforce. Erma talks about how the younger workforce will likely find solutions to problems much more quickly through innovation and technology skills. However, it is still equally important to be self-aware, show vulnerability, and build resilience through adversity and setbacks. She also stresses the importance of ensuring that human interactions and connections are valued. Listen to her episode here

In the past, leaders who wore their hearts on their sleeves were often not seen as strong leaders. Once seen as a sign of weakness but now seen as a sign of strength, authentic leaders who show vulnerability are the leaders that people want to follow. Erma Ranieri, Commissioner for Public Sector Employment for South Australia, explains how she has shared her lived experiences with her staff and how she has used these to make a difference so that others will not experience the same disadvantages that she has experienced throughout her career. Listen to her episode here

There are many important initiatives around mental health in the workplace, including mentally healthy workplace toolkits, guides, wellbeing vouchers, and even R U OK day. Erma Ranieri, Commissioner for Public Sector Employment in South Australia, shares her perspectives on how leaders must keep in touch with this regularly. It may just be one day when they are not ok, or even the tone they reply with that gives you an indication that they might need help or support. With psychosocial hazards embedded in legislation, leaders must have a stronger commitment to this.  Listen to her episode here

We are all touched by mental health at some point in our lives. Erma Ranieri, Commissioner for Public Sector Employment for South Australia, shares her perspectives on the importance of providing leaders with more insights in their released Conversations Matters guide, which helps leaders understand and see their staff as human beings who have things happening in their lives that may be affecting how they show up at work, and how they can have these discussions and offer the right help and support to their employees. Listen to her episode here

Kate Driver, CEO of IPAA ACT and co-founder and board member of the CoRE Learning Foundation, talks us through her past experiences working at cultural institutions where it was often difficult to articulate the exact outcome of investing in inspiring students on their school excursions, but when they looked at the potential impact to students in their lifetime, it created an environment where curiosity was valued, art and expression were valued and imagining things differently was equally valued as some of the curriculum that they were studying. Even though it may seem like 'nailing a bit of jelly to the wall,' there is still enormous value in inspiration.

Kate Driver, CEO of IPAA ACT and co-founder and board member of the CoRE Learning Foundation, provides an analogy to differentiate between the impact of something versus the outcome. The impact is something that goes beyond what you can't often predict and control, and it can make a significant difference to the way you think about the outcome you're trying to deliver versus the impact you're trying to create.

Kate Driver, CEO of IPAA ACT and co-founder and board member of the CoRE Learning Foundation, talks about the importance of thinking about the impact you are trying to achieve in this frequently asked question. Kate talks about how valuing diversity and the impact of what you are doing, not necessarily how you get there, can help to start opening up a different culture that speaks to different interests and focuses, and by grounding these conversations in respect and curiosity, you can begin to shape it differently.

In this frequently asked question, Kate Driver, CEO of IPAA ACT and co-founder and board member of the CoRE Learning Foundation, talks through interesting past research from the Foundation for Young Australian’s research into what employers were looking for in terms of skills of the workforce today, as well as some interesting new insights coming out of the Crawford School of Public Policy around what it means to show up to work with empathy and humility. Many different skills are needed in the public sector now and in the future. Organisations that embrace the diversity of skills and do not privilege one over the other stand to benefit the most.

List of resources referenced in this FAQ:

Foundation for Young Australians research - Our Reports: The New Work Order Series - FYA

Crawford School of Public Policy |

Pathways to Positive Public Administration – An International Perspective | Elgar Online: The online content platform for Edward Elgar Publishing

Dr Laurie Santos, Yale University - The Science of Well-Being | Yale Online

Dr Angela Duckworth - https://angeladuckworth.com/

Public service craft is a specific set of skills built around principles embedded in a system. How people take that in and practice it can look very different. Developing a training model that embraces curiosity and openness but that also has a streak of pragmatism around the things that public servants need to get their job done is definitely something to work towards, and extending an invitation for people to curate that experience for their own career rather than just a checklist to cross off could be very powerful in the future. Listen in as Kate Driver, CEO of IPAA ACT and co-founder and board member of the CoRE Learning Foundation, explains this further.  

Listen in as Dr Rachel Bacon, Deputy Commissioner of Integrity, Reform, and Enabling Services at the Australian Public Service Commission, shares her perspectives on dealing with and approaching change from an adaptable and learning mindset. Rachel talks about working through change with a curious and open mindset, which helps you shift your thinking to the opportunity that the change presents. She also discusses the importance of resilience and perseverance with the stuff that's less fun.  

Building networks within your cohort is incredibly valuable as it can help you act with a cross-agency and one-APS mindset. Listen in as Dr Rachel Bacon, Deputy Commissioner of Integrity, Reform, and Enabling Services at the Australian Public Service Commission, provides an example of this from the Indo-Pacific Academy course being run as part of the APS Reform Agenda and the powerful connections and outcomes she's seen.

It's not ok for leaders to cover up, deny a mistake, pretend, or hide there was a mistake. Listen in as Dr Rachel Bacon, Deputy Commissioner of Integrity, Reform, and Enabling Services at the Australian Public Service Commission, explains how in her experience at an institutional level, in reviews when something has gone terribly wrong or there has been a failure, covering it up is often just as bad if not worse than admitting there was a mistake in the first place. It undermines trust and confidence at an organisational level and a cultural level. Rachel provides insights on the importance of leaders showing vulnerability and how this opens the path to a pro-integrity culture that's innovative and where everyone feels psychologically safe.

After much examination and discussion, Dr Rachel Bacon, Deputy Commissioner of Integrity, Reform, and Enabling Services at the Australian Public Service Commission, explains how a growth mindset comes down to elements of learning agility. Perhaps an even simpler answer is being open and willing to learn and try new things. Listen in as she explains this further in this frequently asked question.

A few decades ago, there was a long-held assumption in literature that you would go a long way in your leadership capability if you were smart and had a high IQ. Looking back at that literature today, things have changed. While a high IQ may be necessary, it's not sufficient, and the strongest predictor of leadership capability is, in fact, having a growth mindset. Listen in as Dr Rachel Bacon, Deputy Commissioner of Integrity, Reform, and Enabling Services at the Australian Public Service Commission, explains this further in this frequently asked question.

Having a clear purpose and belief that something can work and potentially change people’s lives can help you and others to hang in there and keep trying when you hit snags and roadblocks. Mandy Young, Chief Executive of the State Insurance Regulatory Authority, talks through how maintaining momentum takes time, grit, and resilience, but if you believe in the outcomes of the work you are doing, you will start to see green shoots and find people that believe in the purpose and become supporters too.

“You can’t be strong for others and create the environment you want if you aren’t feeling safe yourself.” Mandy Young, Chief Executive of the State Insurance Regulatory Authority, shares some wise advice for leaders in starting to become more inclusive to begin by being kind to themselves, giving yourself space and time to retreat and rebuild if that’s the right place for you and that it’s all about getting the right balance and getting to know yourself too.  

“Kindness is always the answer, and being inclusive is just about being kind and respectful of other people.” Mandy Young, Chief Executive of the State Insurance Regulatory Authority, explains this further in this frequently asked question as she talks about how important diversity is and the diversity of thought, which enables people to have real conversations that can achieve better outcomes.

Listen in as Mandy Young, Chief Executive of the State Insurance Regulatory Authority, discusses how vital leadership and the authorising environment are in enabling others to try and give things a calculated go while understanding the risks.

Listen in to Mandy Young, Chief Executive of the State Insurance Regulatory Authority, as she discusses the importance of testing, piloting, and pivoting, sharing her direct experiences working for Service NSW during COVID-19, where she was responsible for determining and delivering many initiatives with rapid turnarounds including the Dine and Discover vouchers. Mandy explains how, on the day of the launch of the vouchers, the system crashed and how they used the experience of this fast failure’ as a learning opportunity to ‘fix it fast’ and succeed for subsequent voucher rollouts.

Have you ever heard the sayings “Culture will eat strategy for breakfast,” or “form should follow function”? Listen in as Mandy Young, Chief Executive of the State Insurance Regulatory Authority, explains these in context with organisational transformation and how people, systems and processes create the roadmap to follow and that you can’t think and approach these things unless you do it with people.

Listen in as Mandy Young, Chief Executive of the State Insurance Regulatory Authority, discusses the critical success factors in approaching organisational transformation being people, systems, and processes, and shares her direct experience working on the transformation of the Victim’s Compensation and Support Scheme at the Department of Communities and Justice. Mandy provides her perspectives on how critical it is to involve the voices of the people that the change will impact the most from the outset and the importance of communicating. She also talks about setting short, medium, and long-term goals and how to keep building trust more and more throughout the process.

What do you stand for? It may appear to be a simple question, but understanding what you're about and what kind of leader you want to be when you're at your best, and your worst is important to think about because it can help you to take the right opportunities that are aligned to your own values. Listen in as Janet Schorer, Chief Delivery Officer at TAFE NSW, explains this further in this frequently asked question.

As an experienced people leader, Janet Schorer, Chief Delivery Officer at TAFE NSW, knows that the sharpest motivator for any workplace is a connection to purpose and how anchoring a purpose can be in times of change and uncertainty. Listen in as Janet explains this further and gives advice on aligning purpose to your own values and how this can guide your career choices.

Janet Schorer, Chief Delivery Officer for TAFE NSW, details how the workplace has changed over the past ten years in this frequently asked question: how this change has affected the sense of connection and belonging, and the task that people leaders have to create a sense of belonging within their younger workforces that mirrors that of the workplace environments of twenty years ago.

Janet Schorer, Chief Delivery Officer for TAFE NSW, shares her perspectives on how leaders need to approach the younger workforce with a sense of empathy, understanding what it means to be a young person starting their career in today's world and having an appreciation that it is different to where you were, and how they can lean on their experiences to help ease the pressure of burnout.

To help organisations take the first few steps forward in their AI adoption journey, James Christie, Director of Artificial Workflow, takes us through the checklist they have developed. This checklist ensures that organisations have the right foundations in place to build sustainable momentum behind their AI adoption plans. Please refer to the podcast episode's webpage for a copy of the checklist.

If the keywords you use to interact with AI aren't giving you the expected responses, you're not alone. Listen in as James Christie, Director of Artificial Workflow, explains the origins of how we think and interact with systems today isn't effective and why a prompting strategy may be required to help with language and word selection.

In this frequently asked question, James Christie, Director of Artificial Workflow, outlines that, ultimately, the successful adoption of AI in an organisation comes down to its ability to deliver change. Listen in as James provides his five critical success factors for organisations adopting AI.

Listen in as James Christie, Director of Artificial Workflow, explains that pretty much all of an organisation's workforce's existing skills can support the adoption of AI, just with a different twist to them. In this frequently asked question, James takes us through specific examples of these existing skills and how they can be used in an organisation's adoption of AI.

You may be surprised that at a broad organisation adoption level, it isn't a prerequisite of the workforce to have strong or advanced technical skills to learn AI. Listen in as James Christie, Director of Artificial Workflow, unpacks this further as he explains this point-of-view based on his experience helping a broad range of organisations adopt AI.

James Christie, Director of Artificial Workflow, walks us through some simple and easy use cases that he has found beneficial for organisations and users to build confidence as they get started using AI. Find out what they are in this frequently asked question.

It's a fundamental question, considering AI's impact as a future capability both personally and professionally. Listen in as James Christie, Director of Artificial Workflow, shares two key things everyone can do to get started with AI now: increasing their AI awareness and adopting a culture of testing and learning in AI at an organisational level.

Listen in as Sandra Lerch, Executive Director of Strategic Workforce Futures at the Queensland Public Sector Commission, provides her Queensland Public Sector perspective on the barriers they experience, on how important it is to have clarity of purpose and a commitment to a sector-wide approach, as well as ensuring that there’s space for agency-specific innovation too.

Having an intentional and holistic approach with a systems view of how the different elements of your approach interact is essential for creating more agility in your organisation. Listen to Sandra Lerch, Executive Director of Strategic Workforce Futures at the Queensland Public Sector Commission, as she explains this further.

Sandra Lerch, Executive Director of Strategic Workforce Futures at the Queensland Public Sector Commission, discusses two essential skills that she believes are critical for public sector employees: the ability to learn new things and resilience. Listen to why they are crucial to this frequently asked question.

Listen in as Sandra Lerch, Executive Director of Strategic Workforce Futures at the Queensland Public Sector Commission, explains the critical role that leadership capabilities play in driving outcomes for the Queensland community and how collaboration, stewardship, and systems thinking are essential to approach complex problems in a coordinated and holistic way.

One thing is for sure. Workforce agility doesn’t happen by osmosis. Listen in as Sandra Lerch, Executive Director of Strategic Workforce Futures at the Queensland Public Sector Commission, explains the three critical ingredients needed to bake into the workforce to achieve agility.

Continuous learning must be a mainstream objective for high-performing organisations, and it must be at the board level. Listen in as Subho Banerjee, Head of APS Academy and Capability, explains this further and shares his advice to other leaders on embedding a continuous learning culture within their workforce.

Listen to Subho Banerjee, Head of APS Academy and Capability, as he discusses the key challenges he has experienced in implementing a continuous learning culture, how it is still seen as an on-the-side mainstream preoccupation for an organisation, and, importantly, what leaders can do about it.

The adaptive leadership approach is extremely important in the public sector, as it’s suited to the circumstances of public policy and administration. Adaptive leadership underpins all the leadership courses in the APS Academy and should apply to all leaders. Listen to Subho Banerjee, Head of APS Academy and Capability, as he explains this further in this frequently asked question.

Are formal training courses more important than learning on the job? Hear from Subho Banerjee, Head of APS Academy and Capability, as he broadly takes us through the most significant focus area for continuous learning, breaking down the 70/20/10 learning split.

The APS continuous learning model comprises different components that support people in many ways in improving at their jobs. Part of this model includes formal learning, but also learning through your work, with others, and through different networks. Listen in as Subho Banerjee, Head of APS Academy and Capability, takes us through the APS continuous learning model in more detail in this frequently asked question.

Listen in as Subho Banerjee, Deputy Commissioner and Head of APS Academy and Capability, explains that while continuous learning may sound like a bit of jargon, it’s essentially about how you can keep improving and building your skills in your current position as well as other things you may aspire to.

Listen in to hear some successful ways that TAFE NSW has measured skills initiatives. Julie Tickle, Chief People Officer, talks through 360 reviews, self-assessments, and piloting initiatives with iterations over time that have worked well at TAFE NSW.

Involving employees in activities within an organisation that is outside their role or function can be a great way to identify and develop skills. Listen to Julie Tickle, Chief People Officer at TAFE NSW, as she explains how TAFE NSW establishes a working group for its staff recognition awards each year.

Listen in as Julie Tickle, Chief People Officer at TAFE NSW, explains how vital line managers, informal and formal mentors, and coaches are in identifying and bringing out people's latent skills.

In achieving its vision to be the lifelong learning provider to the community and learners it serves across NSW, TAFE NSW has developed a comprehensive learning and development plan that fosters continual learning for its staff. Listen to Julie Tickle, Chief People Officer at TAFE NSW, as she explains TAFE NSW's approach.

Whether you have strong technical or human skills, an underlying factor in success in these areas is others. You need other people to work with you to achieve outcomes for your organisation. Listen in to Julie Tickle, Chief People Officer at TAFE NSW, as she explains striking the balance between both of these skillsets.

It's no surprise that digital skills have become increasingly in demand in recent years as we apply how we work in a digital environment. Still, several soft or human skills have also become critically important. Listen in as Julie Tickle, Chief People Officer at TAFE NSW, outlines these human skills and why they are essential.

Listen to Julie Tickle, Chief People Officer for TAFE NSW, share how TAFE NSW uses skills-based role-play and assessment in interviews, as well as the NSW Public Sector Framework, to outline the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform roles effectively in a large organisation of 15,000 employees.

One of the most relevant questions for organisations tackling the current skills landscape is: Are skills more important than qualifications? Listen to Julie Tickle, Chief People Officer at TAFE NSW, as she gives her unique and perhaps unexpected perspective on this question.

Everyone is talking about creating a culture of learning in their organisation and promoting lifelong learning within their workforce, but how do you achieve it? Maeve Neilson, General Manager of Health, Safety and Security for the Ministry of Justice in New Zealand, takes us through her top tips on doing just this including talking to your team and stakeholders, listening with EQ, connecting to the bigger picture, being curious, leading by example and never stop learning.

Feeling a sense of belonging and connection to an organisation can contribute greatly to an organisation’s culture, but it can also play a pivotal role in helping employees to reengage and reduce burnout. In this frequently asked question, Maeve Neilson, General Manager of Health, Safety, and Security for the Ministry of Justice in New Zealand, takes us through her perspectives on how employees need to get to know themselves first and then understand the organisation they work for and how what they deliver adds value.

With multiple generations within each workforce, have you ever stopped to think about how learning may differ for a Millennial, a Gen Z, a Gen X, or a Baby Boomer? Does it matter? Maeve Neilson, General Manager of Health, Safety and Security for the Ministry of Justice in New Zealand, provides her perspective on how to avoid the generational judgement by having deeper conversations around what each individual needs and what that looks like for them in this frequently asked question.

It’s a known fact that many employees will leave their organisation if they don’t feel they are getting the proper support and learning development. Listen to Maeve Neilson, General Manager of Health, Safety and Security for the Ministry of Justice in New Zealand, as she explains how learning and development contribute to culture by helping staff feel that their contribution to the organisation makes a difference.

"Urgency kills strategy. Urgency kills productivity, and urgency kills innovation.” Listen in as Pia Andrews, public servant and global expert in open government and digital government transformation, gives three invaluable tips on adopting new technologies, including:

1. Remembering the outcome you're trying to achieve.

2. Looking for and understanding what things are and not believing the hype.

3. Carving out time.

Pia's podcast episode on adopting new technologies responsibly is available to listen to here.

In this short clip, Steve Brady, Managing Director of TAFE NSW, provides his perspectives on how leaders can keep a positive outlook and stay adaptable in the face of change. Steve also shares how one of the ways he does this is through celebrating the wins. Listen to the full podcast episode on shifting mindsets and leading to empower employees here.

"Implementing human-centred design approaches requires you to come from a position of modelling – being your best human in the first place”. Pia Andrews, public servant and global expert in open government and digital government transformation shared this invaluable advice on purpose and leadership in our podcast series on organisational health. In this short video, Pia talks about how important it is for leaders' to have empathy, care for their staff, and vulnerability as they lead their teams. Pia's full podcast episode on purpose and leadership is also available here.

In this video, Pia Andrews, public servant and global expert in open government and digital government transformation, talks through five key strategies that she uses in leading teams, covering prioritising through slowing things down, establishing a culture of change and engagement through being united with purpose, working openly to establish trust, building playtime into the whole lifecycle and fast value versus long value. Pia's full podcast episode on purpose and leadership is also available here.

Pia Andrews, public servant and global expert in open government and digital government transformation, spoke on purpose and leadership in series one of our podcast series on organisational health. In this clip, Pia shares her perspective on the need for leaders to shift to adaptive leadership, where leaders delegate down to their teams, trust them, buy into, understand, and value the internal expertise that their team brings to the room. She also speaks on how critical it is for leaders to have a clear purpose and a culture committed to trust and kindness. The full episode of this podcast is also available to listen to here.

Intersectionality is where factors of advantage and disadvantage create modes of discrimination or privilege. In this video, Julie Etchells, Chief Human Resource Officer with the Department of Children, Youth Justice, and Multicultural Affairs for the Queensland Government, explains intersectionality, talks through an example scenario of the intersectionality of privilege, and provides her tips for leaders in creating a space at the table where everyone can participate. You can also listen to the full podcast episode featuring Julie on Realising diversity, equity, and inclusion aspirations here.

"Model the way, lead the way". Julie Etchells, Chief Human Resource Officer with the Department of Children, Youth Justice, and Multicultural Affairs for the Queensland Government, provides her invaluable perspectives in this video on how important it is for leaders to lead authentically and how in doing this it creates an authorising environment for others to feel safe that they can be who they are and have equal access to opportunities, and raise their concerns. You can also listen to the full podcast episode featuring Julie on Realising diversity, equity, and inclusion aspirations here.

In this video, Julie Etchells, Chief Human Resource Officer with the Department of Children, Youth Justice, and Multicultural Affairs for the Queensland Government, explains how creating an inclusive workplace starts with the physical safety of employees, knowing they are physically safe to undertake their role, and then psychological safety, and how these two types of safety go hand-in-hand. You can also listen to the full podcast episode featuring Julie on Realising diversity, equity, and inclusion aspirations here.

Listen to David Powell, Author, founder, and life skills mentor at The Golden Thread, as he takes us through what a customer-focused contribution agreement is, how it goes far beyond a job description, and how to approach it. Within this three-minute clip, David describes how a contribution agreement needs to include how the employee will contribute to the organisation's success vision, and how the organisation will contribute to the employee's capabilities. This answer is part of a broader conversation with David in the seventh episode of our organisational health podcast series, available to listen to here.

David Powell, Author, founder, and life skills mentor at The Golden Thread, takes us through his perspectives on how learning and development programs can provide employees with the skills needed to develop a stronger sense of self, become more self-motivated, and calm the mind down, enabling a better flow of creativity and helping to make problem-solving easier. This answer is part of a broader conversation with David in the seventh episode of our organisational health podcast series, available to listen to here.

Listen as David Powell, Author, founder, and life skills mentor at The Golden Thread, takes us through how organisations can help their employees elicit their own vision for their life and how in doing that, along with having a graphical vision and plan for their organisation, essentially means motivating the employee twice. The podcast episode on the seventh dimension of organisational health is also available here.

Listen in as Cherie Canning, Founder and Director of Luminate Leadership, explains that leaders should be asking, 'How are we creating connections with our employees.' During this question, Cherie provides examples from her client-based experiences on how they make workplace connection a ritual and suggests how to get started. As part of our podcast series on organisational health and the seven dimensions of wellness, the entire episode on workplace culture is available to listen to here.

As a passionate advocate for mental health, Cherie Canning provides the essential steps all organisational leaders can take to support their employees' mental health. Tune in as Cherie also provides examples of wellness areas and initiatives that her clients have developed to help support the health of their teams. As part of our podcast series on organisational health and the seven dimensions of wellness, the entire episode on workplace culture is available to listen to here.

Leadership can be one of the critical determinants of a toxic workplace culture, and often, new leaders inherit a toxic culture. Listen to Cherie Canning, Founder and Director of Luminate Leadership, as she describes how leaders can turn a toxic culture around and provides examples of how leaders have done just that. As part of our podcast series on organisational health and the seven dimensions of wellness, the entire episode on workplace culture is available to listen to here.

As Cherie Canning from Luminate Leadership explained previously in our podcast series on organisational health and the seven dimensions of wellness, for leaders to create a people-centric culture, it starts with psychological safety. Listen in as Cherie explains the four stages of psychological safety and how these play out in practice: inclusion safety, learner safety, contribution safety, and challenge safety. You can also listen to the full podcast episode here.

Cherie Canning, Founder and Director of Luminate Leadership, joined Andy in series one of our podcasts on organisational health and the seven dimensions of wellness to talk about workforce culture. The conversation started with a clear definition of a people-centric culture and the starting point for how leaders can create it. You can also listen to the full podcast episode here.

Listen in as Rodger Watson, Senior Lecturer and Founding Course Director at the University of Technology Sydney, shares his perspectives from his experience working in the public sector and through an academic lens using a practices model his team has created. Rodger discusses how internal mobility is an essential part of resilience and, if done right, can help to build a T-shaped workforce, one that has broad experience with some disciplinarian expertise, and how this can not only help with individual career growth but also contribute to a trust culture between colleagues. You can also listen to the full podcast episode here.

Listen in as Rodger Watson, Senior Lecturer and Founding Course Director at the University of Technology Sydney, explains the difference between a command-and-control and a team-of-teams approach to the employee experience and how using a team-of-teams approach will result in much more adaptive ways of working. You can also listen to the full podcast episode here.

In a previous FAQ on how an operating model can help organisations to adapt to change, Andy Corbett explained how crafting a vision that addresses how the organisation will operate once changes are implemented is vital in helping organisations succeed in change. In this new FAQ, Scott Johnston, Deputy Secretary of Revenue NSW, shares a great example of how Revenue successfully engaged its workforce in developing its ten-year vision and contributed significantly to creating a sense of belonging in its workforce culture. You can also listen to the full podcast episode here.

Tune in as Daniel Bowes, Executive Director, NSW Department of Customer Service, provides his top three tips on how leaders can improve their delivery to customers as part of our second podcast series of Trailblazing with CorbettPrice on embracing organisational change.

Many people have an idea of what design thinking is, but listening to Rodger Watson, Senior Lecturer and Founding Course Director at the University of Technology in Sydney, explain how a designerly approach to improving the employee experience can be applied, definitely helps to put the theory into practice. This excerpt is from our complete podcast episode on the employee experience as part of our first series on organisational health and the seven dimensions of wellness.

Organisation design is an essential area for leaders to address, as getting it right can significantly improve customer satisfaction, employee retention, and innovation. As part of our first Trailblazing with CorbettPrice podcast series on organisational health, Scott Johnston, Deputy Secretary of Revenue NSW, joined us to discuss what’s important in addressing organisational design and how his team at Revenue approaches it.

Listen in as Scott Johnston, Deputy Secretary of Revenue NSW, provides his perspectives and experiences on organisational agility and resiliency as part of our first podcast series of Trailblazing with CorbettPrice on organisational health and the seven dimensions of wellness. In this FAQ, Scott shares how his team has used customer-centred design principles to provide flexibility and improve how they deliver their service to customers.