The context for our work remains leadership and culture. The primary focus of our work is on managers as the expression and conduit of these.
In terms of culture, engagement, and performance we believe that managers are the most impactful people in the organisation. We need brilliant leadership absolutely (and many great consultants are offering programs in that space).
Having recently returned from study at the Harvard Kennedy School, Helen shares her thoughts from her inspired time whilst attending the Art and Practice of Leadership Development (APL) programme led by Professor Heifetz.
Sometimes it seems that if you wanted to design a workplace where people can't do their best work, you would design the 9-5 office model.
As we come to the chaotic end of the year when 'everything' has to be done, it becomes too easy to lose sight of the big picture. When we are caught up in the minutiae everything becomes urgent. We lose sight of what we have achieved and think only of what is still to be done.
For many years now, we have been seeing this push to leadership. It's been the new black for quite some time and we see a massive amount of resources thrown into leadership programs. But, I wonder... are leadership programs delivering the results we want, or are we missing the point?
The context for our work remains leadership and culture. The primary focus of our work is on managers as the expression and conduit of these.
In terms of culture, engagement, and performance we believe that managers are the most impactful people in the organisation. We need brilliant leadership absolutely (and many great consultants are offering programs in that space).
Yet despite their critical role, many managers undertake their role with no training and little support.
In response to this, we have been developing a management curriculum designed to meet the needs of new, developing and experienced managers.
What a year it has been. In our home the disruption of Covid has been combined with the craziness of a major renovation. Recently my 12 year old cat started spraying indoors, a sign of intense stress the vet said. He explained to me how constant stress depletes serotonin and how after a while it becomes difficult to replenish this, leading to anxiety and reactiveness over things that would not normally worry us. ‘Russell’ I said, ‘are you talking about me or the cat? ’ because it all sounded strangely familiar. He laughed. ‘You are not alone in that’ he said.
Leading through the COVID-19 disruption has taught us so much, and continues to spark conversations about what great leadership looks like. New leadership experiences, qualities and distinctions have emerged around and within us.
What’s the aim?
The aim of this public conversation is to harvest and share the pearls of wisdom that have emerged from leading through this crisis. A panel of senior leaders and experts will discuss what leadership excellence looks like now and into the future.
It’s about:
Leading self
Leading the way
Leading people
Senior Leaders who have confirmed so far are: Jenny Dodd (CEO, TasTAFE), Tim Bullard (Secretary, Department of Education), Debbie Evans (CEO, Lifeline Tasmania), John Fitzgerald (CEO Tourism Tasmania).
When: Friday, 10 July at 12pm
Where: Online on Zoom
Duration: 75 minutes
Cost: A small contribution (As a guideline you might consider around $35)
The format of the public conversation is similar to the popular SBS Insight program. Claudia will ask targeted questions to a group of senior leaders and experts, and you will be in the audience in witness that conversation.
Please note: this will not be a Q&A session, but you can be assured that Claudia will raise questions that many leaders grapple with every day.
About the facilitator
Claudia Butler, Senior Consultant at Frameworks for Change
