Making the step up: ANZSOG’s Deputies Leadership Program returns for 2025 to prepare public sector Deputies for new challenges

Senior public sector leadership is becoming more challenging, and public service deputies need to understand the need for flexibility, collaboration and delegated leadership if they are to achieve the full potential of their roles.  

Since 2021, ANZSOG’s Deputies Leadership Program (DLP) has provided a unique space for deputies to reflect on their new role, and have frank discussions with a range of academic and practitioner experts who can help them understand the opportunities as well as the pressures.  

Led by Kathryn Anderson and Martin Stewart-Weeks, the DLP for 2025 is now open for registrations. For more information on how Kathryn and Martin approach the DLP, this conversation with them explores the philosophy behind the program.  

Jasmina Joldić PSM is a former director-general in the Queensland public service, who was part of the DLP as a participant, and then as a presenter in 2024. 

She had been attracted to the program by its mix of academic and practical content, and its relevance to the Australian context. 

“Our Westminster system is unique and the program is very much contextualised to Australia and New Zealand. We do live in a rapidly changing world, you can see what is happening globally and our democratic world is vulnerable. I think the uniqueness about ANZSOG is that it is contemporary and the DLP is situated in the kind of examples that you work with on a day-to-day basis,” she said. 

Ms Joldić said that stepping up from an executive director role to a deputy director-general role was a significant milestone.  

“The difference is that you become not just responsible for your team, but the whole area you’re working in. All of a sudden you are elevated to the next level. You are in charge of multiple teams and responsible for multiple issues. You get a whole of system view and have to take on responsibilities whether you want them or not,” she said. 

“So, you really have to work on being much more connected within your agency and the broader government. The challenges that we face today, we can’t solve by ourselves or by working in silos.” 

Ben Temperly, Deputy Chief Executive, Strategy and Corporate Services, at the South Australian Education Department, was part of the in-person 2024 DLP, just after he stepped into the Deputy’s role. 

He said the main immediate challenge of the Deputy role had been the sheer scope and amount of territory you had to cover, compared to being at Executive Director level. 

“The role requires you to be working at a strategic level with a long-term view of the world one moment, and then dealing with the operational issue of the day at the next. There’s constant mental gymnastics required to think long-term whilst still meeting short-term priorities.” 

Mr Temperly said that the DLP had been an intensive experience that covered a wide range of subjects and allowed participants to discuss shared challenges in depth. 

“There were so many different aspects to it, but I thought the topics that we covered were in the specific subject matter sessions were particularly relevant. For example, we had a really timely and informative session on artificial intelligence, where there were insights from overseas and also from across Australia,” he said. 

“Hearing from experienced senior people, both CEOs and deputies, about their view of the deputy role was very helpful for me in gaining a deeper appreciation of what my chief executive and minister might be expecting from me.” 

“What’s been really a conscious thing in my mind since the DLP has been the way that I now work with the senior executives that report to me. Making a conscious effort to be clear in communicating the objectives of the work and the outcomes we’re looking for, but making sure that I leave the time and space for them as senior executives, and highly capable individuals, to work it out and to deliver on it.” 

Focusing on innovation and flexibility

Ms Joldić said that senior public sector leaders needed flexibility and agility to thrive in the current fast-changing environment.  

“You can’t survive in an environment that moves so fast by being rigid, so it is about being flexible and agile, and having a mindset of getting things done, rather than saying it is too hard or those policies or processes that we have in place are not serving us. We are in charge of the policies and processes, not the other way around,” she said. 

“You also cannot develop a policy and advise government if you are not really connected to what is happening on the ground. My whole team and I spent a lot of time talking to communities, particularly in regional Queensland, talking to our staff, connecting with the community, really listening to what their needs were and responding to that.”  

Ms Joldić said that public sector leaders also needed to act as stewards and encourage innovation and informed risk taking to help their agencies modernise. 

“It is our job as public servants to protect institutions and to take responsibility for modernising and optimising the system. I’m a reformer but with reform comes risk. I’m an informed and calculated risk taker, and that’s what I encourage deputies to do. You can’t accept the status quo. You have to create an environment where calculated, informed and strategic risk is acceptable, where failure is not punished, and where people are able to innovate.” 

“Above all, being a public sector leader is an enormous privilege. We should remind ourselves every day that it is a privilege to be in these positions because we are given an opportunity to effect change and make people’s lives better. It’s as simple as that. But I agree it’s not always simple to achieve.” 

Both Ms Joldić and Mr Temperly said that they had built strong networks through the program and had remained in touch with people from their cohorts. 

“Sometimes you have the feeling, when you are in these types of jobs, that you’re the only person going through this experience. Then a group from across all jurisdictions comes together and you realise that everyone is going through the same thing. We’re all in the same boat and navigating the waters together,” Ms Joldić said. 

Mr Temperly said it was a valuable experience to take the time out of the office to engage with others that were at a similar career stage, and asking themselves similar questions about their work. 

“It gave you a sense of confidence that perhaps there isn’t a single right way to go about being a deputy, that everyone is coming to terms with similar challenges and issues,” he said 

“I think that the program itself is constructed in such a way that most people, if not all people, that are new to the deputy role would get something out of it. We all focus on the development of our people, but taking the time to focus on your own development delivers dividends in the long run.” 

As always, the 2025 iteration of the DLP will cover a broad range of topics, including ethics, integrity and accountability, First Nations policy, wellbeing, the political-administrative interface, and leading in transitions. 

Presenters will include:  

• Departmental Secretaries from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand  
• Dr Rachel Bacon, deputy commissioner Australian Public Service Commission  
• Jay Weatherill, former SA Premier, Executive Director of Democracy, McKinnon 
• Dr Matt Beard and Sarah Shephard, Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership  
• Jody Broun, CEO of the National Indigenous Australians Agency  
• Margaret Crawford PSM, former NSW Auditor-General  
• Wayne Eagleson, former chief of staff to the New Zealand Prime Minister  
• George Megalogenis, journalist and author  
• Professor Janine O’Flynn, director of the Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU  
• Sharyn O’Neill PSM, WA Public Sector Commissioner  
• Professor Sharon Pickering, vice chancellor and president Monash University  
• Danielle Wood, chair of the Productivity Commission  

The ANZSOG Deputies Leadership Program is designed for deputies with up to two years’ experience in the role, the 2025 Deputies Leadership Program will be delivered in two in-person three-day modules – both in Melbourne on the 10-12 September and 15-17 October. Registrations are now open.

The learning experience will be highly interactive, with small group discussions and reflection forming a central part of the program. Places are limited to about 30 per cohort to ensure a positive peer learning experience.