Executive Fellows Program

The Executive Fellows Program (EFP) isn’t just any public sector executive leadership course. This highly respected program gives you a unique opportunity to grow your leadership skills and learn alongside your peers from across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Designed exclusively for senior public sector executives, from Deputy Chief Executive Officers (CEO), Deputy Director-Generals and Deputy Secretaries, and executives two-levels below CEO, Director-General or Secretary, the EFP focuses on three key leadership themes:

• leading the self and others (including emotional capital)
• leading an organisation (including adaptive leadership)
• systems leadership.

Explore these themes through a contemporary lens, looking at live issues ranging from social movements to digital transformation. You’ll dive into interactive learning opportunities and gain insights that you can apply in your workplace right away.

The EFP has evolved to embrace both online and face-to-face environments and fit seamlessly into the busy lives of senior public sector. It puts you in the room with fellow public sector executives from across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand in short, engaging sessions that encourage lively interaction and cross-jurisdictional learning.

The EFP gives you the opportunity to learn from a cast of internationally renowned academics and senior public sector practitioners from Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world, in a program designed to help you take the next step in your public sector executive leadership career.

We encourage applications from, and nominations for, Māori and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, people with accessibility and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

The EFP is designed for high performing leaders and public sector senior executives, such as:

• Deputy Chief Executive Officers (CEO)
• Deputy Director-Generals
• Deputy Secretaries
• executives two levels below CEO, Director-General or Secretary.

The program is also suitable for senior executives in the not-for-profit sector, international equivalent roles and other experienced, high-performing senior leaders.

Ro Allen – EFP 2021 alum, Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner

This public sector fellows program is designed to challenge and inspire you in a highly interactive setting. You will:

• look at the dynamics and competing priorities successful public sector leaders need to navigate
• explore different strategies, frameworks and perspectives on leadership that you can apply immediately in your role
• learn to lead high performing teams across cultural boundaries and an increasingly complex digital environment
• examine contemporary issues, such as social movements and digital transformation
• gain deeper insights into the operating environment of the public service with particular attention to politics, the media, the international sphere and other sectors
• increase capabilities in reading and shaping organisational cultures
• find inspiration and opportunities to take your leadership to the next level
• grow your professional network and build robust connections with fellow public sector executives from across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand
• join an esteemed alumni community of more than 200 public sector leaders.

The capabilities of high-performance leadership are explored in depth:

• Self (for example, understanding self as the instrument of leadership, emotional intelligence, and understanding the ’shadow you cast’)
• Others (for example, influencing others, coaching and creating social identity)
• Organisation (for example, leading culture, building capabilities and adapting to new realities)
• External Environment (for example, ‘getting on the balcony’, building an authorizing environment, and systems thinking)

These capabilities will be stretched and applied to a range of sub-themes.

Sub Themes:

1. Digital Transformation (from cyber security and data analytics to Artificial Intelligence and disruptive technologies)
2. Social Change (from social unrest and polarisation to new forms social mobilisation)
3. International Volatility (from the global spectre of war to diplomatic tensions in the region)
4. First Nations Leadership (taking stock of public service engagement with indigenous perspectives and models of leadership)

Our faculty includes leading national and international academics who are experts in the public sector. We also draw on the expertise of senior practitioners from the public, not-for-profit and private sectors.

Faculty includes program co-director:

• Robin Ryde – London-based leadership, strategy and organisational development expert, author and former Chief Executive of the UK National School of Government.

The EFP public sector fellows program is delivered through:

• two consecutive face to face modules designed to provide you with an opportunity to immediately apply what you learn between modules when you return to work
• short, sharp interactive sessions including a mix of teacher-to-participant sessions, participant-led sessions, group work, immersive elements and facilitated panel discussions
• opportunities for self-reflection, action-learning groups exploring solutions to your leadership challenges and leadership-in-practice workshops
• practical frameworks and techniques, immersive learning cases and live policy challenges.

Orientation: 7 July 2025, 9 am – 12 pm AEST, online via Zoom

• Module 1: 14 July – 18 July face – to – face Brisbane
• Module 2: 21 July – 25 July 2025  face – to – face Sydney

Cost:$34,485 (excl. GST)

Please note:

• If a student has been nominated by a sponsoring agency, jurisdiction or organisation, that sponsor must cover program costs including tuition fee and program materials.

Paul James – EFP 2009 alum, Government Chief Digital Officer, Department of Internal Affairs (NZ)

We encourage you to speak to one of our EFP alumni to get an insider’s perspective. Please contact our Alumni Coordinator via email at: alumni@anzsog.edu.au, to arrange an introduction.

Some jurisdictions have specific registration processes. If you work for the governments of Western Australia, New South Wales or Victoria, please contact your department or agency’s Human Resources or Learning and Development team about your application or expression of interest.

If you work for the Northern Territory government, please contact the Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment at swpd.ocpe@nt.gov.au about your application or expression of interest.

If you work for the Aotearoa New Zealand government, please contact Lynn Evans at the Leadership Development Centre at LDCProgrammes@ldc.govt.nz about your application or expression of interest.

If you work for the Queensland government, your Public Sector Commission has a limited number of scholarships available for the program. If you would like to be considered for a scholarship via your jurisdiction’s Public Sector Commission, we encourage you to contact them for further information including dates for application submission. You are also welcome to make your own arrangements with your agency.

For more information about the EFP, check out the FAQ’s.