Overview

Where senior executives and academics meet to lead dynamic change.

The Executive Fellows Program (EFP) is ANZSOG’s flagship executive fellowship for senior leaders across Australian and New Zealand government. It creates space to step back from day-to-day demands, examine how you lead and engage with the ideas shaping contemporary public leadership.

Over 14 weeks, the program combines a five-day residential workshop in Sydney with live online sessions, giving you opportunities to learn, reflect and apply new approaches in your leadership context.

You will:

challenge assumptions and test ideas that can influence your leadership practice.
learn from thinkers shaping public systems worldwide.
apply global insights to the public sector context in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
build relationships with senior peers across jurisdictions and sectors.

Key Benefits

Lead with greater self-awareness

Examine your leadership identity, values and presence. Strengthen the self-awareness, confidence and authenticity you bring to executive leadership.

Navigate complexity with greater composure

Use practical frameworks and adaptive thinking to work through uncertainty, competing priorities and the shifting demands of contemporary public leadership.

Broaden your perspective

Learn from diverse disciplines, cultures and peers across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, creating opportunities to see familiar challenges from different perspectives.

Build a lasting leadership network

Join ANZSOG’s alumni community of more than 4,000 leaders across 40 countries and continue to build relationships beyond the program.

Who It's For

Build confidence and capability as a leader.

The Executive Fellows Program is designed for experienced senior public sector executives navigating the practical challenges of leadership and change. It is for senior public sector senior executives (SES 1–3 or equivalent). For leaders in Aotearoa New Zealand, it is a public service senior executive fellows programme that connects you with peers across both countries.

It is particularly relevant if you:

have experience leading teams, managing change and delivering outcomes.
want space to step back and reassess your leadership perspective.
are navigating complex or changing public sector environments.
want to build greater conviction and resilience under pressure.
value learning with senior peers across jurisdictions and sectors.

Learning Outcomes

Turn new perspectives into strategic leadership practice.

You will strengthen your capabilities, perspectives and reflective practices you need to lead with greater clarity in complex public sector environments.

By completing the program, you will be equipped to:

strengthen your self-awareness and sense of purpose as an executive leader
apply adaptive thinking to complex and uncertain environments
balance competing priorities in changing policy contexts
build a more reflective leadership practice
use techniques that support clarity, composure and wellbeing under pressure
draw on perspectives and relationships from across jurisdictions, cultures and disciplines.

Learning Experience

A residential in Sydney, plus online sessions.

Immersive, flexible learning

Combine a five-day residential intensive in Sydney with live online sessions across the 14-week program, creating space for focused learning, reflection and continued engagement.

Learn with peers, apply in practice

Test ideas with a curated cohort of senior leaders through candid dialogue and diverse perspectives, then apply your learning to the leadership challenges you face day to day. Discussions are held under Chatham House Rule.

Connection that continues

Receive support from ANZSOG’s Program Experience team throughout your program journey and continue the relationships and conversations through ANZSOG’s alumni network.

Our Learning Promise

Connecting participants, enabling trust, and prioritising practice.

ANZSOG learning is designed for the realities of public service. Every program brings together evidence, expertise and experience to help participants think differently, connect with others and put learning to practice.

Our Learning Promise is built around four interconnected elements: Trust, Connection, Practice and Impact. Together, they shape a learning journey that begins with open dialogue, grows through shared insight and leads to action in each participant's context.

Learning Approach

Grounded in expertise, built for performance.

Evidence-based

Engage with leadership frameworks and ideas from academics, practitioners and thinkers working across public systems.

Reflective and collaborative

Use structured reflection and candid peer discussion to examine your leadership practice, test assumptions and learn from the experiences of other senior leaders.

Accessible and flexible

Combine an intensive Sydney residential with live online learning and opportunities to apply what you learn between sessions.

Topics Covered

Leading with self-awareness and purpose

Explore leadership identity, values and presence to deepen self-awareness and strengthen your purpose as an executive leader.

Navigating complexity with composure

Develop adaptive thinking for uncertain environments and explore how to balance competing priorities in changing policy contexts.

Building resilience and reflective practice

Explore techniques that support clarity, composure and wellbeing under pressure, helping you sustain your leadership practice over time.

Reframing challenges and imagining new possibilities

Question familiar assumptions, broaden your perspective and explore new ways of responding to persistent public-sector challenges.

Sustaining leadership for the long term

Develop reflective practices and healthy habits that strengthen judgement, resilience and leadership effectiveness over time.

Key People

Faculty & Presenters.

Success Stories

What participants say.

“

“One of the things I really appreciated about the EFP was that it started with leading yourself. We didn’t go straight into some of the more public policy components, but in fact focused on the building blocks of self-awareness.
Paul JamesEFP 2009 alum and Government Chief Digital Officer, Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand)

“

The EFP gave me an in-depth understanding of change and how to manage change and some of the models around that. The whole experience gave me time to step out of what I was doing and step into the bigger picture of the public sector and the global situation.

Ro AllenEFP 2021 alum and Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner

“

I am a more reflective leader as a result of the EFP and having been able to engage with other people in senior positions about the way they approach difficult problems.

Grahame MortonEFP 2019 alum and Senior Diplomat, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

For Organisations

Strengthen executive capability for complex public sector leadership.

The Executive Fellows Program gives senior leaders structured space to strengthen how they lead, build relationships across jurisdictions and bring new perspectives back into their organisations.

For organisations, the program is positioned to support:

executive capability across leadership cohorts
stronger alignment and trust
relationships across agencies and jurisdictions
leadership capability to navigate reform and change.

The 2027 program fee is AUD $29,800 (inc GST). ANZSOG alumni receive a 15% discount on full fee programs. To discuss group bookings, contact engage@anzsog.edu.au or 1300 ANZSOG (1300 269 764).

Download Program Calendar

How to Apply

More information coming soon.

The Executive Fellows Program 2027 dates will be announced soon. Express your interest to stay up-to-date and we’ll provide additional details as they’re confirmed.

Express your interest

Frequently Asked Questions

The Executive Fellows Program is designed specifically for senior public sector leaders operating across complex organisations and systems. Rather than concentrating on technical leadership skills or passive content delivery, it takes an inside-out approach, connecting self-awareness, purpose and leadership identity with the practical work of influencing others and leading change. Academic insight, practitioner experience and the live challenges brought by participants all contribute to the learning experience.

Sessions combine expert perspectives with structured reflection, facilitated discussion, peer exchange and practical application. You will be expected to contribute your own experience, examine a current leadership challenge and test your thinking with other senior leaders. The environment is designed to provide enough trust for candid conversation and enough constructive challenge to question familiar assumptions.

Yes. The program is designed around application to your current leadership context. You will identify challenges from your role, explore them through frameworks and facilitated discussion, and use peer coaching and reflection to consider different responses. The aim is not to provide a single answer, but to help you strengthen your judgement and experiment with approaches suited to your circumstances.

Throughout the program, you will develop a personal leadership narrative that connects your path into public leadership with the contribution you want to make and the people you need to mobilise. The portfolio brings together reflection from across the learning journey and culminates in a short presentation of your leadership narrative. It is intended to help you articulate your purpose, direction and invitation to action more clearly.

Peer learning is central to the experience. Participants bring perspectives from different agencies, jurisdictions, disciplines and leadership contexts, creating opportunities to examine how similar challenges play out across public systems. Structured coaching circles and facilitated dialogue allow participants to challenge assumptions, exchange practical experience and build relationships they can continue to draw on beyond the program.

Executive Fellows Program

Overview