Are you ready to build your capacity to comfortably lead complex systems?
It is no secret that senior public sector leaders are increasingly being asked to make complex strategic decisions in ambiguous and complex environments.
They are often asked to do this without structured approaches for diagnosing issues and setting priorities, and the support they need to have the confidence to shift to being an effective system-level leader.
ANZSOG’s new Strategic Leadership in the Public Sector (SLPS) Program Director Dr Chris Sarra says that public sector leadership has changed significantly in recent years, with new pressures and demands on leaders at all levels.
Dr Sarra is a Gurang Gurang / Taribelang Bunda man who has been Director General of Queensland government agencies and is the founder and CEO of the Stronger Smarter Institute
“As leaders, we've got to be able to observe and understand those pressures, not be overly influenced by one section over another, and get to a situation where we can make good quality decisions based on our assessment of those pressures,” he said.
“One of the things we're trying to do with this program is shift people's leadership from operational leaders to being systems leaders.
“That requires them to be able to observe and understand complexity from a range of angles and not have to feel they have to know all the answers.”
He said that leaders were often required to operate in areas where they did not have formal authority, and that this could be a frustrating experience.
“The challenge then is to be mindful of who we are as leaders in that circumstance and make sure that we are leading in a way that's anchored by a sense of good quality values, alignment with what we're trying to achieve together, and an ability to be able to sit with complexity,” he said.
Uncovering everyone’s leadership potential
Dr Sarra is a graduate of ANZSOG’s Executive Master of Public Administration, which he says built his confidence as a leader and showed him he had potential beyond the First Nations policy world he was working in.
He said the SLPS program is designed to produce a similar mindset shift in its participants.
“I'm very determined that people who want to be a part of this special journey through the SLPS will come out differently and more confident to how they came in. We often have good leadership qualities that just have to be exposed to ourselves,” he said.
He said that successful leaders needed to influence and inspire others to act – and that came to down to having commitment and courage as well as an understanding of the system they worked in.
“When I think about the key qualities of successful leaders, I think that, surprisingly, one of the best things is knowing just how to shut up and to listen. And have the confidence to know that I don't need to know all of the answers,” he said.
“I think sometimes in leadership it's mistakenly thought that we have to bang our fist on the desk and squeeze people until we get what we need out of them. To me, that's anything but leadership.
“When we lead in a style that sees us become detached from our own sense of decency and our own sense of humanity to the extent that we trash the humanity of others, that's a problem
Building capability and a practical intervention
Unlike generic leadership programs, SLPS is tailored to the realities of public sector leadership. It includes a ‘capstone project’ that will deliver an individual Strategic Intervention Plan for each participant that addresses a live challenge in their agency.
Dr Sarra said that the ‘capstone project’ was a key part of the SLPS because he wanted to work with the live issues that were real for participants, and give them something with immediate practical impact.
“We don't want to just open your head and tip stuff in or say, ‘here's a bag full of tricks, do this and everything will be fine’,” he said.
“When you spend time with us on this learning journey, we want to talk about the things that are affecting you right now. We want to share ideas and thoughts about how you might attend to that challenge tomorrow morning when you go back to work or you work with those teams.”
“The capstone project will allow you to contemplate the complexity that you're dealing with on a day-to-day basis and give you some new ways of thinking about it”
The core SLPS curriculum is built around ‘capability sprints’ designed to be integrated flexibly across the following themes:
Diagnosing complexity:
Mapping systems, stakeholders and interdependencies
Identifying patterns, constraints and root causes
Prioritising in environments with competing demands and incomplete information
Making and communicating decisions:
Making defensible trade-offs under pressure
Deciding with incomplete or ambiguous information
Communicating rationale clearly to stakeholders and senior leaders
Mobilising progress across stakeholders:
Influencing without formal authority
Aligning competing priorities across teams and agencies
Maintaining momentum and managing resistance
Dr Sarra said he wanted SLPS participants to stretch their thinking and leave the program with a sustained and different sense of who they were as leaders.
“We are determined that you will leave this program with a sustained and different sense of who you were when you came in. We want to expose your own excellent qualities to yourself, and get you to be more confident and mindful of leading with a sense of decency and quality,” he said.
Strategic Leadership in the Public Sector at a glance
Audience: Strategic Leadership in the Public Sector is designed primarily for EL2 (or equivalent) leaders, and for high‑performing EL1 (or equivalent) leaders preparing to step into EL2‑level (or equivalent) responsibilities.
Delivery: SLPS is a high-intensity accelerator, consisting of 10 online sessions led by program director Dr Chris Sarra plus access to resources for self-paced learning.
2026 course dates: 6 October to 19 December.
What you will learn:
Strategic Leadership in the Public Sector supports leaders progressing from operational leadership into roles that demand system‑level thinking, influence and judgement in politically exposed environments. The program builds capability to:
Progress system‑level work where agency priorities, pressures and accountabilities vary.
Influence outcomes without formal authority.
Make informed, leadership‑level decisions on AI governance and systemic risk.
Navigate political friction, ambiguity and competing priorities with confidence.
During the program, you will:
Develop a strategic intervention plan (Capstone) addressing a live agency challenge.
Apply pro‑social, ethical and risk‑aware leadership principles to real AI and technology decisions.
Draw practical insight from senior practitioners who have led complex public sector reforms.
Find out more: you can talk directly to our learner services team about SLPS – book a free one-on-one consultation here or you can contact us on engage@anzsog.edu.au or 1300 ANZSOG