How ANZSOG’s Emerging Leaders Program gives tools and mindsets for success

The transition to a leadership role is one of the toughest steps in a public sector career, requiring a range of professional and personal qualities to succeed. 

ANZSOG’s Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) began in 2024, specifically to meet demand from public servants moving from operational to more senior management or leadership roles.  

Led by experienced facilitators, Dr Paul Atkins, Dr Jill Charker, and Jason Ardler, the 2025 ELP will be made up of an online orientation, a three-day in-person intensive in Brisbane, followed by two online sessions.  

Speaking at an ELP information session in November Dr Atkins said that, from his perspective, ‘’leadership ‘is not a position, it’s a behaviour’. 

“It’s the behaviour of mobilising people to tackle tough challenges together. The value of just ‘stepping up’, being courageous enough to actually go above and beyond, is one of the things that I really want to bring into the conversation,” he said. 

“A second thing is the value of purpose, both for yourself, and building a sense of shared purpose within your team, along with the courage and capacity to have difficult conversations.” 

He said that good leaders were able to take into account other stakeholder perspectives, and think about the system as a whole and how it was working, as well as being able to manage change. 

Changing mindsets for new leadership roles

Duncan McLaggan, Community Partnerships and Investment Manager, Auckland Council, was one of the 2024 cohort for the ELP. 

He said that the program had given him tools and mindsets to deal with the challenges of stepping into a senior role, and dealing with change within the organisation.  

Auckland Council serves around 1.6 million diverse people, in both rural and urban environments, and Mr McLaggan’s department covers a broad span from environmental services, libraries, arts, culture, heritage, and community development. 

“Every day you have the opportunity to make people’s lives a bit better, and there’s not many roles in which you get to do that. I worked in the private sector before becoming a public servant. While it was fun, I get much more intrinsic value out of the role that I do now,” he said. 

“When I chose the ELP I was looking for something that fitted the unique position I’m in, and the fact that I was transitioning to being more involved in the strategy and the broader aims of the organisation. 

“What I found good about the course was that it looked at your mindset and the psychology of getting yourself ready for that change, as well as quite a few practical tools for improving. So that was hugely helpful.” 

“It’s about how you go about making that mental shift from being a unit leader or a team leader – where you have a really strong subject matter focus – to being a manager who’s moving into areas of broader responsibility. You really have to consider the way that you present yourself and manage your relationships to facilitate that move.  

“I learnt a lot of tools that I go back to quite frequently when I’m faced with a particularly gnarly issue or challenge, particularly in the leadership space.” 

Practical leadership tools and resources

ELP Participants will embark on a journey of personal and professional growth, building their capacity to become the next generation of visionary and effective leaders in the public sector 

Dr Atkins said that the program would offer a range of benefits to participants including short practical tools and resources to help them in the following areas: 

• Personal Power: Discover how to leverage your influence effectively and ethically in your new leadership role. 
• Powerful Conversations: Master the art of communication to build relationships, manage conflicts and drive team performance. 
• Indigenous Wisdom: Gain fresh perspectives on leadership through an Indigenous lens, enhancing your ability to think systemically and lead inclusively (led by Jason Ardler). 
• Resilience and Self-Leadership: Develop the mental fortitude and self-awareness needed to thrive in high-pressure environments. 
• Team Alignment: Learn practical tools to create purposeful, high-performing teams that can navigate change and uncertainty 
• Strategic Change: Collaboratively explore a case study of psychological safety and morality in the context of organisational restructuring (led by Jill Charker) 
• Peer Network: Connect with fellow public sector leaders, sharing challenges and insights in a supportive environment 

“We’ll be developing a sense of different levels of leadership and what leadership might actually mean in the context of their lives,” he said.  

“We’ll also be looking at this question of ‘power over’ and ‘power with’, and what that means in modern workplaces. The key challenge is to work with people outside of the bounds of authority relationships. It’s easier to lead people when you’ve got authority over them, but what about when you’re trying to lead in the context of cross-organisational boundaries?” 

Mr McLaggan said the ELP had helped deliver permanent positive changes to the way he led, and the way he responded to challenges. 

“The way in which I’m working with staff and my team is different. I feel I can actually handle the challenges they bring to me in a much more professional way. 

“The ELP has made me a bit more comfortable with sitting in the uncertainty of organisations and the change that is inevitable within them. We came through a period of considerable restructure and budget issues going into COVID, but also coming out of COVID. The ELP significantly improved my ability to reflect on that, what it meant, where I saw my position in this change and how I communicated that also to my staff. 

“I think the ELP fills such a need for this kind of leadership training. There’s a lot of leadership training for people in upper, further up the chain, but this is quite solidly focused on those who are making that transition into upper management. So I’d absolutely recommend it.” 

Applications for the 2025 ELP program are now open and ANZSOG will again work to select a cohort that is at a similar point in their leadership journeys, both to ensure the relevance of the content and to build a network that can support each other through their careers. For more information on the ELP including how to apply for 2025 visit the ANZSOG Website.