Accelerate: Strategic

Supporting senior public sector leaders to shape the future.

Delivering successful outcomes in the face of complex challenges requires visionary, purposeful and deliberate leadership.

Accelerate: Strategic is a proven leadership development programme designed by Digby Scott to help senior public sector leaders undergo transformation to make a significant contribution toward shaping the future.

What the programme achieves

After participating in this programme, participants will be able to:

Think and behave as more of a systems leader - operating beyond just their own agency - to building the right culture and behaviour across the Public Service (as outlined in the Public Service Act).
Demonstrate highly capable leadership in an environment of rapid change, uncertainty and complexity
Positively shape and influence the workplace culture to sustain transformation and change

Adeptly balance priorities between delivering BAU and effecting transformation
Create and leverage the networks needed to lead across the organisation and the wider system
Play their part to ensure your organisation is the type of organisation you intend it to be.

“I thought I was pretty confident in my leadership and knew quite a bit... and then my eyes were opened!”

— Corey

“You can be open and honest, and nobody’s judging. They’re there to support you on your journey”

— Rose

“There’s a bond amongst this group. It’s quite amazing how quickly it was established”

— Jonathan

Who is this programme for?

Accelerate: Strategic is a course for public sector leaders who are part of a senior leadership team and/or responsible for leading larger functional groups, as well as high-potential talent.

They’ll likely be:

High performing and/or high potential
Respected influencers
Highly engaged
Open, positive and ready to give things a go
Committed to being active shapers of the future public sector

The programme develops senior leaders to grow their mindsets, skillsets and networks to lead their organisation well into the long term, and to play an influential leadership role in the broader system in which we operate. As a result, you can expect to see more ‘cut-through’, innovation, engagement, talent-flow, connectedness and resilience in your organisation and sector.

Accelerate: Strategic also develops leaders who are better able to take a whole-of-public-sector view, enabling better cross-sector collaboration and more joined-up approaches.

How is the programme different?

Traditional programmes tend to be about giving people the tools, frameworks and models to apply in the workplace. But in a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) world, it’s not enough to just give people the tools when the ground and the sector are changing the whole time. Accelerate: Strategic is an agile response to the additional demands that VUCA situations place upon leaders.

We focus less on what to think, and more on how to think. We help leaders develop a greater complexity of mind, enabling them to better navigate VUCA situations, when there is no right answer or clear way forward. This type of development is known as vertical development, while traditional programmes typically focus on horizontal development.

“When a programme transforms who you are, not only as a leader but also as a person, that’s where you get some real value”

— Shanil

Vertical Development underpins the programme design

A useful analogy is to think of a cup.

The cup represents a leader’s capacity to handle complexity. Horizontal development fills the cup with tools and how-tos. Vertical development grows the whole cup.