Leadership: Managing Performance & Difficult Conversations
Date: 2 — 3 September
Time: 9 am — 4 pm
Location: Online
Email: [email protected]
Every leader faces difficult conversations. The difference is how they’re prepared to handle them. Whether it’s addressing underperformance, delivering constructive feedback or navigating sensitive issues, these conversations can be challenging, but they’re also among the most important you’ll have as a leader.
Public Sector Leadership: Managing Performance & Difficult Conversations will give you the practical skills, frameworks and confidence to manage these conversations effectively and support stronger outcomes for your team.
Learn essential communication and conflict resolution skills to effectively and proactively manage performance:
- Lead performance with confidence using proven government best-practice approaches.
- Tackle disengagement and underperformance with clear, constructive feedback.
- Tailor conversations to connect, engage and manage your team effectively.
- Spot issues early and drive results through smart planning and performance indicators.
Persuasive Public Sector Writing Masterclass
Date: 2 September — 28 October
Time: 9 am — 1 pm
Location: In-person
Email: [email protected]
All writing should be clear, concise and correct. Improve your writing in government for impact and influence. Good-quality public sector writing should also be professional, persuasive and polished. Public sector writing can be challenging and time-consuming. You have to contend with different audiences, rigid deadlines and complex topics.
While the basic skills of good writing are critical, you need more to meet the demands of more involved government communication. You need to be able to present every case confidently and well, regardless of who you are writing to or what you are writing about. You must be able to use words, structure, flow and more to deliver compelling arguments and convincing information that people will want to read.
Facilitator Bev Sullivan has decades of experience in running written communication workshops for public servants at all levels and from all tiers of government. Her specialty is helping people to use (and tweak) their existing skills and experience to make writing less of a chore and deliver better results.
Governance & Risk Update NSW
Date: 3 September
Time: 8 am — 10:30 am
Location: Cliftons Sydney
Email: [email protected]
This Governance and Risk Update is a new event format designed to keep members informed and connected in 2026. This timely briefing will provide members with expert insight, practical experience and peer discussion to help them stay ahead of a rapidly evolving governance and risk landscape.
The event will open with a focused update on key developments shaping today’s governance and risk landscape, including governance, culture and accountability, cyber, AI and digital governance, and the ongoing challenge of financial crime. This session will equip members with a clear understanding of the most significant regulatory, technological and cultural shifts, highlighting what has changed, what is emerging, and what this means in practice for organisations and professionals.
Drawing on real-world experience, these leaders will explore how expectations around governance, accountability and risk are evolving in response to increasing regulatory scrutiny, digital disruption and financial crime risks. The discussion will focus on how organisations are strengthening culture and accountability, navigating cyber and AI governance challenges, and responding to financial crime obligations. Participants will gain practical insights, decision-making considerations and lessons learned, bridging the gap between theory and practice.
The Governance and Risk Update is designed to be informative, relevant and practical, providing members with confidence, clarity and connection as they move into the second half of the year.
Media Skills for Executives
Date: 8 September
Time: 9 am — 4:30 pm
Location: Online
Email: [email protected]
Overview
Navigate the media landscape with finesse and mastery.
- Articulate your message with clarity and brevity.
- Adapt your communication style to resonate with diverse media audiences.
- Master techniques to shape the narrative and steer conversations towards desired talking points.
- Apply media skills to real-world scenarios through interactive exercises and role-playing.
Organising Around Risks with Prof Malcolm Sparrow
Date: 9 — 10 September
Time: 9:30 am — 4:30 pm
Location: Online
Email: [email protected]
This is an exclusive two-part seminar with Professor Malcolm Sparrow, a leading international expert in regulatory and enforcement strategy, security and risk control.
This seminar examines the motivation for developing a capacity for risk-based work, and considers a broad range of implications for organisations that want to devote more of their resources and attention to problem-centric operations. The hope is not to displace or de-emphasise functional and process-based competence, but to add a capacity for risk-based work, learn how to organise and support that capacity, and understand how to integrate different forms of work within a single organisation.
Effective risk control requires vigilance (to understand new threats), nimbleness (the flexibility to organise around risks that don’t fit well with existing structures) and skill (to fashion and implement surgical and tailored responses).
Malcolm is the Professor of the Practice of Public Management at Harvard’s John F Kennedy School of Government and the faculty chair of the school’s executive program Strategic Management of Regulatory and Enforcement Agencies.
Townsville Ideas Exchange: Ethics Under Pressure — Making the hard call (with CA ANZ)
Date: 10 — 11 September
Time: 5:15 pm — 7:30 pm
Location: Rydges Southbank Townsville
Email: [email protected]
This face‑to‑face interactive panel examines how ethical decision‑making changes under pressure — when time is short, information is incomplete, incentives are misaligned, and trust in what’s “true” is declining. Drawing on insights from the 2025 Ethics Index, the discussion focuses on practical tools and governance habits that help professionals make consistent, defensible calls.
The session includes a hypothetical ethical dilemma/case study, inviting the panel and audience to pressure‑test options in real time — highlighting trade‑offs across legal/regulatory duties, organisational culture and community expectations.
The panel will also explore how AI‑influenced analysis and content introduce new accountability issues, including transparency and disclosure expectations, bias, and the risk of over‑reliance on automated outputs.
NT Women in Leadership Workshop
Date: 10 — 11 September
Time: 9 am — 4:30 pm
Location: Oaks Elan Darwin
Email: [email protected]
Overview
Enhance your effectiveness as a leader in an evolving professional landscape.
- Develop your individual leadership style.
- Build confidence to lead authentically and effectively.
- Learn the art of confident communication.
- Strengthen your ability to influence.
Mentor, coach and time-management expert Barbara Clifford helps people transform stress into strength. She works with clients across Australia and around the globe, supporting business leaders, Aboriginal organisations, government agencies and not-for-profits to replace burnout with balance.
University of Canberra Open Day Fest 2026
Date: 12 September
Time: 10 am — 3 pm
Location: University of Canberra, Bruce campus
Entry: Free, registration required
The University of Canberra’s (UC) Open Day Fest blends campus tours with a community fair to unite all visitors. It goes beyond the curriculum. It’s about building connections, exploring opportunities, finding new paths, and belonging.
Check out the Adult Learner Hub, where you can chat to career advisers about your future, get a free LinkedIn headshot, or join an industry session to learn about how your work and life experience could count towards entry or credit for a UC degree.
Extend your time on campus and enjoy the free live music festival, as well as exhibitions from SLAM! Pro Wrestling and some of Australia’s best woodchoppers as they put on a showcase of their impressive skills. Hit up the local food and drink stands or relax at the Capital Brewing Beer Garden. On top of all that, there are academic and student meet-and-greets, campus and accommodation tours, family activities (including a jumping castle and passenger train) and lots more.
Visit UC’s website to learn more and register for the event!
Women in Governance: Journeys So Far
Date: 15 September
Time: 7 am — 9 am
Location: Rendezvous Grand Hotel Melbourne
Email: [email protected]
Build meaningful connections. Connect with a community of governance professionals who understand the opportunities and challenges of the profession. Expand your network, exchange ideas and build relationships that can support your career long after the event ends.
Gain practical career insights. Learn how accomplished women have navigated career pivots, overcome setbacks and embraced opportunities for growth. Take away practical advice you can apply to your own professional journey.
Invest in your professional development. Whether your goal is to secure your next role, strengthen your leadership skills or expand your influence, you’ll leave with fresh perspectives and actionable ideas to help elevate your career. Exit motivated and confident.
MasterCraft Series Workforce Planning for Leaders
Date: 17 September
Time: 11 am — 12:30 pm
Duration: One 60-minute face-to-screen session
Location: Virtual
Email: https://apslearn.apsacademy.gov.au/user_login
This MasterCraft Series event presents leaders with an opportunity to understand and address workforce challenges in their teams. The session will provide evidence-based workforce insights, highlight priority workforce risk areas, and articulate the role of leaders in addressing and mitigating workforce risks within their teams.
The session will demonstrate workforce management tools and strategies for leaders to address these risks and build engaged, highly capable and high-performing teams.
Presenters are:
- Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) senior adviser Grace Liew
- APSC Director of Workforce Strategy & Planning Sally Lowe.
This event is suitable for all staff.
