EL1-2 Women in Leadership Masterclass
Canberra: 15-16 September
Online: 14, 21, 28 October & 4 November
Move beyond your technical expertise & excel in more complex roles & scenarios
Specifically designed for EL1-2 level leaders and directors, this highly interactive, Masterclass will equip you with the tools and strategies to lead with greater impact and confidently take on more senior and complex roles in the public sector.
Learn how to overcome the common internal and external barriers to success faced by women in the workplace, enhance and refine your current leadership skills, and develop new capabilities to take the next step in your career. Set a career plan, seize progression opportunities, and learn how to purposefully lead yourself, your team, and your organisation into the workplace of the future.
This interactive course is cognisant of the Executive Level Standards and is designed to reflect and align with the expectations of these roles. It will support and enhance the capabilities and behaviours required of EL1-EL2 level roles.
Kathryn Thomas
Director, KT & Associates
With a global career of more than 20 years as a Management Consultant and Global Learning Leader, Kathryn specialises in unlocking performance for people and their organisations. She has previously worked as an HR Senior Consultant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers and held global and Asia Pacific Leadership roles with IBM Global Business Services. She brings deep expertise in adult learning, facilitation, leading change, and leading with impact.
Kathryn is Director of her own business that focuses on people and performance both within Government and Private Sector. She is an accredited Executive Coach who has a passion for supporting women in leadership to thrive.
Kathryn Thomas
With a global career of more than 20 years as a Management Consultant and Global learning Leader, Kathryn specialises in unlocking performance for people and their organisations. She has previously worked as an HR Senior Consultant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers and held global and Asia Pacific Leadership roles with IBM Global Business Services. She brings deep expertise in adult learning, facilitation, leading change and leading with impact.
Kathryn now is a Director in her own business focussing on people and performance both within Government and Private Sector. She is an accredited Executive Coach who has a passion for supporting women in leadership to thrive.
Key benefits
Define your leadership identity – who you are as a leader, your purpose, your values, & your brand
Understand & own your leadership journey so you can intentionally plan your career progression
Understand your team’s capabilities & improve their collaboration & performance through strengths-based leadership
Build your influencing capabilities as you lead at your level & up
Develop the skills to communicate with presence & authenticity
Strengthen your mindset, confidence & capability to lead & inspire others
What’s new in 2026?
An online interactive course for APS employees based outside of Canberra, or those that prefer a more flexible online learning opportunity
Audience
Aspiring, emerging, and existing female leaders across the Australian Public Sector, in EL1 and EL2 roles.
The support and guidance of an expert
Small group-based activity sessions to translate theory into practice
Walk away with a toolkit of practical resources, frameworks, tools that you will be able to implement immediately in your role and organisation
Build new connections and a support network of like-minded peers, forging lasting relationships
Agenda
In-Person (AEST):
Day 1: 15 September 9:00am-4:00pm
Day 2: 16 September 9:00am-3:30pm
Online (AEDT):
14 October: 9:30am-12:30pm
21 October: 9:30am-12:30pm
28 October: 9:30am-12:30pm
4 November: 9:30am-12:30pm
Module 1: Transforming yourself
Masterclass overview, context setting, building relationships & supporting a safe learning environment
- Who are we?
- How will we best learn together?
- Sharing leadership challenges
Why do you lead & how do you lead?
- Defining your leadership identity
- Understanding what leadership means to you
- Becoming the leader that you wish you had
- What got you here won’t get you there
Unpacking the qualities of self-leadership
- What is emotional intelligence and why does it matter
- How do you continuously learn and grow as a leader?
- What impact do you have on others as a leader?
- How can you foster followership?
Share current leadership challenges
Learning reflection
Module 2: Transforming teams
Setting your team up for success
- What are the critical behaviours of high-performing teams?
- How do you deliberately build trust within your team
Creating inclusive, diverse & psychologically safe workplaces
- How do you intentionally create a culture that will support excellence
- Creating psychological safety by valuing diversity, equality, and inclusion
Inspiring people through essential conversations
- What builds success within your teams?
Moving from performance management to performance development
- As a leader how do you inspire growth through focusing on strengths?
- How do you create a culture that inspires learning?
- Guide, mentor, and develop your team
Share current leadership challenges
Learning reflection
Module 3: Leading for the future
Making the transition from managing to leading across your agency
- Are you a manager or a leader?
- From managing to leading – what are the shifts you need to make?
- How can you build your influence across your agency?
Enlisting & mobilising others to influence change
- How do you influence without authority?
- What are the critical factors that will drive change and transformation?
Influencing through creating relationships that matter built on deep trust
- What are the behaviours that build trust?
- Assess the quality of the relationships that matter most and impact your ability to influence across your agency
- How will you deliberately and intentionally shift the relationships that matter?
Share current leadership challenges
Learning reflection
Module 4: Design your leadership future
Stepping up from EL1-2
- What got you here won’t get you there
- Strategically planning your capability development aligned with the EL2 skills profile
Define & embody your personal & professional brand
- How do you show up as a leader? How do others see you as a leader?
- The world of work shifting: how will that impact you as a leader of the future?
Create a strategic action plan to progress your career
- What are the habits to avoid that can impact your career progression?
- What do you need to have, to know, to be, and do to progress your career?
- What are the barriers and enablers you need to manage to progress your career?
Create robust support networks to foster success
- Why you need a personal board of directors and how to create one
- How can you help other women rise?
Share current leadership challenges
Learning reflection
Pricing
Save up until 3 July
+GST
Early bird pricing
Save $700
Save up until 31 July
+GST
Early bird pricing
Save $500
Save up until 28 August
+GST
Early bird pricing
Save $300
Standard rates after early bird
+GST
Save up until 3 July
+GST
Early bird pricing
Save $700
Save up until 31 July
+GST
Early bird pricing
Save $500
Save up until 28 August
+GST
Early bird pricing
Save $300
Standard rates after early bird
+GST
Save with our group discounts!
Groups of 5+ save 10%
Groups of 10+ save 20%
Thank you for your expertise and knowledge around aspects of the leadership Kathryn. … I loved the content, the exercises, overall awareness on what it takes to be a great leader – being a woman.”
Poornima Peri
Risk and Compliance Lead, Bureau of Meteorology, March 2026
Kathryn is a wonderful facilitator, she is relatable and makes the course content relatable and pivots in the course to suit the audience.”
Emily O’Neil
Assistant Director, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, March 2026
I feel validated, supported and ready for the world.”
Lauren Carter
Assistant Director/Team Lead, Geoscience Australia, March 2026
It’s rare I attend a course and feel inspired afterwards. This had a great variety tools so you’d get some things that really resonated and some that might not as much. I appreciated the practical tools.”
Phoebe Black
Assistant Director - Benefits Payments - PRD, Department of Veterans’ Affairs, March 2026
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