APS 6 – EL1 Leadership, Capability & Professional Excellence Masterclass
Optimise your leadership for more senior and complex roles
Practical, engaging and hands-on, this comprehensive masterclass will optimise your professional performance and prepare you for the next stage of your career.
Specifically designed for APS 6 & EL1 level roles and built around the core capabilities set out by the APSC, you will gain key tools to thrive as a senior public sector leader and to tackle your career with drive and resilience.
A proverbial ‘one-stop shop’ for professional and leadership development, you will leave feeling inspired, reenergized, and confident about your leadership and the path ahead.
Your event experience
The support and guidance of a seasoned and engaging leadership coach and facilitator, who 1000+ attendees have given a customer satisfaction rating of 98%!
Small group-based activity sessions to translate theory into practice
Walk away with a toolkit of concepts, tools and techniques that are endorsed by the APS capability framework
Build new connections and a local support network of like-minded peers from across the Commonwealth Public Service
Daniel Murray
Founder & Director, Empathic Consulting
After making waves in corporate strategy and management consulting with Australia’s biggest Financial Services giants, Daniel Murray now channels his expertise into helping businesses and leaders supercharge their performance through the power of people, culture, and empathy. Combining his mathematical and strategic background with deep research into emotions, neuroscience, and behavioural economics, Daniel is the leading expert on embedding Strategic Empathy.
Daniel Murray
After making waves in corporate strategy and management consulting with Australia’s biggest Financial Services giants, Daniel Murray now channels his expertise into helping businesses and leaders supercharge their performance through the power of people, culture, and empathy. Combining his mathematical and strategic background with deep research into emotions, neuroscience, and behavioural economics, Daniel is the leading expert on embedding Strategic Empathy.
The author of The Empathy Gap and CEO of Empathic Consulting, Daniel has worked with leadership teams and spoken to audiences at some of the largest groups and conferences across the APAC region. His knack for engaging and entertaining leaves clients fired up and ready to achieve new heights of understanding and performance.
Why attend
Work effectively, efficiently and strategically at the APS 6 – EL1 Level
Define your leadership values and commitments to build trust and confidence
Build your team’s capabilities and improve performance through culture and support
Learn how to develop and drive diverse teams to unlock innovation
Develop the skills to communicate with conviction and foster team commitment
Learn how to give feedback that provides clarity, motivation and action
Who will attend?
Current & emerging leaders who are ready to stretch themselves, have greater impact and lean into leading in their public sector organisation. This Masterclass is suitable for APS 6 – EL1 roles such as:
- Team Leader
- Assistant Manager/ Director
- Senior Officer
- Senior Advisor
- Senior Analyst
- Project Officer
- Inspector
Agenda
All times are shown in AEST
Acknowledgement of Country & opening remarks
Introductions & framing of the day
Module 1: Foundations of high-performance leadership
Stepping into strategic leadership
- Moving from Manager to Leader in the APS
- The 5 Roles of Leadership – Getting out of the weeds
- Identifying the drivers of uncertainty in teams
- Understanding destructive behaviours and their impacts
- Building trust, understanding and curiosity for performance
Morning tea
Shaping your leadership values & commitments
- Leading with principles and purpose
- Develop your personal guiding principles
- Sketching your leadership commitments
Testing your leadership principles
- Small group work to stress test principles in scenario
- Group discussions around the challenges of principled leadership
- Making a commitment to change starts with you
Lunch
Key takeaways from Module One & tough questions
- Summary of key points
- Participant reflections and actions
- Tough questions from the floor
Module 2: Self-mastery in APS leadership
Regulating yourself to influence others
- The Have – Be – Do model
- How our attitude shapes actions and perceptions
- Role modelling a performance culture
- Raising the bar of leadership within your team
- Coaching team members for leadership delegation
Afternoon Tea
Understanding mental models & curious leadership
- How we see the world – the mental models in our minds
- The ability to identify assumptions, experiences and facts
- The Curious Leadership Model
Close of Day One
Reflections & observations from Day One
Creating clarity in task & intent
- Providing direction in complex roles
- Building a problem solving culture in your team
- Do you want to be right or get the right outcome?
The power of leading with empathy
- Empathy drives trust and commitment
- The ‘Empathy Process’
- Examples of leading with empathy
Morning Tea
Key takeaways from Module Two & tough questions
- Summary of key points
- Participant reflections and actions
- Tough questions from the floor
Module 3: Avoiding leadership sinkholes
Strategies to elevate out of the operational work
- Reducing busyness and protecting time
- Building more constructive meetings
- Owning accountability while giving opportunity
Lunch
Managing people for high performance
- Stop getting people ‘on the bus’
- Leading people with commitment and conviction
- Managing people who create tension for leaders
The power of kind feedback
- Focus on behaviours not results
- Being kind, not cruel and not nice
- A model for giving better feedback
Coaching & questions for influence
- Providing critical feedback on work
- Inspiring curiosity through questions
- Managing and challenging up
Strategic decision making & managing risk
- The Critical Problem Scenario Analysis
- Leading team decision making effectiveness
- The importance of commitment to decisions
Key takeaways from Module Three & tough questions
- Summary of key points
- Participant reflections and actions
- Tough questions from the floor
Close of Masterclass
Location: Venue TBC
Benefits of attending in-person: This is the perfect networking opportunity for leaders, in an environment that will set you up to build new connections and a support network of like-minded peers!
Food & catering requirements: Catering is provided at all in-person The Hatchery events. Dietary requirements and special needs are to be communicated to event organisers one week prior to the event commencing. Please identify yourself to The Hatchery staff upon arrival to ensure all your needs are met.
Dress code: The event dress code is Business casual.
Pricing
Save up until 20 March
+GST
Launch special!
Save $700
Save up until 10 April
+GST
Early bird pricing
Save $500
Save up until 1 May
+GST
Early bird pricing
Save $300
Save up until 5 June
+GST
Early bird pricing
Save $100
Standard Price
+GST
Bring your colleagues and save with a group discount!
Groups of 5+ save 10%
Groups of 10+ save 20%
All leaders could benefit from this course.”
Mell Atkinson
Manager, Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry, September 2025
Eye-opening experience, took away some really great tools and ways to deal with certain work related issues. Daniel is a great speaker and very knowledgeable.”
Veronika Naberezhnova
APS6 Compliance Team Leader, Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, September 2025
Daniel’s class was extremely well run and provided very useful insights which I have been applying to my workplace to great effect!”
Corey Lillington
Senior Project Officer, National Blood Authority, September 2025
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