NSW Public Sector Women in Leadership Masterclass
Take charge of the next phase of your career
This is a watershed moment in your career, and the skills and behaviours that you cultivate now will become the cornerstones of your senior leadership in the years to come. This intimate and engaging masterclass is designed to provide you with the crucial skills and behaviours to grow and scale your senior leadership for what comes next.
Specifically designed for women in public sector leadership roles from all jurisdictions, this highly engaging two day masterclass will give you key tools to thrive as a senior leader and set yourself up for success for the rest of your career.
Former Deputy Secretary from the NSW Public Service Alex O’Mara will take you on a journey of lightbulb moments and strategically grow key skills so that you walk away refreshed, inspired and more confident in your leadership and the path ahead.
Alex O’Mara (She/Her)
Former Group Deputy Secretary, DPIE & Director
Sustainable Solutions Advisory
Alex is an experienced Senior Executive, Board Director and advisor with over 20 years of experience leading strategy, policy, organisational transformation and program delivery across a range of sectors including environment, infrastructure, energy, precincts, planning, culture, place and natural resource management.
Prior to undertaking a portfolio career, Alex was a Deputy Secretary in the NSW Government for over 5 years, as the Group Deputy Secretary, Place Design and Public Space and as Deputy Secretary Create NSW. Alex was also the Executive Director for Resources and Industry Policy and led Government legal teams for over 7 years in environmental and planning law.
Alex O’Mara (She/Her)
Alex is an experienced senior executive and leader who has worked across various sectors, including ESG, sustainability and natural resource management, planning, property, industry, infrastructure, building, design, culture and public space. Alex began her career in the private sector as a lawyer with Mallesons and has worked for both the NSW and Commonwealth Governments. Alex is now the Principal of Sustainable Solutions Advisory, which provides strategic advisory services relating to place, infrastructure, sustainability, ESG, leadership and business transformation.
Prior to this, as the Group Deputy Secretary of Place Design and Public Space in the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, she led 1,300 staff with an annual budget of $1.5b. Her remit was to reorient the planning system around people, place, and community. She also oversaw a $2.5b program of growth infrastructure and an annual investment of $400m in community programs. Alex led the Premier’s priorities to increase public space quality across NSW and plant one million trees across Greater Sydney.
Key benefits
Take your career by the horns & create a leadership impact plan
Learn how to be an authentic & collaborative leader with a customer focus
Grow your leadership presence & develop your personal brand
Get financially literate to effectively manage budgets
Learn strategies to facilitate effective listening & communication
Create a performance culture to deliver quality outcomes
Your event experience
- The support and guidance of a former Deputy Secretary in the NSW Public Service
- Small group-based activity sessions to translate theory into practice
- Walk away with a toolkit of concepts, tools and techniques that are time-tested by a seasoned executive leader
- Build new connections and a local support network of like-minded peers from across the Public Service
Who will attend
Current and emerging women in leadership across all public sector jurisdictions in management & leadership roles such as:
- Assistant Directors
- Managers
- Senior Officers
- Team Leaders
- Senior Advisors
- Senior Analysts
- Project Officers
This masterclass is also relevant for other supervisors with broader leadership requirements
Agenda
All times are shown in AEST
Acknowledgement of Country, welcome, introduction & getting to know each other
Your leadership journey – where are you at & where could you be?
- Why leadership matters
- What does a good public sector leader look like?
- What kind of leader are you and what kind of leader could you be?
- Proactively building your leadership capability
Morning tea
Being an authentic leader & developing your leadership presence
- Learn how to lead authentically
- Acting ethically – how to hold your ground
- Operating as an inclusive leader
- Developing your confidence and presence as a leader
Having maximum impact in the workplace
- Enhancing resilience and productivity
- Agility and focus
- Looking after yourself – finding balance
Lunch
Communication, collaboration & finding your customer focus
- Finding common ground and looking for the win-win
- Creating trust and trusting environments
- Pivoting the way you work towards the customer
Developing your personal brand as a leader
- Why your personal brand matters and how to develop it
- Creating your leadership narrative
Afternoon tea
Creating your leadership impact plan
- Q&A and key takeaways
- Reflect and create individual leadership impact plan from modules
Close of Day One
Welcome & reflections on Day One
Taking your career by the horns & growing as a leader
- Understanding where you are now and what you need to do to get where you want to go
- Being proactive about seeking out new opportunities
- Seeing your career in context – finding the right balance in your life
- The importance of networks, mentors, coaches and feedback
Morning tea
How to lead a team to deliver quality outcomes
- Creating a performance culture
- How to lead for on-time, on-budget results and tools to get you there
- Effective project management
Managing for financial performance
- How to get financially literate
- Understanding budget concepts and proactive budget management
Lunch
Creating the right conditions for innovation & success in your team
- Creating a positive culture and the right conditions for innovation
- Balance and belonging – why diversity and inclusion matters
- Looking after the health and wellbeing of your team
- How to be successful in driving change
Afternoon tea
Finalising your leadership impact plan
- Extended Q&A and key takeaways
- Finalise your leadership impact plan
- Consolidating your learnings from the masterclass
- How to measure and monitor your progress
NB: On Day two we do a scenario exercise designed to build confidence by responding to a scenario in a safe space. Receive real time feedback and a chance to practise before you apply back in the real world.
Close of Masterclass
Pricing
Early bird savings until 20 December
+GST
Early bird pricing
Save $700
Early bird savings until 7 February
+GST
Early bird pricing
Save $500
Early bird pricing until 28 February
+GST
Early bird pricing
Save $300
Save up until 14 March
+GST
Early bird pricing
Save $100
Standard price after early bird savings
+GST
“I thoroughly enjoyed partaking in the Women in Leadership Masterclass. Alex O’Mara facilitated the session in a brilliantly thought provoking and engaging manner and really got us all thinking about what effective leadership is and how to build our own personal leadership brands. The intimacy of the session provided a great platform for everyone to be able to speak up and provide input. Overall a really insightful session and would definitely recommend it to others!”
Stacey Aranha
Project Coordinator, Service NSW, September 2022
“I truly value the breadth and depth of knowledge and real life examples shared. Lots to digest and I look forward to taking action.”
Jan Atkinson
Executive Officer, Department of Regional NSW, August 2022
“The Public Service Women in Leadership Masterclass was incredibly insightful, the content was well structured and the open, collaborative environment with other attendees was amazing.”
Jessica Ryan
Project Coordinator, Service NSW, September 2022
“Alex was a very insightful speaker. The group benefited from her real life experience as a high level executive. She was able to articulate perspectives from top to bottom and back and relate them all to the theme.”
Ana Corpuz
Senior Project Officer, Policy, Water Infrastructure NSW, August 2022