AusTTA /ANU Transformational Leadership Program – Project 1
We welcome the opportunity to provide a submission to the Independent Review of the APS (Review).
- Who we are
We make this submission as transformational professionals who have undertaken the Transformational Leadership Program (TLP) developed by AusTTA in partnership with Australian National University. We are aware of and support the separate submission of AusTTA which addresses the importance of transformational leadership to achieve the objectives identified in the Review’s Terms of Reference.
- Current Business Environment
The extent and pace of change faced by any organisation trying to survive in today’s economy is unprecedented, driven by:
• rising data volumes, computational power and connectivity, for example, IBM estimates that by 2020, global knowledge will be doubling every 11 to 12 hours
• the emergence of analytics and business intelligence capabilities - not only do we have more data, but we have a greater ability to make sense of it
• new forms of human-machine interaction, such as augmented reality systems, blurring the lines between digital, organisational and biological spheres
• improvements in transferring instructions and feedback between the digital and physical world, such as robotics and 3D/ rapid liquid printing
The velocity, scope and systems impact of these changes has no historical precedent, and is resulting in the transformation of entire systems of production, management and governance from which no industry is immune. The scale of the change has led to the coining of the phrase “the fourth industrial revolution”.
Business and government leaders all recognise the phenomenon, but are constantly surprised by the velocity of change. A recent study confirmed that a third of large companies surveyed faced significant disruption, and of those, only a quarter were able to survive. Further, the need for transformation is rising, but the likelihood of success is falling.
Against this backdrop, the APS is the essential interface between government and community to drive innovation, increase productivity, create jobs, improve citizens’ experience of government, and deliver better services. As stated in the Terms of Reference, the question becomes how to ensure the APS is “best placed to harness the opportunities, with the necessary in-house capability to both develop and implement solutions”.
- A Transformational Toolkit
Our TLP research project has focused on formulating a “transformational toolkit” to explain how organisations can undertake the step-change needed to meet today’s business environment. Our aim is to provide practical support for public, private and for-purpose organisations to measure their transformational journeys and to maximise their prospects of success.
Our project focused on a particular industry identified as one of the six key industrial drivers in the future Australian economy, the Mining, Equipment, Technology and Services (METS) sector. However, our solution equally applies to any organisation in any sector, be it private, public or for-purpose.
Taking into account the current business environment, we focused on the need for Australian organisations in all sectors and markets to re-evaluate their role in the future. From our research, we concluded that two of the most important pre-requisites for successful innovation and transformation are collaboration and organisational capacity to embrace change. With this in mind, we formed the view that there is a need for a tool which can assist organisations understand:
• both the need and opportunity for change
• the drivers for transformation across governance structures, strategy and culture
• how to manipulate those drivers to maximise opportunity for success
The concept we have been developing is a holistic ‘dashboard’ solution for helping Australian organisations to understand their changing environment, and to transform within the ecosystem to ensure sustainable growth. The concept envisages a three-part dashboard which can provide:
• a tool for collaboration by drawing together relevant data insights and analytics to assist understanding and promote the identity of new opportunities by introducing the “have you noticed?” mindset
• a transformation “Health Check” to enable organisations to identify drivers for change and track their own transformational readiness, both within their own organisation and against industry standards
• transformational enablers to support the step-change process and provide the best opportunity to achieve sustainability and growth
While still in the concept stage, the feedback from industry so far is that our approach is unique and provides a powerful new way of supporting an organisation navigate today’s revolutionary business environment. We would welcome the opportunity to meet and discuss our concept with you, both as a means of transforming the APS and a way of the APS assisting those organisations it services.
METS Project Members*
Transformational Leadership Program
ANU/ AusTTA
*Louise Cantrill, Kyle Loades, Elizabeth Hristoforidis, Cherie Mylordis, Wayne Reade, Nathan Leverington, Mark Morrow