Episode 33: Navigating change with Mark Williamson

The Clean Energy Regulator (CER) certainly has a large and growing remit of work. As they administer Australia’s climate change mitigation laws, CER not only serves as a regulator but also as a carbon markets agency, acting like a bank due to the carbon units and certificates it issues.

Speaking with Mark Williamson, the Executive General Manager, who has been at CER for thirteen years on the topic of navigating change, it’s clear that as an organisation, they have had to get very good at managing ongoing change at pace, which is highly aligned to their purpose of accelerating carbon abatement for Australia and how from doing this, adaptability to change has become a permanent part of their organisational DNA.

Listen to episode thirty-three:

Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify:

About this episode:

This episode is an excellent example of an organisation that prides itself on being open, transparent, and collaborative in how it navigates and manages change. With a pragmatic approach to actively managing change — “don’t admire it, just get on with it” —they have helped create a workplace culture that is practical, grounded, quick, and commercially savvy in how they manage risk and support one another in meeting legislative requirements and deadlines.

Mark talks about how foundationally, it comes down to creating and maintaining strong stakeholder relationships that are open and transparent, regularly scanning the environment for what’s happening in their space, being focussed on their purpose and engaging sensibly with risk and not avoiding it, stressing the importance of employees being transparent on where their projects are at and if they are falling behind.

Of course, Mark acknowledges that growth and change inevitably bring challenges along the way. With regular changes to schemes, CER must adapt the way it works and apply a project management lens, enabling its workforce to be agile, open, and supported in completing the workload at hand, which often involves ending and building new programs.

Mark also shares the digital transformation journey that CER has been on over the past few years in modernising their architecture to operate in a much more ecosystem approach with far more market interoperability. He explains how this transformation has resulted in a new online services transactional platform featuring approximately 50 smart forms, a new reporting system, and a blockchain registry.

We also talk further about managing risk and how, from a senior leadership standpoint, CER has always been very strong about engaging with risk, with a clear escalation framework that focuses on sharing the problem and sharing it up, and by doing that, their workforce will get the help that they need to resolve it.

Mark leaves us with a great AFL analogy from his fellow Executive General Manager on dealing and managing change, which is: “Kick the football as far down the field as you can, and then run hard after it.”

Find out more about this Trailblazer:

Mark Williamson

Executive General Manager

Clean Energy Regulator (CER)

Mark Williamson reports to the Chair/Chief Executive of the Clean Energy Regulator. In his 12 years at the Regulator, Mark has successfully led many major initiatives including the Regulator’s role in Australia meeting its Renewable Energy Target.

Mark had extensive senior executive experience in the private sector and state and local in government prior to joining the Commonwealth 2012.

Mr Williamson has tertiary qualifications in applied science and postgraduate qualifications in management.

Tune in next week as we speak to a new trailblazer in another episode in our series on Thriving in Uncertainty.

Episode 32: Adapting to organisational growth with Brad Archer

Imagine being a micro agency of nine people with a great ambition to make a real difference in addressing climate change for Australians. Then you get the green light to rapidly grow six times your size, budget, and remit. Exciting? Perhaps. Uncertain? Definitely. Brad Archer, Chief Executive Officer of the Climate Change Authority, joins us to discuss leading through significant and rapid growth, exploring the opportunities, challenges, and achievements it brings in our latest episode.

Listen to episode thirty-two:

Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify:

About this episode:

This episode offers an honest reflection on leading and managing rapid organisational change, highlighting some of the challenges that arose from significant growth in recruiting a new workforce that had to come together quickly to start delivering on an expanded remit of work.

The Climate Change Authority has undergone a significant period of growth over the past few years. From a micro agency of just nine people to an agency of sixty-five in just 18 months, it must have felt like establishing a new organisation, and by many measures, it was.

As CEO, Brad reflects on the critical aspects of managing at this time, which included having a clear understanding of what their priorities were, working towards a shared vision, and the vital role that communication played, especially when it came to roles and expectations.  He also shares that as a leader, he had to be cognisant of not only establishing new teams, enterprise agreements, and work program agendas, but he also needed to ensure his organisation was delivering its remit to the Australian government at the same time it was coming together.

He also explains that when you have a lot of ‘new’ in terms of people, roles, and work, it can lead to uncertainty and hesitation among your workforce. He goes onto to share ways that they have addressed that through a matrix management style to encourage cross team collaboration, and adopting an explicit ‘daisy’ decision-making framework that clearly define roles in terms of who’s leading, who’s contributing, who needs to be consulted, and who needs to be aware of what’s happening.

We also touch on organisational culture and how, with a new workforce, this involves managing the different expectations that people bring into the organisation and establishing a vision of what culture they want to create. Brad also shares how having a deep commitment to addressing climate change, with the goal of achieving better outcomes for Australians, has been a unifying element among his staff, forming an excellent foundation for their organisation's culture.

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Brad Archer

Chief Executive Officer

Climate Change Authority

Brad is the Chief Executive Officer of the federal government’s Climate Change Authority, a role he commenced in late 2018. The Authority provides expert, independent advice to the government on Australia’s climate change targets and policies. Brad has extensive experience advising on climate change, renewable energy and energy market issues. Prior to his current role he worked in the climate change department, where he was responsible for clean energy innovation, Australia’s greenhouse gas inventory, and international climate change policy, and led negotiations on the first federal offshore wind farm exploration licence in Australia. He also has extensive experience working in the Australian Treasury, which he joined in 1991. Brad has a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) and a Master of Information Management.

Tune in next week as we speak to a new trailblazer in another episode in our series on Thriving in Uncertainty.

Episode 31: Fostering adaptability in teams with Saxon Rice

As the world becomes increasingly uncertain, the ability to adapt in organisations is becoming increasingly important. While many leaders are comfortable with the accelerating rate of change, others around them may not be. Therefore, it’s crucial to ensure that everyone on the team is on the journey with you and that the pace you set is the right one, where the most effective changes can occur. Saxon Rice, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), joins us in our latest episode to discuss this and more on the topic of fostering adaptability in teams.

Listen to episode thirty-one:

Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify:

About this episode:

This episode is an excellent reminder that while, for many leaders that are comfortable with change and may already be working in the future state that they’ve been part of designing, it can be easy to forget that others in the organisation may not be on the same page, and may see and experience change differently. Leaders who can ‘read the floor,’ translate that direction, and make the change journey meaningful to everyone can effectively foster adaptability in their team and achieve long-lasting change.

Saxon reflects on her leadership journey and shares some of the important lessons she’s learned with us in this episode. These lessons include understanding and monitoring where colleagues are on the spectrum of change resilience and being aware that people don’t necessarily resist change but rather view it as a loss. She also notes that resilience is more than just physical; it’s also emotional.

Saxon also shares the cultural attributes she has found that help foster adaptability, including transparency, communication, flexibility, and responsiveness. She explains how getting consistent feedback internally can help identify issues early, encourage collaboration, and ensure everyone is aligned with the goals of what’s changing. She also provides examples of how ASQA is investing in organisational resilience and cultural uplift, positively evolving their culture through understanding their culture today, defining the cultural attributes, such as peer recognition, that they need for their journey, and aligning those to their vision, purpose, and people.

We also discuss how vital it is for the ‘bigger’ picture to cascade down all levels of leadership so that it’s translated to teams so that everyone knows what is in it for them and what it means to them and their role in the organisation, and how a workplace being grounded in values, mindsets, and behaviours also helps to foster adaptability in an organisation.  

References mentioned in this episode:

The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

Find out more about this Trailblazer:

Saxon Rice

Chief Executive Officer

Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA)

CEO Saxon Rice has extensive experience across the VET and employment services sectors as well as the public policy process. Ms Rice previously held a range of senior government, VET and management positions. She was Assistant Minister for Technical and Further Education in the former Queensland Government from 2012 to 2015, and Chair of the then Ministerial Industry Commission responsible for industry engagement.

Ms Rice is a former Director of Global Business Development for an Australian employment services company and was responsible for significant growth into new countries in the European and Asian markets. Ms Rice has also served in a range of Senate Committee Secretariats, including as Acting Secretary and Principal Research Officer to the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee. More recently, she was a Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal from 2016 to 2018 and is a Member and Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Ms Rice commenced as a Commissioner of ASQA on 16 April 2018, before being appointed as Chief Commissioner and CEO (initially Acting) on 7 October 2019. With effect from 1 January 2021, Ms Rice was appointed CEO for a period of five years.

Tune in next week as we speak to a new trailblazer in another episode in our series on Thriving in Uncertainty.

Episode 30: An Aboriginal leader in the public sector’s perspective to a growth mindset approach to change with Carlyn Waters

Over the past seven months, we’ve learned so much from the conversations that we’ve had with our remarkable trailblazers in this podcast series on Thriving in Uncertainty. And indeed, one of the most critical learnings has been the importance of continuing to learn – not only as a key attribute of having a growth mindset approach to change, but also as a distinctive factor in personal and organisational growth, and how learning fosters deeper connections and understanding with others.

In our milestone thirtieth episode, we are joined by Carlyn Waters, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Operating Officer at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, as she brings a rare perspective of what it is like to be an Aboriginal person in 2025 and how having cultural traits of resilience, adaptability, curiosity, and humility encapsulate a growth mindset approach to change, and help her, and others, to sit in uncertainty and focus on the bigger purpose beyond just today, recognising that today is only a very small part in a much larger ecosystem.

Listen to episode thirty:

Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify:

About this episode:

This episode offers a unique perspective of an Aboriginal leader in the public sector and how cultural traits embody a growth mindset approach to change by providing an advantage in the ability to sit in uncertainty, think about the bigger picture beyond today, the importance of learning from others, and how honouring the past also plays a key role in caring for the future.

In a sector where we talk a lot about inclusivity and embracing diverse perspectives and experiences, Carlyn exemplifies what this means in practice as she explains how she has approached traumatic programs of work in her career with a growth mindset and how by thinking about what her ancestors would say and what her descendants would expect of her helped her to stay at the table and try and do the best that she can.

Carlyn talks about the role that social learning plays in continuous development and how this feels natural to her, as in Aboriginal culture, they intrinsically learn from people around them through asking, observing, and listening, and explains how social learning allows everyone differences in thoughts, experiences, cultures, and beliefs to come to the foreground and that this can have an impact in the workplace in a really positive way.

We also discuss the APS value of stewardship and how this resonates culturally with Carlyn, as she shares how, as an Aboriginal person, she is obligated to respect and honour the past, not taking the claims or fame of ancestors and predecessors but looking after and caring for the future. She also talks about the importance of when making decisions, whether that be as a public servant, as a parent, or as a friend, it isn’t just based on today; it is about what future Australians will need and that the decisions will be ones we are proud of and proud to be a part of.

Find out more about this Trailblazer:

Carlyn Waters

Deputy Chief Executive Officer,

Chief Operating Officer

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander Studies

Carlyn is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. 

Carlyn is a Kamilaroi woman who has connections to both NSW and Queensland. Her passion has always been ensuring that there are First Nations people in decision making roles within Australia’s organisations. She is known for her ability to identify and grow talented individuals to reach their full potential inside and outside the Australian Public Service.

Carlyn has held senior positions in the Australian Government as well as operates a side hustle as a Managing Director with Cultivate Indigenous. She was a Senior Fellow in the Practice of Business with The Australian University’s College of Business and Economics and volunteers as a director of the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife as well as a director of the Stars Foundation.

Tune in next week as we speak to a new trailblazer in another episode in our series on Thriving in Uncertainty.

Episode 27: Fostering adaptability in teams with Damian Green

Having worked on several significant transformation projects across Queensland Health, eHealth Queensland, and Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service, Damian Green knows a thing (or ten) about what factors are critical in leading successful transformations and delivering them in uncertain times. Damian is currently the Deputy Director-General of Corporate Services at Queensland Health, and he joins us in our latest episode to discuss fostering adaptability in teams.

Listen to episode twenty-seven:

Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify:

About this episode:

This episode is a masterclass in leading transformations. It will provide any leader with expert advice on leading change, fostering agility and adaptability in teams, and delivering successfully.

Damian was previously the Deputy Director-General of eHealth Queensland, leading Queensland’s public health digital modernisation agenda, which included the state’s ICT response to the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual healthcare, digital hospitals, and digital uplift in rural and remote Queensland.

In this episode, Damian shares his learning from working through emergency responses. He discusses how Queensland Health, with a workforce of 127,000 people, has built and exercised the ability to mobilise quickly through its management of natural disasters such as cyclones and bushfires. Damian also drills down that, in essence, transformations are about trying to do something differently and that leaders can’t do it on their own – they have to bring people along the journey with them, who are working to a common set of principles, and have good mechanisms in place to get feedback early on and enable stakeholders, including the community to ask questions.

Listen in as Damian provides his unique perspective on the communication aspect in transformation projects and how over-communicating is saying the same thing over and over but not hearing the feedback, responding accordingly to it, or tailoring messages for specific audiences. He also reflects on a time when he was working for eHealth Queensland in designing a new IT system overnight and delivering it in a critical timeframe, which he describes as “flying the plane while we were building it,” and how beneficial he has found setting up an emergency management committee ensuring one officer is accountable for making decisions is critical in helping everyone work in an agile way successfully.

Find out more about this Trailblazer:

Damian Green

Deputy Director-General, Corporate Services

Queensland Health 

Damian Green is the Deputy Director-General, Corporate Services in Queensland Health. The Corporate Services Division partners with the Department of Health and Hospital and Health Services to provide contemporary expert advice and specialist corporate services. The Division works across the health system to deliver services such as Business Services, Corporate Enterprise Solutions, Finance, Governance, Assurance and Information Management, Human Resources, Legal, Supply Chain and System Procurement.

Previously Damian was Deputy Director-General, eHealth Queensland and led Queensland’s public health digital modernisation agenda, including Queensland’s ICT response to the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual healthcare, digital hospitals and digital uplift in rural and remote Queensland.

Damian has held the role of Executive Director, Digital Transformation & Chief Information Officer, Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service. Damian led the delivery of Gold Coast Health’s two-year journey to become a fully digital hospital and was pivotal in driving continuous improvement in health service delivery and quality.

Prior to working with the Gold Coast HHS, Damian worked in professional services organisations for sixteen years specialising in managing implementation of strategic organisational change within the public sector.

Damian’s qualifications include Bachelor of Economics (Hons), Bachelor of Arts, Change Management Qualification (AGSM). He is a Fellow of the Australian College of Health Service Management, Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Digital Health and an Adjunct Professor of the School of Business Strategy and Innovation, Griffith University. Damian is also a Board Director of the Gold Coast Primary Health Network and Board Chair of the Australasian Institute of Digital Health.

Tune in next week as we speak to a new trailblazer in another episode in our series on Thriving in Uncertainty.

Episode 26: Fostering adaptability in teams with Deb Jenkins

What makes a team great? It may seem like a simple question, but the reality is that great teams don’t form and work well together by chance; there is a lot of investment required in making them high-performing. Deb Jenkins, Deputy Secretary of Corporate Enabling Services and Chief Operating Officer for the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, joins us in our latest episode to talk about fostering adaptability in teams.

Listen to episode twenty-six:

Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify:

This episode affirms that to create great teams, you have to work hard at it. Deb shares that the cornerstones of great teams are built on relationships, a clear and shared purpose, and a diverse makeup, and these factors will always be fundamental in leading high-performing teams now and in the future.

Deb also discusses the pivotal role that recruitment plays in ensuring you have the right fit for your team and how evolving your hiring approach to recruit talent can help you succeed in filling key skills gaps.  

The traditional picture of a ‘team’ looks different today than it did a few years ago. While you may not be able to look around and see your direct team sitting next to you, the importance of having a clear direction of where you’re headed together and building connections and relationships with each other is still paramount. Deb reflects on this in our discussion, noting that building personal connections cannot be achieved through a ‘Teams’ call with 20 people. That’s why she makes opportunities to have in-person moments and carefully thinks about how those moments can be fit for purpose.

Deb also shares that understanding how you and the people around you operate can make a significant difference in knowing the tips to succeed in communicating with each other, as well as the importance of giving things time and seeing things from another person’s perspective.

We also speak about innovation and embracing technology, and how it’s important to encourage teams to try new things, have safeguards around experimenting, make failing a learning opportunity, and, as a leader, check yourself to ensure you respond appropriately when things don’t go the way you had hoped they would.

Deb leaves us with an appreciation for how the All Blacks inspire her in their stewardship, putting service before others, and how they embody the principle that no one is bigger than the team. Wise words to build and lead teams by.

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Deborah Jenkins

Deputy Secretary, Corporate and Enabling Services

Chief Operating Officer

Department of Employment and Workplace Relations

Deborah is Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer at the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) in a broad ranging role supporting the enterprise covering everything from HR, legal, communications, parliamentary, data and finance through to IT and digital solutions.

Her career has spanned the public and private sector in Australia and overseas, including most recently senior APS leadership roles at the Australian Taxation Office and the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission.  Prior to joining the APS, Deborah was a partner at KPMG where she held various domestic and international leadership positions with multinational experience in Australia, New Zealand, Asia Pacific and Europe. In Aotearoa/New Zealand she worked in both the public and private sectors, starting her career as a graduate with Inland Revenue before joining a law firm.

Deborah loves executing well designed client and staff experiences to achieve organisational outcomes.  Passionate about communicating and connecting with people, she enjoys developing strong relationships and collaborating with stakeholders.  She works hard to build inclusive teams that value diversity and takes being an active ally seriously. She inspires, leads and motivates those around her through her authentic and engaging leadership.

Her true passions outside of work (apart from her family) are rugby union, travelling and music. She particularly enjoys giving back to the community supporting grass roots rugby.

Tune in next week as we speak to a new trailblazer in another episode in our series on Thriving in Uncertainty.

Thriving in Uncertainty with Tim Bullard

In many of our conversations with public sector leaders on the podcast, we hear about the strength of having a common purpose, a shared vision that you work towards, and how that can give you energy and motivation to keep going even when you are dealing with highly complex circumstances and environments.

Teachers continue to face increasingly complex circumstances in education but remain motivated to work towards that light on the hill, a common purpose, in making a difference in children and young people's lives. Teachers who use their knowledge, skills, and capabilities to adapt successfully in a constantly changing environment are highly engaged and thrive to achieve meaningful outcomes.

Tim Bullard, Chief Executive Officer at the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), joins us in our latest episode to discuss adaptability. Tim knows too well how adaptability can directly influence your engagement at work, having managed the Department of Education and then the Department of Education, Children, and Young People in Tasmania through tremendous amounts of change, including COVID-19, a merger of two organisations, and other significant events.

In this episode, Tim reflects on these experiences, sharing that no off-the-shelf guidebook or download from the internet provided the way forward in these complex circumstances and how important it was to work with others around him to come up with innovative and creative solutions to solving the problems they faced.

Tim also provides his perspectives on how to develop adaptability within the workforce, the importance of having a growth mindset to always be learning and looking at how things can be done differently, how organisations need to inject some fun back into the workplace, how crucial it is to leverage the skills and talents of every generation in your workforce, and how essential it is to be responsible for your own wellbeing in taking time out for yourself which then, in turn, will make you more available for others.

This 30-minute episode is packed with practical, knowledgeable, and encouraging advice from an energetic leader in the education industry.

Listen to episode fourteen:

Also available through Apple Podcasts and Spotify:

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Tim Bullard

Chief Executive Officer

Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership

(AITSL)

Tim graduated from the University of Tasmania in 1994 with an Arts/Law (Hons) degree. He initially worked as a lawyer in the Office of the Solicitor-General, before transitioning into policy whilst working in the United Kingdom.  

From 2004 to 2016, Tim held various policy roles for the Department of Premier and Cabinet and commenced as Deputy Secretary Policy in 2014. During this time, he played a key role in education initiatives, leading the development of Tasmania’s Child and Family Learning Centres, and negotiating the ‘Gonski’ schools funding agreement.

Tim joined the Department of Education in 2016 as Deputy Secretary Strategy and Performance and was appointed as Secretary in 2018.

In 2022 Tim was appointed as Secretary of the Department for Education, Children and Young People. In this role Tim oversaw the bringing together of child safety, youth justice, and education into a values-based organisation that provides all children and young people with a bright life and positive future, through being known safe, well and learning.

Tim has been appointed to the role of AITSL CEO for a 5-year period, commencing October 2024.

Tune in next week as we speak to a new trailblazer in another episode in our series on Thriving in Uncertainty.

Thriving in Uncertainty – Episode Eleven with Tess Bishop

An open-minded approach to leadership and working with others is a highly desirable attribute that staff look for in a leader. After all, if you have a new idea or want to give feedback on a change or a project, knowing that you can approach these leaders, have a constructive dialogue, and work together to solve it is helpful.

Tess Bishop, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry (DAFF), is one of these leaders. She joins us in our latest episode to discuss a growth mindset approach to change.

You can’t help but feel the passion and energy that Tess brings to her team at DAFF as she shares her experiences leading a very large transformation agenda with multiple aspects in response to their capability review in 2024. Tess provides her perspectives on how success can only be achieved through an open-minded approach, engaging in open dialogue with others, and adapting and supporting staff along the way.

As a leader, she acknowledges that you are only as good as your team and the importance of learning every day and passing that learning on to others. Tess also shares how she is passionate about getting out to meet her team and how seeing how things work firsthand can really bring policy to life, enabling her to receive direct feedback firsthand.

Tess is a passionate and energetic leader with an open-minded approach to leading others. We hope that you will feel as uplifted as we did after listening to our conversation.

Listen to episode eleven:

Also available through Apple Podcasts and Spotify:

Find out more about this Trailblazer:

Tess Bishop

Chief Operating Officer

Deputy Secretary of Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Tess has over 20 years' experience across the public, private and not for profit sectors in Australia and the United Kingdom. Since January 2017, she has held Deputy Secretary roles at both the state and federal level, achieving major outcomes with lasting positive impact. This includes leading priority projects such as founding the Office for Rural and Regional Queensland, establishing the Priority and Delivery Unit for the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and delivering the Transformation Action Plan for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

Tess is currently the Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary of the Strategy, Enterprise, and Engagement Group in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. It is a pivotal role overseeing the full suite of corporate and assurance services, as well as navigating high risk, complex and varied policy and enterprise strategy.

An experienced Non-Executive Director, Tess has recently been appointed to the Council of the Institute of Public Administration Australia ACT. She previously served on the Board of Screen Queensland, the Queensland Chapter of the Australian Institute of International Affairs, the Board of the Townsville Port Authority, and the Pathways to Resilience Trust.

Tess holds a Master of International Relations, a Graduate Certificate in Business Management and a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Political Science and Public Policy.  She has also completed the Australia New Zealand School of Government Executive Fellows Program and is a graduate of the AICD Company Board of Directors program.

Professional memberships include the Institute of Public Administration Australia and IAP2 Australasia.

Tune in next week as we speak to a new trailblazer in another episode in our series on Thriving in Uncertainty.

Thriving in Uncertainty – Episode Nine with Gina Dolan

What draws people leaders to managing, well, people? Is it curiosity about the world and the people in it? Is it the ability to problem-solve and be innovative? Is it grit? No one answer fits all, but certainly, these attributes play a significant part. This week, we dive into growth mindsets, failures, and flex workforces with people leader Gina Dolan.

Gina is the General Manager of People and Culture at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), and she joins us in this episode to share her experiences of grit and the ability to persist and lead others through uncertainty. Together, we break down the stigma attached to making mistakes and how courageous leaders can pause and reflect when the emotions are running high and admit to their workforce that they don’t always have all the answers.

Gina also shares her perspectives on managing a hybrid and geographically dispersed workforce, including how working together has changed the importance of how contact with people remotely has to be more deliberate than in the office and how creating rituals and ways of working can encompass individual needs and embrace the needs of a diverse workforce.

Gina’s motto of “no surprises,” creating a safe space where there is nothing you can’t talk to her about as there is no judgement, is refreshing. Her crucial advice on investing in yourself, being a decent human being, and paying it forward to others around you embraces what authentic and adaptive leadership is about all.

We hope you enjoy this excellent episode with a great people leader.

Listen to episode nine:

Also available through Apple Podcasts and Spotify:

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Gina Dolan

General Manager

People and Culture

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

Gina is the General Manager of People and Culture at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission or ACCC. Gina is an accomplished HR professional with extensive global transformation experience in the private and public sectors. With a keen understanding of workplace culture and leadership, she excels in leading teams to achieve operational excellence and streamline processes, with the ability to simplify complex HR challenges and provide practical solutions.

Tune in next week as we speak to a new trailblazer in another episode in our series on Thriving in Uncertainty.

Thriving in Uncertainty – Episode Four, Part Two

Welcome back to part two of our special podcast episode with Dr Rachel Bacon, Deputy Commissioner of Integrity, Reform and Enabling Services at the Australian Public Service Commission, where we discuss a growth mindset approach to change. In part one, Rachel shared insights on what makes up a growth mindset and integrity within the APS.

In part two, we continue our conversation with Rachel, discussing the APS Reform, which she has been heavily involved with, and how she keeps herself and others motivated on long-term projects that are hugely significant, have many initiatives attached to them, and require enormous patience and perseverance.  

Listen in as Rachel shares the details of the design approach for the APS Reform Agenda, including how they determined the six guiding implementation principles using extensive research they conducted into global best practices on similar-scale projects. She also provides an introspective look at how she remains resilient and perseveres on long-term change projects .

This episode is a fantastic conclusion to our discussion on a growth mindset approach to change, and we hope you’ll take away as much from it as we did!

Listen to part two:

Also available through Apple Podcasts and Spotify:

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Dr Rachel Bacon

Deputy Commissioner

Integrity, Reform and Enabling Services

Australian Public Service Commission

Dr Rachel Bacon is currently the Deputy Commissioner Integrity, Reform and Enabling Services at the Australian Public Service Commission. Rachel has also been appointed to the IPAA ACT Council where she works to promote excellence in public administration.

Prior to this Rachel worked at the Department of the Prime Minister & Cabinet (PM&C), as Deputy Secretary Public Sector Reform, helping to shape and deliver a suite of reform initiatives to make people’s interactions with government simpler, easier – and make life inside the public service understood and valued.

Over the previous four years, Rachel has worked for the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts as Deputy Secretary of the Regional, Cities and Territories Group, delivering place based policy and services for communities around Australia. Rachel has also spent time in the Department of Environment and Energy, running the Policy Analysis and Implementation Division, and as Deputy Chief Executive Officer with the Northern Territory Government’s Department of the Chief Minister.

Rachel has led a number of taskforces (many based in PM&C) to deliver whole of government priorities in areas such as environment regulation reform and Australia’s engagement with Asia, and has worked in teams to improve implementation capability, deliver strategic policy projects, and support government in areas such as counter terrorism, native title and refugee law. 

Rachel’s PhD focused on administrative law and organisation change.

Tune in next week as we speak to a new trailblazer in another episode in our series on Thriving in Uncertainty.

Thriving in Uncertainty – Episode Four, Part One

Dr Rachel Bacon, Deputy Commissioner of Integrity, Reform, and Enabling Services at the Australian Public Service Commission, joins us for a special two-part episode to discuss a growth mindset approach to change.

In this engaging conversation, Rachel shares unique insights and perspectives, blending evidence-based and consultancy viewpoints with her personal experiences.

In part one, we delve into the components of a growth mindset and integrity within the APS with Rachel. She explains how the literature on high-potential leaders has evolved over the past decade: once focused on high IQ as the primary predictor of leadership potential, the emphasis has shifted toward the importance of a growth mindset. Rachel discusses how a growth mindset is closely tied to learning agility, which involves curiosity, openness, and a willingness to continuously learn. This openness to new experiences transcends culture, age, and gender.

We also delve into integrity, exploring how making mistakes at an institutional level doesn’t necessarily undermine trust and confidence—but how those mistakes are handled certainly can. Rachel discusses the importance of vulnerability in leadership, emphasising how fear of showing it can stifle innovation and compromise psychological safety within an organisation.

Join us next week as we wrap up our conversation with Dr Rachel Bacon, who shares insights into the design approach for the APS Reform Agenda, including the six guiding principles for implementation. She also offers a thoughtful perspective on maintaining resilience and perseverance in long-term change projects.

Listen to part one:

Also available through Apple Podcasts and Spotify:

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Dr Rachel Bacon

Deputy Commissioner

Integrity, Reform and Enabling Services

Australian Public Service Commission

Dr Rachel Bacon is currently the Deputy Commissioner Integrity, Reform and Enabling Services at the Australian Public Service Commission. Rachel has also been appointed to the IPAA ACT Council where she works to promote excellence in public administration.

Prior to this Rachel worked at the Department of the Prime Minister & Cabinet (PM&C), as Deputy Secretary Public Sector Reform, helping to shape and deliver a suite of reform initiatives to make people’s interactions with government simpler, easier – and make life inside the public service understood and valued.

Over the previous four years, Rachel has worked for the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts as Deputy Secretary of the Regional, Cities and Territories Group, delivering place based policy and services for communities around Australia. Rachel has also spent time in the Department of Environment and Energy, running the Policy Analysis and Implementation Division, and as Deputy Chief Executive Officer with the Northern Territory Government’s Department of the Chief Minister.

Rachel has led a number of taskforces (many based in PM&C) to deliver whole of government priorities in areas such as environment regulation reform and Australia’s engagement with Asia, and has worked in teams to improve implementation capability, deliver strategic policy projects, and support government in areas such as counter terrorism, native title and refugee law. 

Rachel’s PhD focused on administrative law and organisation change.

Please tune in next week for part two of our episode with Dr Rachel Bacon, Deputy Commissioner, Integrity, Reform and Enabling Services at the Australian Public Service Commission.

Thriving in Uncertainty – episode one

Thanks for joining us as we kick off our new weekly series of Trailblazing with CorbettPrice!

Each week, we will spotlight senior, inspirational leaders from across the public sector who have gotten comfortable in ambiguity as they share personal experiences throughout their careers around the importance of adaptability for growth, developing the next generation of leaders, taking the path less travelled and learning from failure to achieve success. They also reflect on the key leaders who inspire them and have helped them become the leaders they are today.

In today’s episode, Janet Schorer, a senior public sector leader and Chief Delivery Officer at TAFE NSW, joins us to discuss growth and adaptability.

In this uplifting chat, Janet shares her experiences from her early career, how other leaders helped her grow and develop, and how she leans on these experiences to help others grow and develop today. She also explains how important it is for leaders to put themselves in someone else’s shoes, acknowledging that the world is now different from what it was, that workplaces themselves are different too, and that it’s through a connection with purpose that you can keep yourself, and your team, motivated through times of continuous change and uncertainty.

Listen to episode one:

Also available through Apple Podcasts and Spotify:

Find out more about this Trailblazer:

Janet Schorer

Chief Delivery Officer

TAFE NSW

With 20 years of senior public sector experience, Janet has led educational and community transformation programs, including the National Disability Insurance Scheme, workforce strategy, and the Families NSW strategy for the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet. Janet has a passion for children and young people, with a background in nursing and child and adolescent psychology, previously serving as the NSW Children’s Guardian and receiving a Public Service Medal for outstanding service, particularly through the protection of children. She is a National Fellow of IPAA and the Vice President of IPAA NSW.