A lot has changed over the past ten years, and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing is no exception! From the 2016 capability review, the COVID pandemic, the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, and the second capability review in late 2022, DoHAC stands at a critical point in its history, having evolved considerably in how it approaches change and prepares itself for the future. Rachel Balmanno, First Assistant Secretary of the People, Communication, and Parliamentary Branch, at the department, joins us to discuss a future-oriented approach to change in our latest episode.

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

Our next Trailblazer has over forty years of experience in information technology and digital media in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, and Asia, leading companies such as IBM, Apple, Microsoft, ninemsn, and Xero, and as a result, has been on the frontline of every significant technological shift and economic shock since the 1980s. Steve Vamos, Global Executive, and former CEO, joins us in our latest episode to discuss this further as he reflects on his career and provides insights from his book, “Through Shifts and Shocks – Lessons from the Front Line of Technology and Change.”

When our next Trailblazer took up the challenge to take on the role of CEO and lead the Australian Digital Health Agency at the height of the pandemic, she felt that it was a near-impossible place to lead from, considering the limitations of not being able to be in the same physical space as most of the staff. But on reflection, Amanda Cattermole now sees how this has shaped the flexible and hybridised work environment that’s now fundamentally everywhere. In our latest episode, Amanda joins us to talk about taking the path less travelled and leading in uncertainty.  

When you've had a thirty-five-year-long career that spans industries and sectors as our next Trailblazer has, you have the benefit of seeing how organisational learning has changed and if it's changed for the better or worse. Tim Beresford, Chief Executive at the Australian Financial Security Authority, or AFSA, joins us to talk about this and much more in our latest episode on becoming a learning organisation.

What does learning look like in an organisation when a high proportion of your workforce is already doctorate-level educated, formally trained marine scientists and former teachers? Josh Thomas, Chief Executive Officer at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, talks about this and much more as he joins us to discuss becoming a learning organisation in our latest podcast episode.

For many leaders in the public sector, there are very few times in your career when you have the opportunity to develop a new agency for a state government entity. Our next Trailblazer, Marina Bowshall, had the chance to do just that as she took on the Chief Executive of Preventive Health SA role in September of 2023. Marina joins us in our latest episode to talk about her experience in leading through a machinery of government change.

It was a privilege to talk with Liz Tydd, the Australian Information Commissioner, as she shared the future of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner or OAIC with us and how their postural organisational changes over the past year have positioned them to be at the forefront of being a contemporary regulator.

Failure is often regarded as a bad word in the workplace. No one wants to fail or intentionally sets out to, and it can make you feel pretty terrible when something you are working on goes wrong. Joining us to discuss this further is Maree Bridger, Chief Operating Officer at the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, and the Arts.

Our final episode today is the perfect conclusion to our series, providing advice and insights on how to maintain an ongoing connection with your employees that helps to fuel a culture of continuous learning in your organisation.

This week in episode five, we continue to explore the theme of employee experience by looking into one of the crucial factors that impact this positively or negatively, an organisation’s culture. Workplace culture is our fifth relational dimension of organisational health.

Cherie Canning from Luminate Leadership joins us to discuss this essential topic.