Find out about important research and information on leading in today's environment  to help you lead in a dynamic and courageous way.

LDC Fellowship research

Research and presentations from recipients of the Leadership Development Centre Fellowships.

LDC Fellowship research

Talent management

What is talent management? Where do you start? Read LDC's paper to find out how you can build your talent management capability. 

Talent management [PDF, 326 KB]  

LDC White Paper: The struggle to lead strategically in the public sector

Digital leadership research

LDC's digital leadership research has been written to generate discussion around what it means to be a public sector leader in the digital age. We're particularly focused on exploring digital leadership because the emphasis on 'Digital Strategy' is just as much about people as it is about technology.  

A digital-age approach to leadership: build trust and seek multiple perspectives

This article highlights the trends we are noticing in global research, presents a case study from a team that is working to keep our borders safe and provides some tips for your own leadership practice – specifically in relation to building trust, asking the right questions and gaining multiple perspectives. 

Collaborative leadership in the public sector − breaking the silos: Research from MBA graduate, Ben Fitchett

Ben Fitchett completed a major piece of research looking at collaborative leadership in the New Zealand public sector, as part of his MBA through Henley Business School, University of Reading, United Kingdom. Ben drew his subjects from LDC's alumni and interviewed tier 2 and 3 public sector leaders with experience leading major initiatives to gain their reflections on how state sector agencies collaborate. 

The importance of collaborative leadership in the State Sector 


Why strategy execution unravels? and what to do about it

The writers of a Harvard Business Review article found that up to three-quarters of large organisations struggle to implement their strategies. The article explores the five most inaccurately held beliefs held by over 8,000 surveyed managers about how to implement strategy:

Myth 1: Execution equals alignment
Myth 2: Execution means sticking to the plan
Myth 3: Communication equals understanding
Myth 4: A performance culture drives execution
Myth 5: Execution should be driven from the top.

Find out a more accurate perspective for how managers can execute strategies effectively.

Harvard Business Review research: 10 traits of innovative leaders

Public sector leaders are being challenged to be more innovative and lead innovation teams, but how exactly should you do this? Two Harvard Business Review researchers conducted their own study by looking at the 360-degree feedback survey of 33 individuals who scored at or above the 99th percentile on innovation. Find out what it takes to be a truly innovative leader.

The best presentations are tailored to the audience

The audience, not the presenter, is at the heart of any presentation. The better you understand your audience's goals and concerns, the more likely you are to achieve your objectives and your desired outcomes.

Answer the nine questions about what makes your audience tick, as listed in this article from the Harvard Business Review. This will help you better know your audience and cater your message to their needs.


Stanford Business insight

Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor of Organizational Behaviour Jeffrey Pfeffer says that the idea of power is difficult for many people to accept. Discover some strategies to get closer to those who have power and build up the important networks that will help you succeed as a leader. "Your job as a leader is to be true to what the situation requires of you."

Research from Stanford University on succession planning and career opportunities for high-potential employees

The secret to a happy collaboration

We're hearing it all the time in the public sector: "We need to collaborate more". It seems simple on the face of it, but when you're already stretched for time and are faced with competing projects and deadlines, it's not simple at all:  Who should we collaborate with? What qualities or skills should we look for in potential collaboration partners? Such questions are becoming increasingly familiar for many of us, including Stanford University Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour and Education Daniel McFarland.

To ensure that he optimised his time and efforts, Daniel decided to research how to create the most effective collaborative partnerships. He discovered that happy collaborators are typically more productive and less likely to look elsewhere for employment. Daniel also discovered a few surprising trends about why we generally select particular colleagues to work with.

Read more about the secret to a happy collaboration

The psychology of kindness on the workplace

Emotional contagion - what can you catch from leaders?

Stanford University recently hosted a conference on 'Compassion and Business', where social scientists, business school professors and other experts considered the effect that kindness can have on the workplace.

Of the themes that came through at the conference, one was that caring about your own well-being and caring for the well-being of others are both important elements of people leadership. But putting compassion into practice does take time and energy. Read more about the latest research findings about the psychology of kindness in the workplace.  

How guilt can fix problems and be recognised as a sign of leadership

Feeling guilty? It may not be such a bad thing:

Guilt-prone people tend to carry a strong sense of responsibility for others, and that responsibility makes other people see them as leaders, says Becky Schaumberg, a doctoral candidate in organisational behaviour at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

There are many ways of responding to mistakes or other problems, Schaumberg explains, including blaming others and blaming yourself. But the most constructive response, and the one people seem to recognise as a sign of leadership, is to feel guilty enough to want to fix the problem. Read more about the research showing that how people respond to mistakes can be a 'clue to who they are'.

Can potential be more important than achievement?

Talent management and succession planning are currently hot topics in the public sector. Career boards and a greater focus on leadership development are compelling organisations to reconsider their understanding of what success will look like for future leaders - and who those leaders could potentially be. But what has more sway on the decision makers who are making choices about future leaders: achievement or potential?

Stanford University Associate Professor of Marketing Zakary Tormala's research into this topic has produced some interesting results that seem applicable to a broad range of situations - from sporting evaluations through to hiring decisions, potential seems to engender greater interest than achievement. In a practical sense, this means that you're probably more likely to be more persuasive if you frame your future recommendations more in terms of potential and less in terms of achievement.

Read more about Zakary's research.

Research from Stanford University: Workplace hierarchies - do they still matter?

There is a perception that social media and communication technologies are flattening organisational structures and that hierarchies are becoming less relevant in the work place. This new study by a professor of organisational behaviour (Jeffrey Pfeffer, Thomas D Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business) shows that hierarchies in the workplace do matter.

Find out why traditional power structures have such staying power and why relationships with managers still matter.

Insights by Stanford Business: How leaders communicate effectively

Watch this short video to find out how leaders communicate effectively. Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer J.D. Schramm discusses three vital ingredients of effective communication:

  • audience research
  • a tailored message
  • building confidence

How to lead change within your organisation: Short video from Stanford Business

Watch this short video for practical advice on how to lead change within organisations, presented by Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor Huggy Rao.


Reflection is important for today's leaders

See the research below and reflect on the type of leader you are:

Building Resilience

When something bad happens you can lie in a puddle and drown OR pick yourself up and land what you set out to do. Everyone - especially leaders - needs resilience. Without it, you stay in the safe zone. That’s not where excellence happens. Read more

Are you an open leader?

This article discusses the changing social and cultural conditions that are giving rise to open leadership.  Open leaders quickly discover that leadership is not about the power we exert to influence progress, but the power and confidence we distribute among the members of the organization.

Is the best leadership no leadership? Idealog article

Business magazine Idealog digital editor Johnathan Cotton looks at 'holacracy' a self-management business philosophy where companies operate more like cities and less like hierarchies. Read the interview with founder of HR Shop Samantha Gadd, who has adopted the concept of sharing leadership and responsibility across the business. Would this approach work in the public sector?

Managing the talent pipeline - seven signposts to predict leaders: Korn Ferry Institute paper

How can organisations predict who will become a successful future leader? This recent Korn Ferry Institute paper says that all high-potential leaders are marked by seven essential signposts that indicate their likelihood of future success.

Identifying such high-potential leaders early on, lets an organisation deliberately develop future executives so that when a need arises, someone with the requisite ability is ready to step up to the challenge. This is the only truly proactive way to manage a talent pipeline.

The seven essential signposts that predict performance in future roles are:

  • a track record of formative experiences
  • the ability to learn from experience
  • self-awareness
  • leadership traits
  • the drive to be a leader
  • managed derailment risks

Find out more about these signposts.

Leadership and rewiring your own brain

Why do pragmatic optimists make better leaders? Because, says Dr Fiona Kerr, Visiting Research Fellow at University of Adelaide, they build rich metacognitive skills that they can also engender in those they lead, as long as there:

  • is an environment of trust
  • a shared understanding of purpose
  • and infrastructure that allows people to discover, learn and lead.

Dr Kerr is a systems and neural complexity specialist and her work includes how to transform organisations through innovative collaboration, building creative bureaucracies, and studying how the brains of charismatic leaders are different.

Find out what Dr Kerr has to say about leadership and rewiring your own brain, in this article on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Ideas Network.