4 September 2013
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Liz Quinn
Group Manager
Strategic Centre for Leadership, Learning and Development
02 6202 3760
Liz.Quinn@apsc.gov.au
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APS Leadership and Core Skills Strategy 2012-13: priorities framework
Management Skills
Decision making
& judgement
• Public sector accountability
• Creating public value
• Financial mgt & budgeting
• Project, program
& risk mgt in a complex environment
• Procurement essentials
• Developing a business case
Working with
Government
• Briefing & responding to
APS decision makers, ministers
& parliament
• Working with the minister
• Developing
Cab subs
• Appearing before
Parliamentary committees
People & organisational development
• Coaching & developing others
• Building & leading high performing teams
• Workforce planning
• Business planning
Professional public service skills
• Policy development & implementation
• Delivery management
• Regulatory frameworks & practices
Leadership dimensions
Political
• Scanning the political, cultural & social environment
• Diagnosing situations / systems / challenges
• Analysing stakeholders, issues, concerns, perspectives
• Thinking & acting politically
Strategic
• Generating options & possibilities
• Gathering evidence
• Weighing up alternatives
• Balancing competing interests & values
• Developing & implementing plans for strategic action
Change
• Working collaboratively
& facilitating interaction
• Engaging in dialogue
• Buildings alliances & partnerships
• Brokering solutions & commitment to action
People
• Creating a culture in which people thrive
•
Working with others to create a vision
• Mobilising the capacity, strengths and leadership of others
Applying ethical & legal frameworks
• APS ethics and values
• APS frameworks
• APS decision making
• Procurement essentials
• Contract management
Core public service skills
Understanding government
• The role of the APS
• Understanding parliamentary processes
• Understanding legislative processes
• Responding to the
Minister’s office
Working within
& across teams
• APS people management
• Performance management
• Cross-agency working
• Dealing with change
• Working in teams
• Getting the most out of diversity
Foundation skills
• Structuring work
• Compelling communication
• Building relationships & engagement
• Analytical thinking
Professional public service skills
• Policy
• Delivery
•
Regulation
Being a leader: the self in context
• Ways of understanding self and others in the world
• Emotional intelligence
• Positive psychological capital
• Learning agility & change ability
• Complexity of mind: socialised, self-authoring, selftransforming

1. Structuring Work
2. APS Ethics and Values
3. Performance
Management
4. Coaching and
Developing Others

APS Leadership and Core Skills Strategy 2012-13: priorities framework
Management Skills
Decision making
& judgement
• Public sector accountability
• Creating public value
• Financial mgt & budgeting
• Project, program
& risk mgt in a complex environment
• Procurement essentials
• Developing a business case
Working with
Government
• Briefing & responding to
APS decision makers, ministers
& parliament
• Working with the minister
• Developing
Cab subs
• Appearing before
Parliamentary committees
People & organisational development
• Coaching & developing others
• Building & leading high performing teams
• Workforce planning
• Business planning
Professional public service skills
• Policy development & implementation
• Delivery management
• Regulatory frameworks & practices
Leadership dimensions
Political
• Scanning the political, cultural & social environment
• Diagnosing situations / systems / challenges
• Analysing stakeholders, issues, concerns, perspectives
• Thinking & acting politically
Strategic
• Generating options & possibilities
• Gathering evidence
• Weighing up alternatives
• Balancing competing interests & values
• Developing & implementing plans for strategic action
Change
• Working collaboratively
& facilitating interaction
• Engaging in dialogue
• Buildings alliances & partnerships
• Brokering solutions & commitment to action
People
• Creating a culture in which people thrive
•
Working with others to create a vision
• Mobilising the capacity, strengths and leadership of others
Applying ethical & legal frameworks
• APS ethics and values
• APS frameworks
• APS decision making
• Procurement essentials
• Contract management
Core public service skills
Understanding government
• The role of the APS
• Understanding parliamentary processes
• Understanding legislative processes
• Responding to the
Minister’s office
Working within
& across teams
• APS people management
• Performance management
• Cross-agency working
• Dealing with change
• Working in teams
• Getting the most out of diversity
Foundation skills
• Structuring work
• Compelling communication
• Building relationships & engagement
• Analytical thinking
Professional public service skills
• Policy
• Delivery
•
Regulation
Being a leader: the self in context
• Ways of understanding self and others in the world
• Emotional intelligence
• Positive psychological capital
• Learning agility & change ability
• Complexity of mind: socialised, self-authoring, selftransforming

“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Testing an approach
Evaluate results – use to continuously improve approach
Analyse business need & research better practice
Design: Build APS learning design standard
Deliver learning program (agency and central delivery )
Develop: QA existing learning programs for agency/APS use or develop new program
Agency Reference Group: ABS, AGD, ATO, AusAID, Austrade, Clean Energy Regulator, DAFF, DEEWR, Defence, DHS,
DIAC, DOHA, DVA, FAHCSIA, Finance, Regional, RET, and Treasury.

Learning Design Standard
APS context/business need for the skill
The issue
Optimal application of the skill for high performance
Target audience Levels/roles
Capabilities that need to be developed
Knowledge/Skills/Attributes
Link to competency framework if applicable
Recommended learning approaches
Formal and on-the-job methods for developing the capabilities
Design specification for an integrated program
Learning objectives
Key Content/Topic areas
Program design (70:20:10)
Quality assurance checklist Content/topics
Learning process/methods
Assessment of learning
Evaluation

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like.
Design is how it works.” Steve Jobs
The tests…………
The process for developing a learning design standard
Application in procuring and developing a new APS learning program
The value of a centrally developed program for agencies to deliver inhouse or access through the APSC
Usefulness for quality assuring an existing program
Endorsement of an agency program for whole-of-APS use
(including IP issues)

“Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work.” Thomas. A. Edison

Foundation skills: Structuring work
Progress: Learning design standard developed > new APS learning program developed > Pilot delivery > Evaluation
Preparation:
Skills assessment, manager discussion & project identification
2-day workshop:
Theory and practice
On the job implementation:
Application to work– based project + manager coaching
½ day Recall session:
Consolidate and reflect
Key content:
Scoping
Planning
Implementing
Monitoring
Finalising
Results and learning:
• 92% of participants who completed the program believed their work would be more productive as a result of the learning
• Some tightening in the structure and content of the learning materials - addressed in a subsequent refinement.

Management and core skills: Performance management
Progress: Learning design standard developed > new APS learning program developed > Pilot delivery > Evaluation
Preparation:
Reading
Reflection questions
Research on agency business priorities and performance management tools
3-day workshop:
Theory and practice
On the job implementation:
Personal action plan
Manager and peer coaching
Key content:
• Framework and principles
• Developing effective agreements
• Performance management conversations & feedback
• Getting the best out of your team – a high performing team
Results and learning
• 100% agreed they now have the appropriate performance management and organisational tools to assist with the performance management process, with
64% strongly agreeing
• Some participants would like even more practice activities

Core skills: APS ethics and values
Progress: Learning design standard developed > QA and refinement of an existing APS learning program > Pilot delivery> Evaluation
Preparation:
Manager discussion, self assessment, preworkshop reading
½ day workshop:
Knowledge and skills development
On the job implementation
Key content:
• APS Values and Employment
Principles
• Code of Conduct
• Non-compliance
• Role of PS Commissioner, Agency
Heads and SES
Results and learning:
• 5 pilot programs delivered
• 89% - 100% agreed that the program equipped them with the knowledge and skills needed to perform their role more effectively.

Management skills: Coaching and developing others
Progress: Learning design standard developed > QA of existing APS learning programs >
Planned pilot delivery of an agency program for possible APS use
E-learning module
(40 mins)
DIAC developed
2-day workshop
Defence developed
Key content:
• Business case for manager as coach
• Framework and models for manager as coach
• Building your coaching skills
• Expanding your repertoire
Learnings to date:
On-the-job implementation
• Six agencies volunteered their coaching programs to QA against the standard:
AGD, ATO, DHS, DIAC, DVA, and Defence.
• The Strategic Centre is partnering with
Defence & DIAC to pilot whole-of-APS program on 30-31 October 2013.

Testing the approach
Testing the approach - Assessment at this stage
Learning design standard:
• Built a shared understanding of the common APS need and a quality approach for learning
• Proved to be an effective way of procuring/developing a purpose-built
APS learning program
• A solid basis for quality assurance but further testing of the process required and refinement of the tool
Collectively developed APS learning program
• Indications of the potential for significant benefits (efficiency and effectiveness)
• Important that design provides for customisation for individual & agency context
Endorsement of an agency program for whole-of-APS use
• Highly likely – further testing underway

• The Strategic Centre will continue to test the approach in collaboration with agencies
• Reporting to Advisory Board in September and
Secretaries’ Board in December
• Release programs and products to agencies
Test
• Oct – Nov 2013
Evaluate & refine
• Oct – Dec 2013
• Report to
Secretaries’ Board
Release to
Agencies
• Jan 2014

Test Design & develop
• Aug – Dec
2013
• Jan – Mar
2014
Evaluate & refine
• Apr – Jun
2014
• Report to
Secretaries’
Board
Release to
Agencies
• July 2014
Cluster 1: Relationships
• Building relationships and engagement
• Working in and across teams
• Diversity and cultural competence
• Building and leading high performance teams
Cluster 2: Working with Government
• Compelling communications
• Understanding government
• Working with government
• Writing for government

• Encourage your L&D representatives to join the Reference
Group
 review the APS Learning Design Standards and products – Govdex
 Contribute to the new Learning Design Standards
• Nominate subject-matter expertise
• Participate in program testing:
 Coaching & Developing Others pilot
30-31 October 2013
• Agency in-house pilot testing for programs
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• Any comments/suggestions on the approach so far?
• Delivery considerations:
 What delivery options do agencies have for core skills programs?
 How can we value-add in delivery? (e.g. QA providers, in-house delivery, QA programs, provide products, central delivery )
Evaluate results – use to continuously improve approach
Deliver learning program
(agency and central delivery )
Analyse business need
& research better practice
Design: Build
APS learning design standard
Develop: QA existing learning programs for agency/APS use or develop new program

Karen Dahlstrom
Director – Learning Design, Core Skills
Strategic Centre for Leadership, Learning and Development
02 6202 3943
Karen.dahlstrom@apsc.gov.au

4 September 2013
25

A steady decline in representation
• 1999 – 5% disclosing disability, 17% unknown
• 2012 – 2.9% disclosing disability, 30% unknown
• Workforce growth approx. 50k while actual number of people disclosing disability reduced by 593
• Obvious challenges with recruitment and retention
• Confidential employee census 6.9% of workforce disclose disability
• ABS approx 15% of working age population have a disability

Aims
• strengthening the APS as a progressive and sustainable employer of people with disability, and
• improving the experience of people with disability in APS employment.
Themes
19 initiatives under the integrating themes of:
• fostering inclusive cultures;
• improving leadership across the APS;
• increasing agency demand for candidates with disability; and
• improving recruitment processes to enable more candidates with disability to enter the APS.

Primary aims
• Develop the capability and confidence of the candidate pool through increased exposure to the recruitment process
• Increase awareness and build skills and confidence in hiring managers to assess the merits of candidates with disability
• Improve employment outcomes for PWD

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• 15 Agencies participating
• Commenced June 2013
• Agencies choose scope
• Policy framework, guidance material
• Flexibility - Adaptation for business context
• Evaluation over 12 months
• Next steps – Grad recruitment