As a crowd of nearly 600 public purpose workers converged onto Brisbane City Hall at 7am, 18th May 2022, IPAA Queensland was delighted to launch another fabulous flagship Chief Executives and Young Professionals Breakfast event.

The 2022 theme for this event was ‘Neuroscience of leading through turbulent times…’ and is a incredibly relevant topic for leaders of all levels in both public purpose work and the broader corporate community.

With the public purpose sector undergoing some turbulent times over the past few years…this topic sought to address this turbulence, and how leadership needs to develop and evolve over this time and into the future in order to ensure that positive work can be achieved.

But – what does the future of leadership in the public sector look like?

The 2022 event saw Dr David Rock, from the NeuroLeadership Institute deliver a concise and thought-provoking address on how neuroscience can be employed to support and manage teams through crisis and stress.

Dr Rock shared insights, strategies, and tactics on what takes place within the brain as stress is applied to people as they work through crisis, and shared critical habits that need to be encouraged in order to focus on what matters, and to be flexible and adaptive over both the short and long term.

The audience of the day participated in interactive workshops and a panel discussing not just the science, but also the application of these critical habits in the workplace. With Rona McLean-Carmody, Chief Operating Officer from Alya; Naomi Bruton, Organisational Development Consultant with the Department of Resources, being joined by Dr Rock, spoke to their own experiences in employing the NeuroLeadership Institute SCARF practice framework and more. Stephen Beckett, Strategic Advisor with the NeuroLeadership Institute moderated and connected the crowd to the conversation.

This event is one of many being hosted by IPAA Queensland over 2022 that seeks to focus on leadership, capability, and traversing uncertainty. Connect with IPAA Queensland to attend more events that will keep you informed and challenge your thinking as you build connections.

IPAA Queensland would like to warmly thank QSuper and KPMG for once again supporting this event.

IPAA Queensland members can watch the entire event recording on the members portal.

About IPAA Queensland:

IPAA Queensland advances the professionalism, capability and integrity of public administration and public purpose work and promotes pride in service.

If you’re a public servant or engaged in public purpose work, we encourage you to get to know and connect with IPAA Queensland. Find out more about us by reading more on our site, subscribing to our newlsetter, or through joining as a member here.

The Neuroleadership Institute Story:

In 2007, David and Lisa Rock and their team had been working in leadership development and executive coaching for ten years, when David coined the term “NeuroLeadership.” They realized that bringing a more concrete, science-based approach to growing soft skills would not just resonate with business leaders but also make any change initiative more effective.

That same year, what would become the NeuroLeadership Institute ran its first Summit in Asolo, Italy, convening business practitioners and brain scientists. Since then, Summits have been held across London, Sydney, San Francisco, DC and Boston before settling into its home in New York City. Tens of thousands of people now join the summit each year by live streaming.

2008 also saw the launch of the NeuroLeadership Journal.

In its first few years, NLI published the foundational papers in the field, including the first paper on the SCARF ® Model. We initially provided executive education, and then soon started to consult with firms based on demand, eventually helping launch a movement to do performance management without formal ratings.

After two and a half years of research, NLI launched the SEEDS Model ® in 2015, and a diversity and inclusion (D&I) practice was born. Soon after, NLI launched a culture and leadership practice, initially working with tech giants Intel, Microsoft, and IBM. It also gained deep expertise in growth mindset and helped many organizations transform culture. Around that same time, NLI introduced the distributed learning solution, a socialized learning methodology that allows large groups of people to learn and retain knowledge with little time commitment.

Going into the future, we’re continuing to adapt, evolve, and listen for where people need us next.