QLD Public Sector Women in Leadership Summit 2025

Join Liquid Learning for this kick-off session as we prepare for two days of incredible speakers, senior leaders, expert deep-dives and unmissable panel discussions!

Authentic leadership is key to building trust, resilience, and meaningful influence. In this session, Angela explores what it means to lead with authenticity - aligning values, actions, and leadership style to create impact. She will share insights on embracing vulnerability, fostering trust-based relationships, and leading with integrity in the public sector.

- Leading with courage, resilience, and emotional intelligence

- Adapting to your audience whilst remaining authentic

- Practical strategies to inspire and empower others while staying true to yourself

As a leader, you play a critical role in shaping team dynamics and culture. By actively listening to your teams and bringing them along a shared journey to success, you promote a continuous culture of growth. Join Debra as she unpacks strategies for driving positive organisational culture and leading multidisciplinary teams to their own solutions. 

- Encouraging continuous learning

- Empowering long-term success through people-centric goals

- Aligning motivations and objectives

Mix and mingle with your fellow leaders over a cup of coffee and light refreshments.

Promoting women in leadership and enhancing diversity are key values in public service. In order to effectively champion change and create opportunities for diverse leadership, it’s important to engage a range of perspectives and unpack lessons from current initiatives and policies. In this session Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough, AFP’s Champion for Women, shares strategies that the AFP has implemented to drive change and discusses her role empowering and supporting women leaders.

- Applying initiatives to attract and retain more women leaders 

- Identifying and building allyship 

- Supporting high-performing and inclusive teams 

Menopause and broader health changes greatly impact all aspects of personal and professional life, including energy levels and decision making processes. This poses risks to wellbeing and midlife burnout, compounded by stigma and misunderstanding. Nicole specialises in supporting women through these midlife changes and combating stigma through awareness and education. Join her in this session to gain the knowledge and strategies to not only support yourself, but also to thrive as a leader during these changes. 

- Identify the signs and symptoms of perimenopause, menopause and its impacts on productivity 

- Empower your teams to manage their own wellbeing journey 

- Develop strategies to navigate and overcome increased stress in the workplace

Enjoy a midday lunch break. A time to refresh, refuel, and prepare for a full afternoon of immersive learning and inspiration.

The public sector is constantly transforming in response to emerging needs and new information. Leaders will need to be strategic thinkers and adaptable in their leadership approaches. This panel will explore practical insights into navigating the future state of public service leadership, unpacking unique challenges and how to build an empowered public sector.

- Adopting new skillsets

- Leading inclusive teams

- Understanding the opportunities and implications of flexible work

As leaders, speaking up, having difficult conversations, and leading discussions that create real value are core parts of the everyday role. But how can leaders effectively build rapport and develop impactful communication styles, particularly when it comes to integrating or providing feedback? In this session Amy will explore strategies to facilitate open and authentic discussions, while leaning into your unique strengths.

- Be prepared to engage with various audiences, personalities and perspectives

- Learn to adjust your communication approaches 

- Overcome challenges in providing effective feedback

A quick break to refresh and continue building your network with fellow leaders. Enjoy a light refreshment before finishing your conference experience.

No one said that leading people was always easy or straightforward. Sometimes people can throw you a curveball - something you didn’t see coming. This comes hand-in-hand with leadership. In this session, Gillian reflects on the moments that have built her resilience and put it to the test. Learn the importance of bouncing back from challenges, using the tough moments as a lesson learned and develop a plan to implement for yourself in your own journey.

- Hear first hand experience of building resilience

- Use the hard moments as a learning experience

- Plan your own resilience strategy

Join us for our end of day one networking. Enjoy canapés and drinks whilst getting to know your peers further, build ongoing relationships, and share your highlights of the day.

Welcome back for Day Two - there's a lot to digest from our amazing speakers and action modules so far!

Recap the key learnings and takeaways from Day One, and prep an action plan to maximise your event experience over our jam-packed second day!

Being able to thrive as a leader often requires navigating unique career pathways and at times taking bold steps to overcome challenges. What should be your approach in taking career risks and shifting your motivations and goals? In this session, Dr Bajic explores her career journey towards becoming the first female Deputy Chief Inspector in Queensland, unpacking the opportunities and risks that have shaped her leadership today. 

- Navigating and overcoming stereotypes

- Embracing challenges as opportunities for growth

- Finding your authentic style

The QPS is focused on enhancing performance and delivering better outcomes, without compromising integrity and building public trust. No small task. But how do actually bring that ideal to life as you navigate your day-to-day? In this session, Jen shares insights from her extensive leadership experience in regulation and governance, and shows you can rise to the challenge and lead with integrity.

- Navigating multifaceted frameworks and challenges of integrity 

- Responding to complex challenges as a leader 

- Fostering effective communication

Mix and mingle with your fellow leaders over a cup of coffee and light refreshments.

Imagine having all the capabilities and tools at your fingertips, but still feeling held back by your own self-talk and limiting perceptions? Building these skills will often push you outside your comfort zone, and require elevated ways of thinking to approach challenges. Join Deborah as she explores how, with the right tools, you can build confidence, reshape your focus, and thrive both professionally and personally. 

- Take charge of building your confidence as a leader to influence with impact

- Reframe your thoughts and behaviours to achieve success

- Understand and leverage NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) strategies for personal growth

Your values are fundamental in shaping your identity and guiding your leadership journey. When we align our actions with our values and recognise the impact of our perspectives, we create a path toward fulfilling our purpose and making a positive impact. In this session, Joanne shares how this has allowed her to more effectively engage and lead others, and drive positive outcomes. 

- Defining your purpose and goals

- Integrating personal and organisational values 

- Supporting high-performing teams based on trust and respect

Enjoy a midday lunch break. A time to refresh, refuel, and prepare for a full afternoon of immersive learning and inspiration.

Setting yourself apart and developing into a truly impactful leader takes more than just hard work. This panel will delve into the strategic actions, and mindset shifts needed to advance as an effective leader. Join this empowering conversation as senior leaders share their unique leadership approaches, unpacking the skills and behaviours they have leveraged to overcome obstacles and progress in their careers.

- Lean into your unique leadership strengths 

- Cultivate an effective mentorship culture

- Uncover new opportunities for career development

A quick break to refresh and continue building your network with fellow leaders. Enjoy a light refreshment before finishing your conference experience.

Developing solutions to challenges that fall across multiple agencies are some of the most difficult to navigate. Siloed strategies and different operational processes make working across departments complex and time-consuming. The challenge becomes even greater when addressing regional priorities – the further priorities are from the ‘centre of government’, the less potent advocacy and influence tends to be. But what if collaboration wasn’t left to chance? What if it became an intentional, structured part of how we work to respond to complex regional priorities? Join Suzi and Abbey as they explain the Regional Collaborative Governance Model – an innovative new approach to cross-agency collaboration – and offer insights into the conditions required to implement large-scale and impactful collaborative initiatives.  

- Collaborate intentionally to navigate the complexity of cross-agency challenges

- Overcome siloed strategies

- Align goals and communicate clearly for sustainable success

We wrap up our inspirational and jam packed two days with this interactive action planning session. This is your chance to table any topic or trend for a final group discussion. Reflecting on the inspiring stories that have been shared, discussing your key learnings with your peers, and creating your action plan for moving forward.

- Reflect on your key learnings from the Summit

- Identify opportunities for career progression and growth

- Create an action plan for your leadership journey

Strategic thinking and problem solving

- How the current context is shaping organisations

- The role of strategic thinking in senior leadership

- Responding to emerging challenges

Enhancing your decision-making

- Cognitive principles, and tools essential for effectiveness

- Addressing common limitations and challenges

- Utilise models, tools and tactics to enhance overall capabilities

Advanced problem solving for senior leaders

- How to objectively collect and evaluate evidence

- Exploring reason-based approaches to tackle complex solving

- Applying rational and creative problem solving tools and techniques

Leading and influencing others on key issues

- Effectively engaging stakeholders to understand the problem and identifying potential solutions

- Integrating multi-stakeholder perspectives and facilitating shared understanding

- Resolving conflict and disagreement in group problem solving

Definition: Understanding the problem

- Reaching agreement on the problem: Defining key variables, known causes, structure, scope, stakeholder impact, interdependencies and constraints 

- Evaluating problem impacts

- Developing solution criteria and the problem solving approach

Analysis: Identifying and evaluating possible solutions

- Generating and evaluate solutions based on feasibility, impact and risk

- Taking stock of required skills, knowledge and resources to resolve the problem or realise the opportunity

- Leadership, management, planning and team deployment considerations 

Implementation: from strategy to results

- Testing solutions: prototypes, pilots, simulations

- Adopting a systematic approach to solution implementation

- Building engagement and embedding change 

Overcoming roadblocks to strategic thinking and problem solving

- Cognitive biases, ideological paradigms and group-based

- The inherently challenging nature of ‘wicked problems’ 

- Cultivating your skills and maintaining your edge as a strategic thinker and problem solver