Pragmatic leadership : national principles, local practices

Date

2012

Authors

Short, T.

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Conference paper

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Proceedings of the 15th Annual Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association Conference, 2012, pp.1-12

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15th Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association Conference (AVETRA 2012) (12 Apr 2012 : Canberra, Australian Capital Territory)

Abstract

The need for building leadership capability and growing leadership talent has become well-recognised. Indications are that Australia is spending more money per capita on leadership training than many other developed countries. In contrast, it is also suggested that Australia lags way behind other major economies when it comes to identifying and engaging the pool of leadership talent. This paper follows the progress of leadership development in the Australian rail industry and focuses on a major research project conducted by the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Rail Innovation between 2009 and 2011. The leadership study was aimed at creating a harmonised and relevant capability framework for future adoption across the rail industry. At the present time, rail organisations are undergoing a period of major transformation, investing in new technologies and at the same time dealing with historical differences in inter-state practices, overcoming skills shortages and managing the loss of tacit knowledge as many baby-boomer generation managers plan for retirement. Leadership capability is situated at the heart of these changes. Research conducted by CRC has found that an effective framework for developing rail leaders can be achieved by blending together three readily accessible bodies of knowledge. Firstly, a portfolio of leadership capabilities is available from a wide range of existing frameworks; secondly, 11 recognised units of management training are available in the Australian Frontline Management Initiative; and finally, survey findings obtained from 200 rail leaders highlight six themes of leadership capability which are most relevant to the current rail environment.

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Copyright unknown. If you are the copyright owner, or know who the copyright owner is, please contact copyright@unisa.edu.au.

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