SPONSORED CONTENT
The work of government is becoming increasingly difficult and so are the demands on senior leaders. They face a world of tighter budgets, greater accountability, fast-changing technology, decreasing community cohesion and an increasing political dimension to their work.
In this environment, working smarter is the key. Leaders need to improve their skills and capabilities, and take the time to reflect on what they do, and invest in their own leadership.
The Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) works across all the jurisdictions of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand to help lift the standard of public administration through education, research and other activities.
Our Executive Master of Public Administration program is a two-year accredited degree delivered with our 16 partner universities. It’s a career-shaping program for public sector leaders that gives New Zealand public servants exposure to experts and networks in Australia.
It builds skills and strategic thinking and aims to give students the tools and confidence to get ‘comfortable with being uncomfortable’ in the uncertain environment they face.
One of the EMPA’s core subjects is Managing Public Sector Organisations, taught by New Zealand management academics Professor Todd Bridgman and Dr Ben Walker from Victoria University.
They work to get EMPA participants to better understand their own management style and what they want to achieve as managers.
“The insights that MPSO offers are generated by the students themselves. They apply the theories and the research to their own experience of managing people, and of being managed,” Todd says.
“It’s that critical engagement between theory and practice that hopefully generates real genuine practical insights – insights that students arrive at themselves, not ones that we’re prescribing for them.”
Ben says that: “We want them doing everything they can to be a manager who actually makes a positive difference in people’s lives. That’s not an easy thing to do.
It’s going to look different for different employees and it’s going to look different in different contexts.”
“But making the effort to be a good boss is totally worth it and it’s not necessarily that difficult. A lot of it is quite basic stuff that just requires a little bit of self-reflection and self-awareness. Given you are working in the public sector, ultimately that will trickle down and affect societies and communities in a positive way.”
Todd’s advice to managers is to ‘be humble’.
“Have much more open conversations with the people you manage, rather than just get stuck in these stereotypes of what managers are and what they’re expected to do. It’s easy to underestimate the ability of people who we’re managing. There are so many capable people in organisations, and sometimes we don’t make the most of their knowledge and experience.
“I want students to value their own experience of management, and having been managed, and to use that experience and connect that with what they’re learning to get a much deeper and more sophisticated insight into their own practice. To really know their own approach to management – and be interested in continuously developing it.”
Ben and Todd are just two of the academic experts who are part of the EMPA faculty and who share their knowledge with the committed and passionate public servants who undertake the EMPA.
Students will learn a range of skills and deepen their understanding of areas of the public service they are not familiar with, as well as building a network of fellow professionals from across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. The EMPA can be a career-shaping academic program for public sector leaders, and alumni occupy senior roles across Australian and New Zealand public services.
The 2025 EMPA will have a strong New Zealand flavour, with the opening subject Delivering Public Value being delivered in Ōtautahi Christchurch.
Students will gain a deeper understanding of how the city has rebuilt following the devastating earthquake in 2011, and the role of the community and central and local governments. ANZSOG Practice Fellow Sally Washington was involved in central government during this period, and will contribute to the 2025 EMPA delivery and will revisit some of the lessons learned about government innovation. A range of New Zealand academics, including the University of Waikato’s Professor Brad Jackson, and expert in place-based leadership will also be part of the program.
The majority of the in-person EMPA will be delivered in Australia, with a focus on giving students a skillset centred around public policy design and delivery, evidence-based decision-making, leading change and organisational management and strategic public financial and economic management. The learning program is designed to ensure students have opportunities to directly apply what they learn within your organisation.
ANZSOG’s Executive Master of Public Administration is our flagship two-year accredited program, delivered with our university partners. It is a program designed specifically for public servants to address the contemporary context and emerging challenges they face.
Students learn from leading practitioners and academic experts and build a network of committed colleagues from across the jurisdictions of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Applications are now open, for more information on the program visit our website.
