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Learn. Empower. Achieve. Develop (LEAD)

March 13, 2025 5:00 pm

Learn. Empower. Achieve. Develop (LEAD)

Four 90 minute sessions exploring Data and AI, Facilitation Skills, Resume Review, and Project Management

Content experts will provide a 90 minute session with each session giving participants a reference guide to use in the workplace and information on longer courses.

Practical take-aways for Young Professionals is a focus, allowing you to implement learnings in your everyday work. These ‘short courses’ are a perfect means of exploring topics that you may later like to pursue in relevant IPAA courses. 

The LEAD (Learn. Empower. Achieve. Develop) Program covers four main learning topics for YP’s in the public service with a 90 minute ‘short course’ on each.

A maximum of 15 attendees for the session encourages attendees to actively participate during the session and get an opportunity to network with other Young Professionals. The sessions will be delivered both in-person and online.

Upcoming Session

Session 3: Project Management
Date: 13 March 2025

This practical training is tailored for early career public service professionals, aiming to enhance their skills in contemporary project management, with an emphasis on navigating common pitfalls and adopting better ways of working, including Agile methodologies.

The 1.5-hour session will provide participants with hands-on opportunities to explore challenges specific to government projects and to practice adaptive strategies that emphasise flexibility, efficiency, and effective stakeholder engagement. This training is designed to prepare young professionals for success in complex government environments, encouraging a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.

Past Sessions

Session 1: Data and AI
Date: 12 September 2024 | ​Time: 5:00pm – 6:30pm

Gain practical insights about how data and data tools can be applied in your work and the current and future use of AI in government. You will be able to situate yourself in not only current trends and applications of data and AI but also the overarching government policies that guides our use of this technology.

Session 2: Facilitation Skills
Date: 10 October 2024

Facilitation is a vital skill for anyone exercising leadership and wanting to drive good outcomes. However, not all facilitation is effective and there are certainly good and bad techniques that you can adopt for the best result. You will learn about facilitation methodology, how to prepare for and run facilitation, how to craft a good question and tools to elicit feedback.

Darren is a confident presenter who regularly addresses large audiences and diverse groups. In his career, he has learnt a few lessons along the way about what makes effective facilitation. This session will focus on facilitation as a skill that you can develop. In this context, Darren will talk about his experience in leading facilitation, including leading the lessons learned with the Australian Red Cross for the Afghanistan Repatriation Emergency Operation in 2021 and his facilitation across Western Australia in reviewing the State Support Plan – Emergency Welfare.

The session will be lively and not driven entirely by powerpoint or lecturing – there will be active facilitation in the room, where you can see facilitation in practice.

Upcoming Session

Galen Townson

Session 3: Project Management

13 March 2025 | ​5:00pm - 6:30pm

Galen Townson
Manager, Project and Change Support, Department of Communities

Galen is the manager for project and change support at Department of Communities, following 30 years in strategic execution and change for WA, NSW and UK governments; the UN; and other sectors.

With an EMBA and postgrads in social impact, sustainability, and wellbeing science, Galen studied advanced project management at Stanford, taught MBA Project Management at UWA, is an accredited PMP and Agile instructor, and until 2024 also served on the board of the Project Management Institute.

Past Sessions

Session 1: Data and AI

12 September 2024 | ​5:00pm - 6:30pm

Dr Mehwish Nasim
Lecturer, UWA Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering

Dr Mehwish Nasim is a Lecturer at The University of Western Australia where she teaches Artificial Intelligence. She holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Konstanz, Germany.

She works at the intersection of Computer Science and Social Psychology. Informed by sociological theories on human interaction, she develops mathematical models of social influence to combat the dissemination of misinformation across social media platforms.

She is also a TEDx speaker. She is dedicated to increasing the percentage of underrepresented individuals in the STEM workforce, particularly women with caring responsibilities. For the past four years, she had been an active member of diversity and inclusion committees at the various organisations she had been a part of.

Ashleigh Pruitt
Director of Data Policy, Office of Digital Government

Ashleigh is the Director, Data Policy at the Office of Digital Government, Department of the Premier and Cabinet. Ashleigh and her team work with government agencies across the public sector to build capability and implement policy in data, linkage, responsible information sharing and artificial intelligence.

This involves ensuring that WA’s linked data asset, PeopleWA, can inform government decision making and innovative research, progressing Privacy and Responsible Information Sharing legislation, and implementing the WA Government’s AI Policy.

Session 2: Facilitation Skills

10 October 2024 

Darren Mellowship
Assistant Director Project Governance, Reporting, Insights and Analytics

Darren Mellowship has over 20 years’ leadership experience in government organisations in Australia. His work has taken him from leading boarding parties on Australian warships to major corporate boardrooms.

He has demonstrated experience in organisational leadership, strategic planning, project management, whole of government strategies, emergency response and service design of innovative program. Darren is currently the Assistant Director for the Project Governance, Reporting, Insights and Analytics Directorate with the Department of Communities. In this role, Darren is responsible for all workforce and HR data reporting and analysis, as well as managing the Project Management Office function for the People and Culture (HR) division.

Date, Time & Venue

13 Mar 2025
5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

5min walk from Perth Train station

Cost

Prices include GST and are subject to change

Corporate Member
In-Person Attendance
$30.00
Individual Member
In-Person Attendance
$25.00
Corporate and Individual Members
Online Attendance
$20.00
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