latrobe city council

leadership forum

leading courageously

Latrobe City Council engaged the Australian Leadership Academy (ALA) to design and deliver a Leadership Forum for all leaders across the organisation, with the aim of aligning the leadership team around a shared and collective future direction.

Titled Leading Courageously, the Forum built on the highly impactful leadership development programs previously delivered by ALA to the Latrobe City Council Executive Leadership Team, Management Team, Coordinator cohorts, and Team Leader cohorts.

Through ALA’s facilitation, the Forum provided a powerful framework to connect the collective leadership team, reflect on progress to date, and unify leaders around a shared vision and commitment to effective leadership delivery across the organisation.

The impact of the engaging and pragmatic Forum was a focused, high-performing leadership team, grounded in a shared, values-led approach, with strengthened collaboration across portfolios and a clear commitment to delivering at every level for Latrobe City Council.

THE EXPERIENCE

Designed as a highly interactive and experiential Forum, Leading Courageously created an environment for meaningful dialogue, connection and shared ownership.

The Forum was anchored by:

  • Guest Keynote: Simon Waller, Futurist
    Challenging leaders to think boldly about the future

  • Chief Executive Officer Keynote: Steve Piasente
    Reinforcing the importance of courageous, values-led leadership

  • Australian Leadership Academy Facilitation
    Providing a structured and engaging learning environment to foster collective alignment and strengthen leadership collaboration

Chief Executive Officer, Steven Piasente
and
Forum Facilitator, Antony Maxwell

keynote speaker

Simon Waller
The Art of Future Thinking

Simon Waller is a futurist, strategist and keynote speaker who supports leaders to navigate uncertainty and lead confidently in complex, changing environments. He is known for translating emerging trends into practical, accessible insights that inform strategy and decision-making.

Simon brings expertise in:

  • Strategic foresight and future-focused thinking

  • Leadership in complexity, disruption and uncertainty

  • Translating global trends into practical organisational action

  • Challenging assumptions and expanding leadership perspective

  • Supporting leaders to think boldly and lead with confidence

Leadership Team Charter

The development of the Team Charter provided leaders with a structured and inclusive opportunity to align around how they lead together. Through facilitated dialogue and collective reflection, leaders clarified shared organisational values, leadership expectations, and behaviours that will support strong collaboration and effective decision-making into the future.

The exercise enabled leaders to:

  • Articulate a shared leadership purpose and collective values

  • Build trust and connection across portfolios and roles

  • Agree on leadership behaviours that support courageous leadership

  • Align ways of working to deliver on the Council Plan

  • Create a clear, practical Team Charter to guide leadership practice

“The Forum reinforced leadership
as a shared responsibility,
grounded in trust, alignment,
and a unified vision for the future”

FORUM IMPACT

The Forum enabled leaders to adopt a more considered and future-focused leadership mindset and strengthened commitment to leading courageously, caring personally while challenging directly.

Key outcomes included:

  • A shared, values-led approach to leadership across the organisation

  • Stronger connection and trust within the collective leadership team

  • The co-creation of a Latrobe Leadership Team Charter

  • Clear directorate commitments to support ongoing leadership effectiveness

  • Connection and alignment to the delivery of the Council Plan

 Australian leadership academy clients