Strategic and operational leadership role: building culture, expanding and redesigning service offering and delivering on the Mental Health Transformation Plan to support community need.
The Brief
In 2023, Future Leadership was engaged to support the appointment of a General Manager, Mental Health and Wellbeing Services to provide exceptional health and community care, with the purpose to work together to build a healthy community. To realise this vision, the organisation sought to bring people together who strive for a sense of achievement, take an interest in their individual growth, enjoy innovation and improvement and have a passion for communicating and connecting with others.
The successful incumbent was to be an engaging and collaborative leader who is future focused, identifying how to do things differently in the delivery of care to the community. With demonstrated strategic and operational leadership within mental health services and proven experience in the expansion of services was identified as key to the success of this role. The selection committee highlight the successful appointee would have a leadership style that empowers and engages the workforce and inspires creativity, and would be a highly experienced leader who drives continuous improvement and an open and safe environment, supporting teams to deliver better community outcomes.
Candidate net Promote Score
Future Leadership combines truly personalised relationships with innovative technology solutions to ensure an approachable and efficient process for all our Net Promoter Score across clients, successful candidates and unsuccessful candidates is well above industry standard.
Candidates supported every year
We maintain genuine relationships with past candidates and continue to support them with leadership solutions long term, after they land their role.
Senior Women Appointed since 2002
Over half of the executive search assignments undertaken by our team have resulted in the appointment of outstanding female or LGBTQI+ leaders to high profile roles.
Candidate Retention Rate for 12 months since 2002
Our thorough briefing process and ability to engage passive candidates mean that we go to great lengths to find the right person for the role – long term!
The Process
The Future Leadership team, led by Sandra Kerr, held a detailed briefing process which provided the framework for the Future Leadership search strategy.
The selection panel was kept up to date on progress throughout the search with regular updates from the lead Consultant. The Future Leadership team provided a shortlist of four candidates, including a debrief with a Future Leadership Organisation Psychologist who presented responses to the psychometric assessments as aligned to the Future Leadership Capability Framework. Panel interviews followed, which were supported by Future Leadership, including management of all logistics and provision of interview questions. The lead consultant completed 360 degree reference checking for the preferred candidate, and supported the negotiation phase to confirm the appointment.
Key steps included:
- Targeted Search and Talent Pooling: Future Leadership™ conducted a comprehensive search process targeting potential candidates within the sector.
- Comprehensive Shortlisting: The client was presented with a short list of highly qualified candidates with exceptional experience.
- Panel Interviews and Strategic Presentation: The Future Leadership™ team worked closely with the client to complete panel interviews, plus full referencing and required probity checking to confirm an appointment.
Emerging Capabilities
Ethics, Integrity and Compliance
Showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to moral and ethical principles and values aligned to social, cultural, equitable and professional standards of conduct. Fosters trust and promotes the concept of a social license to operate.
Engagement and Culture
Engages stakeholders inclusively with sensitivity and regard for diversity and facilitates a psychologically safe environment for social or cultural differences affecting behaviour.
Strategic Relationships
Works strategically to encourage diverse thinking with all types of people, contributes to teamwork and builds relationships and networks across a range of people or groups.
Innovation and Creativity
Contributes new ideas, solutions, and perspectives to current challenges and thinking practices and to enable the creation of new products, solutions and opportunities.
Direction and Purpose
Leads transformational processes, motivates teams, and influences commitment to a shared purpose that individuals and the workforce will require to enable sustained organisational success. Builds and promotes a culture underpinning the vision, purpose and values the organisation aspires to achieve.
Adaptability
Demonstrating positivity, curiosity, resilience and the ability to pivot when confronted with change, pressure, adversity and disruption. Anticipates and enhances organisation’s capacity to respond quickly to strategic environmental, social and corporate challenges and opportunities.
The Outcome
The successful appointee, an experienced mental health leader, commenced in December 2023. They presented with proven strategic ability and capacity to drive innovative, supportive, inclusive and collaborative high performing cultures. They applied passion, skill, and knowledge in operational leadership roles to influence service and systems design, and to lead staff to provide trauma and evidence informed compassionate services for people from diverse communities. The newly appointed developed a deep understanding of the impacts of everyday systemic and institutionalised experiences of discrimination, violence, and harassment. It is my knowledge of the intersectionality and impact of these issues that drives me to establish governance structures and quality improvement systems to ensure services are culturally safe, affirming, and inclusive.
