Delivering an Executive Search to Drive Continuous Improvement and Outcomes for a Leading For-Purpose Organisation in Victoria
The Brief
Future Leadership™ was engaged by a leading for-purpose organisation in Victoria to appoint a Director Quality and Outcomes, a newly created executive role designed to elevate organisational performance and client impact. The appointment was driven by rapid organisational growth, the introduction of an additional management layer, and a strategic imperative to transition from a compliance-focused approach to a culture of systemic continuous improvement. The organisation sought a leader who could embed evidence-based practices, strengthen governance, and champion the development of “signature outcomes” to enhance its reputation with government and community stakeholders.
The role required a seasoned executive with deep expertise in quality systems, risk management, and accreditation frameworks within highly regulated human services environments. Beyond technical capability, the successful candidate needed to demonstrate strategic foresight, exceptional stakeholder engagement skills, and the ability to influence cultural change across a complex organisation. A strong understanding of policy development, data-driven decision-making, and consumer engagement was essential to ensure services remained client-focused and outcomes-driven. This appointment was critical to positioning the organisation as a sector leader in quality and innovation, ensuring compliance obligations were met while fostering a proactive, future-ready approach to service delivery.
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
Future Leadership™ undertook a comprehensive executive search process tailored to the organisation’s strategic needs:
- Briefing and Strategy Development: Engaged with the CEO, Deputy CEO, and Director People and Culture to understand the role’s priorities, including compliance, risk management, and driving organisational improvement.
- Targeted Candidate Search: Leveraged national networks and an advertising campaign to identify candidates with proven experience in quality governance, continuous improvement, and stakeholder engagement across complex human services environments.
- Candidate Assessment: Shortlisted nine candidates, five of whom were interviewed by the selection panel. Assessment focused on strategic leadership, governance expertise, and ability to foster innovation and collaboration.
- Final Evaluation: Finalists presented their vision for quality and outcomes leadership, demonstrating capability to influence systemic change and deliver measurable improvements.
Strategy and Purpose
Develops and leads strategy for the function/organisation, taking a broad and long-term perspective. Understands and considers context. Communicates and gains buy-in to the function/organisation goals, direction and vision, promoting change initiatives.
Adaptability and Resilience
Demonstrates positivity, curiosity, and the ability to pivot when confronted with change, pressure, adversity and disruption. Responsive to strategic environmental, social and corporate challenges and opportunities.
Governance and Compliance
Establishes, champions and measures the effectiveness of an organisation’s regulatory and reporting systems. Identifies and evaluates risks, develops strategies to mitigate risk.
Stakeholder Relations
Establishes rapport with stakeholders, builds and sustains trusted and collaborative relationships. Identifies and draws on relevant and diverse perspectives and integrates them to support productive interactions.
Critical Thinking
Gathers and examines different data points, testing for assumptions and gaps in logic; reframes problems and presents well-reasoned insights considering diverse perspectives. Analyses, interprets and objectively evaluates information enabling judgements.
Culture and Engagement
Fosters a positive culture, creating a sense of belonging and inclusiveness. Creates an environment that encourages diverse perspectives and facilitates a psychologically safe environment.
The Outcome
The process resulted in the appointment of a highly experienced senior executive with a distinguished career spanning health, human services, and justice sectors. The appointee has held multiple executive leadership roles within large, complex government environments, overseeing budgets exceeding $80 million and managing workforces of up to 750 staff. Their background includes leading significant reform initiatives such as parole system transformation, youth justice policy development, and forensic mental health strategies.
With expertise in governance, compliance, and risk management, the appointee has successfully delivered major capital projects, implemented electronic health record systems, and driven service delivery improvements across custodial and community settings. The appointee brings strong analytical and strategic planning capability, complemented by extensive stakeholder engagement experience across government, not-for-profit, and community sectors. Their proven ability to lead cultural change and embed evidence-based practices positions the organisation to achieve its vision for continuous improvement and enhanced client outcomes.
