Tapping into the knowledge of our Network, our aim is to motivate and inspire solutions for Tasmania’s most intractable issues and seize the plentiful opportunities available to our island home.
See below for a selection of our research and report outputs over the past decade.
Building Belonging Through Leadership : A discussion paper for Tasmanian leaders is our latest report by leading organisational behaviour academic Dr Joseph Crawford Senior Lecturer in Management at the University of Tasmania and recognised as an all-time top 2% global scientist by Stanford.
The report draws on insights gained from a one-day workshop held in late 2024 in Launceston with leaders from across Tasmania. Participants included managers and board directors from sectors spanning construction, not-for-profit, education, arts, government, and business. Leaders were asked to explore when and where they most felt belonging; what belonging is – and what it is not; and how belonging might be built in workplaces and communities. Their lived experiences and insights were synthesised with contemporary research on belonging, loneliness, and social cohesion.
Building Belonging Through Leadership introduces the Tasmanian Belonging Framework, synthesising four dimensions of belonging described by leaders in the workshop as: Psychological Safety, Unconditional Vulnerability, Alignment of Identity and Place, and Boundaries of Belonging. Recommendations include practical strategies for leaders to build belonging, shaped by diverse perspectives and stress-tested across sectors, making them both contextually Tasmanian and broadly transferable.
Our latest discussion paper, authored by Dr Joseph Crawford, reveals that belonging isn’t a soft sentiment, it is the foundation of effective leadership. It shows how leaders can create cultures of safety, trust and shared purpose that help people and organisations thrive.
Leading in Complexity: an initial enquiry in Tasmania by Dr Aiden M. A. Thornton delves into the distinctive challenges and opportunities for developing leadership within the Tasmanian context.
This document presents the findings of a scan of members of the Tasmanian Leaders Network, capturing their experiences, observations and ideas about polarisation and how leadership can mitigate its negative aspects.
COVID-19: Challenges, innovations, priorities and recovery for a new and better normal in Tasmania Read our report capturing insights and lessons from our Network during the Covid-19 crisis.
In 2018 Myriad Research measured the impact of our Tasmanian Leaders Program on participants and Tasmania. The results were outstanding, revealing a highly interconnected, engaged, and motivated alumni network making significant contributions across all sectors
Thinkbank is a process that brings together members of the Tasmanian Leaders Network to generate innovative solutions through dialogue to pressing and complex issues facing our community.
Each Thinkbank is a process of at least six months of design and guided research to inform a two-day Thinkbank event. This process results in a stimulating and insightful public document and detailed set of actions to create real change in Tasmania. In this way, Thinkbank powerfully intervenes in public debate and policy decisions to create new and positive change for Tasmania’s future.
The 2019 Thinkbank event ‘Our Place in the Sun’ explored key areas of opportunity for the Tasmanian agritourism sector. Prior to the event, each participant undertook interviews with Tasmanian agritourism businesses and collected information regarding agritourism policy and activities in other regions. Analysis of the interviews identified that support and collaboration are critical to both success and overcoming challenges. During the event, participants split into groups to define the issue and develop possible solutions of one of the following areas of opportunity for improvement in the Tasmanian agritourism sector: * Building resilience * Improving industry collaboration * Understanding the market
In 2018 Thinkbank gathered for a two-day residential to rigorously discuss how to help small businesses improve. Drawing on interviews from over 130 businesses, Alumni worked through issues and opportunities for small businesses and debated what government could best do to assist. Two weeks later the candid deliberations were shared directly with the Tasmanian Premier, the Honourable Will Hodgman MP, at the annual Tasmanian Leaders event, the Premier in Conversation. Both events resulted in an insightful document called ‘What Stops Us? – Small business: overcoming obstacles and seizing opportunities’.
The 2017 Thinkbank event explored the future of work in collaboration with the University of Tasmania. Over two days, participants honed in on five key areas with significant implications for the University and its future courses. The key areas were: people, technology, sustainability, skilled and unskilled workforce, and leadership. The spirited dialogue resulted in a substantive report.
In November and December 2013, Alumni of the Tasmanian Leaders Program participated in a Thinkbank focused on education in Tasmania. Over four sessions and backed by interviews with stakeholders, the Alumni sought to better understanding the purpose of education and its contribution to the Tasmanian community. The aim of the in-depth process was to determine how to positively influence educational outcomes to benefit all Tasmanians.
“The Tasmanian Leaders Program has reinforced the need to think beyond the horizon, plan for, and help to shape, multiple possible futures.
The tools and techniques will be so valuable as I support my organisation and team to think strategically about how to challenge and change the systems, behaviours and attitudes that create poverty, inequality and exclusion.”
“The program has been a hugely rewarding experience, and I have enjoyed every moment of it. TLP helped me get a far deeper understanding of many issues which are important to Tasmania.”
“The whole experience surpassed my expectations. TLP has given me so many skills to practice but most of all it has given me insight into myself and what leadership means to me.”
“After TLP I am exploring ways to contribute to developing the skills of the technology workforce in Tasmania to address unsustainable workforce demographics. I plan to be courageous, generous and supportive in ensuring that those around me are able to achieve their potential.”
