La Trobe University
Higher Education
Leadership Consulting
La Trobe University is a leading Australian university renowned for its world-class research, academic excellence and commitment to making a positive impact in education, research and innovation. La Trobe recognises the crucial role of leadership in achieving their strategic goals and the importance of achieving a culture of leadership excellence across the university.
Tonka Learning has enjoyed a long-term partnership over many years with the talented and ambitious OD team at La Trobe University. With La Trobe’s strong determination to be best in class across the university landscape in Australia, it has been, and continues to be, an exciting journey for us in supporting their high impact OD projects.
Central to La Trobe’s mission of creating a high performance, people-centred culture was the creation of a university-wide capability framework. We helped shape the framework by providing guidance on the structure, the descriptions and the behavioural indicators across 4 proficiency levels for each capability.
Following the implementation of the all-staff capability framework, we provided strategic advice and support in the creation of a new leadership strategy and framework, designed to elevate the mindsets, behaviours and capabilities of leaders across the university. The strategy recognises the diversity in leadership roles, pathways and styles for both academic and professional staff. The framework sets out 4 leadership levels, 4 core leadership lenses, 8 leadership capabilities, and a comprehensive list of effective and ineffective leadership behaviours.
One of the most exciting projects we have supported La Trobe with was the creation of their new leadership academy, endorsed by their new Vice Chancellor. We conducted a six-week intensive research project examining leadership development in 44 organisations across a variety of industries in Australia and overseas. Our support also included multiple half-day ideation workshops with the OD team plus strategic guidance on the design and development of the academy.
We love working with La Trobe – their passion for elevating leadership, enhancing culture and driving high performance is contagious, and we look forward to continuing our great partnership with them for many years to come!