Rebuilding the plane as you learn to fly.
While many of us race toward deadlines in the care sector, we should remember we’re only at the beginning of the journey to transform our sector into one that’s both centred on the rights of people and sustainable long-term. To succeed, our leaders need to be ‘future-fit’, ready to navigate this unprecedented pace and scale of change.
Most of the change is transformational. In the aged care sector in 2025, for example, in addition to reforms, the provider intentions for this year include:
- Two-thirds require significant changes to their core services
- One-third are anticipating an acquisition this year
- Half are planning to expand their business models in the next 12 months to provide a greater continuum of care.
We need to develop leaders who are future-fit and ready to lead transformational change. That means system view, to motivate and take all their people on the journey; this demands a whole new set of leadership competencies and ways of working. Leaders adopt new mindsets and manage ‘their own and collective capacity’ to ‘shape and steer’ the collective effort of their people, as highlighted by the Aged Care Quality Commission.
As many leaders are already overwhelmed, it’s a significant challenge. Over 84 per cent are already feeling the greater strain of making changes to every part of the service delivery model, while at the same time doing their best to meet everyday demands. Traditional leadership development commonly falls short. They often focus on change theory without helping leaders immediately apply new knowledge to real work challenges, but studies show that if it isn’t applied within 48 hours in the workplace, the learning doesn’t stick.
If we want leaders to embrace learning, it needs to be ‘learning by doing’. A recent study by the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) showed that a structured ‘learning-by-doing’ approach is up to 80 per cent more effective than traditional methods and delivers up to three times more impact. This is where combining the real world with an action-learning approach comes into play – blending classroom learning, online skill bites based on scenarios, and ‘real work’ done with their peers, along with structured reflection to reinforce the learning.
Change at any scale can either be motivating or threatening, and how it gets done matters. For change to be motivating, we need leaders ready to be out in front, guiding the whole organisation on a journey, setting a positive direction and empowering their teams to co-create the changes so they’re embraced. Change becomes threatening when people feel it’s ‘done to them’, and they resist it; studies have shown this approach has an up to 70 per cent failure rate.
If we’re serious about creating a sustainable, rights-based aged care system, we must invest in leadership development that meets the moment. To truly prepare leaders, we need practical leadership development, grounded in real-world challenges and designed to deliver outcomes from day one. Let’s stop talking about change and start building leaders’ capability to lead it; this is the only way to achieve transformational change.
Take a moment to reflect. Does your leadership team have the competency to lead transformational change? If you’d like to find out, get in touch with us today.
Angela Frith, Managing Director, Fire Up Solutions
fireupsolutions.com