Congratulations to St Augustine’s College, NSW who were recognised as winners in the 2026 educate+ Excellence Awards.
Category: People & Culture – HR Initiative
At St Augustine’s College, developing stronger leaders begins with stepping away from everyday demands. Its bespoke Leadership Development Program gives staff time to understand themselves, reflect on their impact and build supportive relationships across the College.
Conceived, designed and delivered entirely in-house by a two-person People & Culture team, the program demonstrates how a modest investment can strengthen Leadership capability, connection and retention.
Leading Self Before Leading Others
The nine-month program builds a pipeline of capable, self-aware and values-driven leaders across teaching and professional staff. Its foundation is straightforward: understanding your own behaviours, emotional responses and communication style helps you lead others more effectively.
Both facilitators are accredited in emotional intelligence assessment, enabling them to combine EQ-i diagnostics with personalised coaching and targeted development.
The program includes:
- Emotional intelligence assessment and individual coaching before commencement.
- A two-day offsite immersion focused on self-awareness and reflection.
- Structured workbooks and three individual coaching sessions.
- Peer coaching groups, known as “Augustinian Alliances”.
- A one-to-one meeting with the Principal to explore Leadership insights and career progression.
- A formal graduation event.
The offsite experience is deliberately laptop-free. Removing operational distractions creates space for deeper reflection, something participants consistently identify as a program strength.
Turning Reflection into Everyday Practice
Development continues well beyond the immersion. Augustinian Alliances provide ongoing peer support, accountability and opportunities to apply learning to workplace challenges.
Bringing together colleagues from different teams strengthens relationships and collaboration. Participants also return with shared frameworks and vocabulary, supporting more constructive conversations about how they lead, communicate and work together.
For other institutions, practical starting points include protecting time for reflection, pairing assessments with coaching, and establishing peer groups that continue meeting after formal training ends.
Strong Results, Modest Investment
More than 70 staff have participated or are scheduled to participate, representing over 35% of the workforce. Participation is voluntary and consistently oversubscribed.
Across cohorts, satisfaction averages 9.3 out of 10, with a 9.68 out of 10 likelihood-to-recommend score. Participants report greater confidence, self-awareness, motivation and wellbeing. Turnover among participants is approximately half that of the broader staff population, although this comparison alone does not establish causation.
Direct costs are less than $400 per participant, excluding staffing costs. Delivery nevertheless requires significant staff time and careful planning to release participants for two consecutive term-time days.
Key Takeaways
- Start with self-awareness: Help leaders understand their triggers, behaviours and impact.
- Protect reflection time: Create space away from daily operational demands.
- Extend the learning: Combine immersion with coaching, feedback and practice.
- Connect across teams: Build peer networks that support collaboration and accountability.
- Measure the investment: Track satisfaction, participation, retention, direct costs and staff time.
Why It Matters
Leadership development can be achievable for institutions with small People & Culture teams. St Augustine’s approach shows how sustained, thoughtfully designed learning can help staff feel valued, strengthen organisational capability and build a more connected culture.
