Author: George Graham, Digital Marketing Specialist at Liquid Learning

In my role at Liquid Learning, I am lucky enough to work across a range of amazing projects, one of which was The 7th National Public Sector Women in Leadership summit, also known as PSWL16.

The PSWL16 conference brought together a selection of Australia’s most influential public sector workers to share experiences, network and enhance leadership effectiveness. From High Commissioners to Executive Directors, the conference was a gateway to access personal knowledge from some of the industries leading professionals. Here are a handful of common denominators brought up throughout the day that we can all find useful.

Join the conversation and share your own thoughts and opinions on twitter using #PSWL16 .

1. Authentic leadership means being ethical and having sympathy for your people.

Ethical leaders have a tremendous impact on how people in organisations behave and what they achieve. They focus on what’s right and exemplify that they are there to help, not to exploit the vulnerabilities of others.

2. Play your strengths

Focus on your positives rather than negatives. It’s easy to become less productive when focusing on weaknesses, but focusing on your strengths can enable excellence. Strengths are a person’s innate talents, things they do well naturally. Every person has them, and when identified, nurtured and channeled appropriately, they can have a dramatic effect on job satisfaction and bottom-line performance.

3. If a Window of Opportunity Appears, Don’t Pull Down The Shade

Taking a Carpe Diem approach to life is essential for any successful leader. When you live your life with this attitude, you are living life to the fullest extent in the present moment. This attitude helps you focus on what you want today and continue moving towards your long-term goals instead of getting trapped in your worries/fears/doubts for the future, which causes you to delay, procrastinate and remain stuck.

4. The Power Of Sorry

We are frequently taught that leaders, especially aspiring leaders, should hide weaknesses and mistakes. This view was flawed by the great speakers at PSWL16. It’s not only good to admit you’re wrong when you are; but it can also be a powerful tool. It can actually increase legitimacy and, when practiced regularly, build culture, innovation and openness.

5. Be Yourself

Role models can be powerful and it doesn’t hurt to model excellence when found, but leadership is about being yourself and demonstrating personal authenticity rather than picking up tips from Google. Aspiring leaders therefore need to be true to themselves and not slavishly follow other’s ideas.

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What’s next?

The 8th National Public Sector Women in Leadership summit, December 2016, Canberra

PSWL16 will be discussing proven strategies and practical solutions for enhancing the leadership effectiveness and career advancement for women in the Australian public sector.