Becoming a Fellow is often seen as a milestone. In reality, it’s a shock to the system.

The first 12 months are where theory collides with practice, where credibility is tested, authority is not guaranteed, and the expectations shift overnight. Many step into these roles technically prepared, but underprepared for the political, interpersonal, and psychological realities of operating at this level.

This workshop confronts that gap directly.

Through real-world scenarios, candid discussion with early-career Fellows and senior executives, and applied practice, participants will step into the realities of the role, not just the version described in training, but the one that plays out in organisations every day.

The focus is deliberate:

• how credibility is actually built (and lost) in the first 90 days
• how influence works when formal authority is limited
• how to navigate high-stakes conversations under pressure
• and how to position yourself, intentionally, for opportunity rather than waiting for it

This is not a theoretical session on leadership frameworks.

It is a practical rehearsal for the transition, exposing the hidden rules, the unspoken expectations, and the behaviours that separate those who struggle from those who establish themselves early.

Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of the role they are stepping into, and a sharper sense of how to operate within it.

Writing a business case or board report is often treated as a technical task.

In reality, it is one of the most consequential acts of medical leadership — where ideas are tested, priorities are contested, and decisions with real system impact are made.

Many clinicians are trained to present information. Far fewer are prepared for what actually happens in the boardroom: competing agendas, limited time, imperfect data, and the need to influence decisions under pressure.

This workshop closes that gap.

Through real examples, practical frameworks, and applied critique, participants will move beyond structure and formatting to understand what makes a business case land or fail, when it matters most.

Key focus areas:

• how to frame a problem so it demands attention
• how to align proposals to organisational priorities and risk
• how to anticipate and respond to challenge from executives and boards
• how to communicate with clarity, authority, and intent in high-stakes environments

Participants will also engage in practical exercises to critique and refine business cases and board reports, building the judgement required to move from simply presenting information to shaping decisions.

This is not a writing workshop.

It is about understanding how decisions are made and how to position your work so it stands up, cuts through, and influences outcomes at the highest level.

WHAT DOES THIS WORKSHOP COVER?
This half-day pre-conference workshop delivered by DoctorsTraining is designed for senior medical leaders working across the Australian and New Zealand health systems. Drawing on frameworks grounded in real clinical leadership experience, participants will engage in facilitated reflection, small group discussion, and practical skills practice, all shaped by doctors who understand the pressures of leading in complex health environments.

The workshop explores what it truly takes to build and sustain high performing teams in healthcare. From understanding the culture and conditions that enable teams to flourish, to having the powerful conversations that unlock the best in people, this is practical, relevant leadership development for those carrying real responsibility.

HIGH-LEVEL AIM:
To equip senior medical leaders with the reflective insight, theoretical grounding, and practical tools to build psychologically safe, high performing teams, enabling them to lead with greater clarity, confidence and impact within the demands of the modern health system.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Reflect honestly on current leadership challenges and the personal impact of system pressures.
• Explore the conditions that create psychological safety and a high-trust team culture.
• Apply Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions model to diagnose and address barriers to team performance.
• Understand how Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory explains what truly motivates and demotivates healthcare teams.
• Distinguish between hygiene factors and motivators, and identify where you have the greatest leadership influence.
• Develop the skills to have powerful, empowering conversations that bring out the best in your team.
• Practice a coaching approach to leadership using the GROW model in real clinical scenarios.
• Identify the key conversations every medical leader needs to master: feedback, recognition, accountability and development.
• Recognise that small, consistent changes in how you lead can compound into significant improvements in team culture, performance and wellbeing over time.

The Doctrine of Discovery is not well known; however, where it is understood, it largely centres the legal precedents utilised to justify colonisation (e.g., Terra nullius, the assumption of land belonging to noone). This legal precedent, and subsequent legal arguments used both in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, are directly relevant to the foundation of other systems, including the foundation of our health systems.

Remnants of these legal frameworks continue today in current practice, uncontested and unjust perpetuations of flawed legal frameworks. This workshop aims to support health leaders to understand the Doctrine of Discovery as an issue of modern governance, and to consider the responsibilities of health systems within this context.

This workshop is designed to:

• Explicitly show how the Doctrine of Discovery informed the foundation of healthcare systems
• Identify how the assumptions of the Doctrine of discovery still inform health institutions today
• Apply these assumptions to specific strategic, legal, reputational, and clinical decisions in modern context
• Extend the application of these assumptions with an intersectional lens to highlight the interconnected harm across multiple marginalised experiences
• Theorise and explore pathways to healthcare leadership that align to human rights frameworks, such as UNDRIP, and explore meaningful practices of truth-telling, reconciliation, and treaty partnership.

Intended Outcomes:

By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• Articulate the Doctrine of Discovery as a health governance issue, including how it has shaped Australian and Aotearoa health systems
• Explain the unjust and inconsistent application of the Doctrine of Discovery in modern health system design and practice.
• Distinguish between symbolic inclusion and real structural change required of health leaders to truly address inequity.

Every medical leader will, at some point, face scrutiny.

An unexpected outcome. A complaint. A notification. A death that raises questions.

What follows is often unfamiliar territory, where clinical care is dissected, decisions are examined in hindsight, and accountability extends beyond the individual to the system.

This workshop brings that reality into focus.

Rather than approaching AHPRA, medico legal processes, and coronial reviews as abstract or legalistic concepts, this session examines what it actually feels like and what it requires to lead through them.

Key focus areas:

• how to respond when a notification or investigation is initiated
• how to navigate coronial processes and the expectations placed on clinicians and organisations
• how to balance transparency, accountability, and professional protection
• how to lead teams through scrutiny while maintaining trust, integrity, and psychological safety

Through real case insights, practical guidance, and candid discussion, participants will develop a clearer understanding of their role, not just in responding to events, but in shaping how organisations learn, improve, and are judged.

This is not about avoiding risk.

It is about understanding what happens when harm occurs and how medical leaders show up when it matters most.

Medical leaders are frequently required to address unprofessional behaviour, performance concerns and conflict between senior clinicians. When these conversations are delayed or avoided, the consequences compound for patients, for teams and for organisational culture. This masterclass gives you practical frameworks, facilitated practice with professional actors and real-world case debriefs to build your confidence and skill in early, effective and humane intervention.

What you will walk away with:

• Structured frameworks for initiating and leading difficult conversations about behaviour, performance and conflict
• Tested strategies for addressing behaviour, performance and conflict, including with senior or influential clinicians
• Confidence in knowing when and how mediation can support resolution
• Practical tools to build psychological safety so concerns are raised early
• A clearer understanding of how your own wellbeing underpins credible, effective leadership.

This is a hands-on program.

You will practise with professional actors in realistic clinical scenarios, participate in role play exercises including a dynamic ‘revolving chair’ format and debrief real case outcomes with experienced facilitators from across the Victorian health system. The program has been designed to challenge and stretch you in a supported environment.

Healthcare is not short of innovation. It is short of impact at scale.

Across systems globally, organisations continue to invest in new technologies, pilots, and transformation programs, yet too many fail to translate into meaningful, sustained improvements in patient outcomes, workforce experience, or system performance.

This workshop brings a global lens to one of healthcare’s most pressing challenges: how to move from idea to execution and from execution to measurable value.

Led by Tom Lawry and A/Prof Tam Nguyen, this session will explore what differentiates initiatives that scale from those that stall.

Participants will engage with real-world examples and practical frameworks to:

• Understand why innovation efforts fail to translate into impact
• Identify the conditions required to scale safely and effectively
• Navigate the tension between ambition, risk, and operational reality
• Move beyond pilots to system-wide adoption and measurable outcomes

This is not a theoretical discussion.

It is a practical, experience-informed session focused on execution, accountability, and results.

This interactive workshop is designed for medical leaders and clinicians who want to strengthen teamwork across clinical and operational settings. Across three linked sessions, participants will explore teamwork from the perspective of clinical leadership, health service improvement and organisational operations.

The first session focuses on the clinician as team leader: setting direction, coordinating taskwork, shaping culture, managing uncertainty and supporting better team performance in everyday clinical work.

The second session examines how health service leaders can use translational simulation and related experiential methods to understand work-as-done, identify system vulnerabilities and support quality improvement. This will include accessible approaches such as tabletop exercises and visually enhanced mental simulation.

The third session shifts beyond the bedside to consider non-clinical and operational teamwork, including coordination across services, decision-making, communication and shared accountability.

Each session will combine brief theory input with experiential learning, structured reflection and practical application to participants’ own health service contexts.