Inspired Leadership in running for National Economic Development Award
For our fifth consecutive year, Regional Development Australia Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island (RDA AHFKI) has been named a finalist in the National Economic Development Awards for Excellence, reinforcing our organisation’s track record of delivering nationally recognised regional economic development initiatives.
This year, our Inspired Leadership initiative has been recognised in the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion category for its innovative, place-based approach to removing barriers to participation and building a more diverse and representative cohort of regional leaders.
The program was funded through the Regional Leadership Development Program, part of the South Australian Government’s Thriving Regions Fund, and designed and delivered in partnership with specialist leadership development organisation Newday Leadership.
CEO, Steve Shotton, said five consecutive years as a national finalist was significant recognition of the organisation’s sustained regional impact and the strength of the partnerships behind its work.
Being recognised nationally once is a great achievement. To be a finalist for five consecutive years demonstrates the consistency, quality and impact of the work our team and our regional partners are delivering.
Steve Shotton, Director of Regional Development, RDA AHFKI
Inspired Leadership is a great example of why partnerships matter. RDA AHFKI identified the regional leadership challenge and built the evidence for action, but we recognised that designing and delivering an outstanding leadership program required specialist expertise.
Newday Leadership brought that expertise. Their skills in program design, facilitation and leadership development transformed the evidence and regional priorities into an immersive experience that has had a genuine impact on participants and their communities.
Building leadership around regional needs
Inspired Leadership grew from an independent regional leadership gap analysis commissioned by RDA AHFKI, identifying barriers that included:
- limited access to locally delivered leadership development,
- underrepresentation of diverse communities, and
- insufficient opportunities for collaboration across sectors and geographic boundaries.
A place-based approach to leadership
Working closely with our team, Newday Leadership designed and delivered a program specifically around these regional needs, rather than applying a conventional off-the-shelf leadership course. The result was an experiential, place-based model bringing together aspiring, emerging and established leaders from different industries, communities, generations and lived experiences.
The Newday Leadership approach integrated a broad array of leadership capabilities across:
- regenerative and adaptive leadership
- wellbeing and resilience
- inclusive leadership
- governance
- financial literacy
- systems thinking
- communication and collaboration.
Knowledge from First Nations leaders was also embedded throughout the program, while professional profiling, experiential learning and diverse learning environments supported participants to develop both individually and collectively.
Equity, diversity and inclusion were not simply program outcomes; they influenced recruitment, cohort selection, facilitation, learning environments and program content.
Impact beyond the program
The 2025 program achieved an exceptional Net Promoter Score of +91.4, with the impact continuing far beyond the structured group sessions. Participants have since joined boards and committees, mentored others, pursued funding opportunities, established community initiatives, changed careers and developed new cross-sector collaborations.
“The strength of Inspired Leadership comes from bringing together three critical ingredients: evidence and local knowledge from RDA AHFKI, specialist leadership expertise from Katrina Webb and Matthew Wright-Simon of Newday Leadership, and investment from the South Australian Government.
Steve Shotton, Director of Regional Development, RDA AHFKI
Most importantly, Inspired Leadership created an environment where a diverse group of regional people could challenge themselves, learn from each other and build relationships that continue well beyond the program.”
We thank the South Australian Government for investing in regional leadership through the Thriving Regions Fund, Newday Leadership for their exceptional partnership and expertise, and the participants and regional organisations who made Inspired Leadership such a success.”
Finalists will be celebrated at the National Economic Development Conference in Hobart (Nipaluna), with winners announced at the Awards Gala Dinner on Wednesday, 14 October.