Redefining leadership for a world-class technology company

Across a five-year partnership encompassing four flagship programs and more than 4,000 leaders, Telstra's organisation-wide leadership suite delivered culture change and business outcomes that extended well beyond individual development.

• A sustained, measurable shift towards proactive, customer-focused leadership across the organisation
• Stronger strategic alignment and genuine collaboration across business units, including those at various stages of maturity
• Leadership capability directly supporting execution of Telstra's technology transformation strategy
• 1600+ senior leaders through the Telstra Leadership Program, with the program recognised as a CEO priority for the organisation’s transformation agenda

Telstra was transforming from a traditional telecommunications provider into a world-class technology company. That shift placed new demands on leaders at every level: senior executives needing to articulate a compelling strategic narrative, business leaders needing to drive performance through uncertainty, frontline managers needing to create the right conditions for their teams, and emerging talent needing to step into leadership for the first time. With customer expectations, competitors, and technology all changing rapidly and business units at various stages of growth and decline, no single program could address all of this. Telstra needed a coherent leadership strategy that created a common language and consistent expectations from the top of the organisation to the front line.

LIW and Telstra co-designed a suite of programs, each targeting a different leadership population but unified by a shared framework, LIW’s 3Cs: Clarity, Climate, and Competence, which defines the conditions leaders need to create for their teams to succeed.

Senior Leaders: Telstra Leadership Program (TLP)

A 20-week leadership journey for approximately 1,600 of Telstra's most senior leaders. Co-created at Telstra's innovation lab in Sydney, the program centred on a five-day immersive off-site workshop featuring future-focused leadership simulations, skilled facilitators, and a bespoke personalised app that accompanied the program and boosted learning transfer. Back in the business, participants continued their development through personal leadership commitments at self, team, and system level, coaching check-ins at 45 and 90 days, and peer-learning pods supported by executive coaches.

Business Leaders: Business Leader Program (BLP)

Designed for the General Manager population of approximately 2,400 people, equipping leaders at this critical middle tier to translate strategy into execution, drive performance across their business units, and model the leadership behaviours expected throughout the organisation.

Frontline Leaders: Connected Leader Program (CLP)

Designed for frontline leaders, connecting them to Telstra's broader leadership expectations and giving them practical tools to create the conditions for success in their teams, where the strategy was delivered.

Future Leaders: Emerging Leader Program (ELP)

Designed for individuals about to step into leadership for the first time, building the foundations of leadership capability before the transition rather than after it.

Across all four flagship programs, LIW engaged Telstra's transformational leadership behaviour framework and other key practice areas: Performance, Talent, Diversity and Inclusion, Advocacy, and Culture, in the design process ensuring that leadership development was integrated with the organisation's wider priorities rather than running alongside them.

What makes this partnership distinctive is its coherence and depth. Over more than five years, LIW has evolved alongside Telstra's strategy, not delivering isolated programs but building an integrated leadership ecosystem spanning the CEO Leadership Team, senior leaders, people leaders, emerging talent, and first-time managers. Alongside the four flagship programs, the partnership has included bespoke leadership development for business units, intact team acceleration for executive and leadership teams (including the CEO Leadership Team), and facilitation at organisation-wide leadership conferences and expos. Leadership at Telstra has become an organisational capability rather than a collection of initiatives, enabling leaders to operate with greater clarity, collaboration, and confidence as they deliver strategy, navigate ongoing disruption, and continue building a technology-led future.