What to expect when applying for the Illawarra Leadership Program

The current 2023-24 participants are the sixth cohort of the Leadership Illawarra Program.

Our Program consists of one-day masterclasses, Meet the Leader site visits to some of the region's leading businesses, hands-on workshops, mentoring partnerships and social events where participants can meet and network with our partners and alumni. 
MASTERCLASSES
In association with Sydney Business School, University of Wollongong, we have put together a suite of Masterclasses which could include: 
  1. Marketing *
  2. Leadership *
  3. Community and Engagement 
* These masterclasses have an optional assessment task/project and participants can gain credit points towards a degree program at UOW Sydney Business School. See UOW Masterclass Credit Policy here. LIP reserves to the right to alter Masterclass content according to course and content schedule. 

Marketing masterclass content:
  1. Discuss marketing for the new realities
  2. Critically reviews the role of environmental scanning and marketing intelligence as it applies to marketing strategy
  3. Provides practical concepts and tools in the areas within marketing such as marketing planning, customer behaviour, competitive analysis segmentation, targeting and positioning analysis, and integrated marketing communications, and 
  4. Illustrates the importance of social responsibility and other perspectives when making holistic marketing decisions. 

Leadership masterclass content: 
  1. Explain and critique common approaches to leadership in practice and theory
  2. Describe your own implicit leadership theory and ways it influences your actions when wanting to be perceived as a leader 
  3. Apply socially constructed approaches to leadership to change the way that others perceive you as a leader
  4. Perform more effectively as a leader and manager to being better able to understand and influence the perceptions of others. 

Community & Engagement/Social Responsibility masterclass content: 
  1. What is CSR and the different terms that are used globally in industry
  2. Mental models and responsible decision-making dimensions
  3. Realistic perspectives on community and environmental responsibilities
  4. The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Principles and their impact on corporations
  5. The Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) and their impact on decision-making. 
MEET THE LEADER
Over the two-year program our cohort has the opportunity to take part in site visits with prominent Illawarra businesses like Wollongong City Council, Flagstaff Group, Greenacres, IMB Bank, ISLHD, Warrigal and BlueScope. These visits are typically conducted with leaders from the organisation and include a Q&A session. 
WORKSHOPS & EDUCATION
Not only does this program provide soft skills for burgeoning leaders, but also hard skills in the form of practical learning outcomes. 

Participants will have the chance to learn the technical theory behind leadership, the role Boards play in organisations and more. 

For the 2025 - 2026 cohort, we will be unveiling a brand new education package which we look forward to sharing more on. We promise, you'll love it! 
MENTORING
We have recruited mentors from regional businesses at the highest level, across a range of industries. Program participants are paired with a mentor and participate in a number of one-on-one meetings where they will work through self directed goals. This process is repeated with a different pairing in the second year of the program.
SOCIAL AND ALUMNI EVENTS
Social events are scattered throughout the program ranging from morning coffee to catch up and socialise, to ‘speaker’ events and after-work networking drinks.
Leadership Illawarra Program is hosted by Regional Development Australia Illawarra Shoalhaven (RDAIS).

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