Systemic change. Catalyst. Music Maker.#
Liz Skelton is a PhD Candidate at the School of Cybernetics where she is researching the systemic leadership required for navigating Polycrises. Liz is committed to achieving social change for a better equitable and fairer world. She brings over 30 years leadership experience, including firsthand catalysation of change initiatives in Australia and the UK, along with deep expertise in adaptive leadership development across all sectors. Her expertise lies in guiding and supporting multisector collaborations to address complex adaptive challenges in an increasingly complex world.
Liz is currently Director and founder of The Adaptive Practice supporting change agents and collaborations to develop systemic leadership for systemic change. In 2104 she Cofounded and was Director and Chair of Collaboration for Impact (CFI), a leading Australian for purpose intermediary supporting people to collaborate to change the way systems work to create positive social change. There, she advised and supported hundreds of cross sector leaders in place and issue-based systemic change initiatives; she also co-created the practice of Deep Collaboration, working with First Nations leaders and other Australians on collaboration for racial equity. Informed by eight years as Principal Consultant with Social Leadership Australia, The Benevolent Society, Liz worked with thousands of leaders in community, government, philanthropy, and businesses across Australia and internationally developing their practice of Adaptive Leadership to tackle their toughest systemic challenges.
She has co-authored two books: “The Australian Leadership Paradox: What it takes to lead in the Lucky Country” Allen & Unwin, and the critical thought leadership piece “Lost conversations: Finding new ways for black and white Australians to lead together”. Liz has also provided coaching, leadership development, strategic advice and guidance to leaders across the government, philanthropic, not for profit and community sectors. She designed and taught the curriculum for Collaboration for social impact in UNSW’s Centre for Social Impact, Masters and Graduate Certificate in Social Impact.
Liz is aiming to develop her PhD research into a practical resource for change agents working on systemic change.
Areas of Expertise: Systemic leadership, multi-sector collaborations, complexity, power, cross cultural collaborations.