ASFI's Leadership Working Group is returning for 2025, bringing finance professionals together to share and learn strategies to transform sustainability leadership and action within their organisations and across the broader financial system.
ASFI's Leadership Working Group
Leadership and capability on sustainability are key themes in ASFI’s Australian Sustainable Finance Roadmap (2020) and the Australian Sustainable Finance Action Plan (2025), and are critical enablers for the transformation required for a more sustainable, resilient and inclusive financial system.
Leadership itself is also undergoing a transformation as the challenges facing leaders become increasingly complex, require the involvement of many more stakeholders, involve the integration of incomplete or large volumes of information and rely on cross functional collaboration and innovative approaches to manage.
The sustainability challenges facing the finance sector exemplify these new, complex challenges that require distributed and adaptive leadership to manage and solve. Action at multiple levels is required to build the momentum and ongoing action required for system-wide change. This approach to leadership is reflected in ASFI’s values, strategy and way that we work with others, and will be integral to how we develop and implement our Leadership and Capability work.
Following successful programs in 2023 and 2024, ASFI will be running a new Leadership Working Group program in 2025, open to ASFI Members.
The program provides ASFI members the opportunity to share lessons and approaches to common challenges and opportunities that financial institutions face when driving sustainability work and outcomes. The program adopts a facilitated peer-learning approach and brings perspectives from organisations across the financial system. Potential focus topics include change management, internal and external capability building, stakeholder influence, developing businesses cases for sustainability, and systems thinking. The program also allows for deep dives on particular sustainability topics of interest to the group.
Key Details for 2025 Program
Applications closed 13 March 2025
Format: This program will be in-person only, and will be based in either Sydney or Melbourne (based on applications received). Please indicate in your EOI where you are able to attend.
Time commitment: Program participants will meet for 4 x 3-hr in-person sessions, typically in the morning. The first will take place in April and the last will take place before the end of the year. There will also be 4 x 1-hr online planning sessions.
Cost: There is no charge to members to participate in this program.
Participants: Up to 16 participants from 8 different member organisations will be chosen. Each application must include one senior and one junior staff member to participate in the program together. We suggest at least one of the team members come from a sustainability / sustainable finance / responsible investment focused role. This twinning arrangement is designed to provide a mentoring or reverse mentoring opportunity on sustainability issues, to support sustainability teams to build a ‘coalition of champions’ within the organisation but outside of the sustainability team, and to ensure there is capacity to progress some work in between sessions.
Selection: Due to demand for this program, not all applicants will be accepted. Participants will be chosen based on relevant factors such as alignment with the program objectives and diversity.
If you have any questions please contact oliver.doraisamy@asfi.org.au
