Creating a Culture of Influence and Growth

Amrita Ahuja | Director of Strategic Initiatives  

Effective leadership is fundamental to creating environments where people can thrive. Yet too often, leadership is assumed rather than intentionally developed, leaving managers underprepared to support high-performing cultures. Many organisations rely on new leaders to step up without providing the structures or guidance needed to optimise team performance. This ad hoc approach reduces organisational resilience and limits innovation, which often leaves succession planning to chance. Capability is stretched rather than strengthened, and initiative becomes dependent on individual effort rather than being embedded in culture. Research in organisational behaviour shows that when leadership development is left to chance, individual and collective capacity become constrained, resulting in reduced organisational growth and effectiveness.

Increasingly, future-focused organisations see leadership not as a privilege for the few, but as an essential for all which must be developed with clear intention. Talent management is shifting from identifying exceptional individuals to designing conditions where many can exercise influence and take responsibility and contribute meaningfully to shared goals. Leadership becomes a shared capability across the community which leads to organisations that are stronger and more responsive, and ultimately, they become greater than the sum of their parts. This reflects principles from distributed leadership theory, which emphasises that influence and decision-making are most effective when shared across networks rather than concentrated in formal roles. By creating structures that provide responsibility and agency, organisations build intellectual capital and collective knowledge. The increased skills and expertise enable better decision-making, and adaptability.

Within the Westbourne Grammar School community, leadership develops through practice, reflection, evaluations, and exposure to meaningful challenge. A whole-school leadership ecosystem provides structured opportunities for students and staff to strengthen their leadership dispositions in ways that extend beyond designated roles. Students have a meaningful voice in decisions that shape the school’s direction. They choose which charities the school will support through fundraising, exposing them to critical thinking and ethical decision-making while experiencing first-hand the responsibility of influencing priorities. Senior school students sit on staff interview panels and contribute to the development of the strategic plan, building perspective, confidence, and an understanding of how organisational decisions are made. These experiences provide a hands-on engagement to further enhance their leadership capacity.

Student-led programs such as the Student Technology Committee, the Student-Led Café, TEDx Youth, and the AI Academy develop entrepreneurial skills through innovative problem-solving and real-world project management. These programs give students opportunities to identify needs, develop solutions, lead initiatives, manage resources, collaborate with peers, and reflect on outcomes, building both practical experience and confidence.

Prefects undertake a six-month induction program underpinned by leadership principles, designed to build practical skills for leading peers and making an impact across the school. Year 9 students participate in a curriculum-based leadership program, Future Minds, applying their skills in practical contexts and reflecting on their effect. In Year 8, students have opportunities to co-design Elective subjects, giving them agency to take ownership of their learning while developing functional experience in decision-making and collaborative planning.

By engaging in these activities, students integrate essential leadership dispositions with an understanding of how diverse viewpoints and systematic reflection shape effective performance.

Staff develop leadership by taking on complex challenges that influence organisational practices in the school. They lead initiatives that improve processes, design and deliver programs, mentor colleagues, and contribute to decisions that affect daily life across the school. Opportunities for research, professional learning, internal projects and cross-functional working groups allow staff to experiment, expand their skills, analyse, and influence the broader school culture. Embedding distributed leadership empowers staff to participate in decision making and respond to feedback – effectively contributing to governance and operations and allowing unique initiatives to emerge from the ground up.

When leadership is intentionally cultivated rather than assumed, individuals gain experience-based perspective and the confidence necessary for professional growth, while the organisation achieves greater resilience. Leadership becomes rooted in how work is done, shaping decisions and collective action. This evolution creates a culture where collective contribution is the norm, resulting in impact far beyond the capacity of individual effort.