By the APS Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Unit
In the current technological world where teams are increasingly hybrid and dispersed, the importance of developing relational leadership skills or soft skills as opposed to technical skills has never been more critical. Relational leadership skills focus on the human side of connection and compassion, as the foundation to driving psychological safety, pro-integrity and organisational performance.
The APS Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Unit (the Unit), has authored the 6R Relational Leadership Capabilities Self-Reflection tool. 6R is a relational capability paradigm that leaders can use to guide the development of their relational (people-to-people) leadership skills. The capabilities focus on (Self) Regulation and Reflection as a foundation to enhancing skills in Relatability, Reciprocity (understanding another perspective), knowing when to Repair relationships and maintaining Reliability.
The 6R relational leadership paradigm draws on insights from psychology, attachment theory, organisational behaviour and leadership theory. 6R introduces a paradigm shift in leadership capability by emphasising the need for leaders to develop a distinct set of interpersonal micro-skills that enable collaboration, innovation and resilience amongst teams.
This toolkit offers practical prompts, guided questions, and short activities to help leaders pause, reflect, and strengthen the way they engage with their teams and stakeholders. Rooted in the principles of trust, empathy, and connection, the toolkit encourages managers to explore how their actions impact others and how they can lead with greater awareness and accountability.
Recently, in collaboration with Comcare as part of the Capability and Reinvestment Fund (CRF) Building Safety and Integrity capability across the APS, psychologists with the Unit transformed the tool into an experiential skills lab and mentoring program. The intent to provide a psychologically safe environment for participants to gain a deeper understanding of their leadership style and practice and embed their relational leadership capabilities.
The 6R Relational Leadership Capabilities Skills Lab are facilitated by the Unit Psychologists, with face to face workshops running for 4hrs whilst mentoring sessions conducted virtually for 1hour and approximately 4-6 weeks after completing the workshop.
Feedback from participants has highlighted strengths in the program such as the “the opportunity to hear about other people’s experiences and ideas”, “the style of presentation, (is) open, safe and engaging” and “6R capabilities (is) useful for understanding relational leadership”.
As a resource, the 6R Self-Reflection Tool has already been incorporated into existing leadership courses, such as Leadership Edge and SES Orientation further extending its reach and impact. Following the success of this project, the Relational Leadership Capability Skills Lab, will be rolled out by APS Academy with registrations opening soon.
