5R public programme, Brisbane 2026
THE 5R LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME
Leadership is a group process.
5R is an award-winning leadership development programme that helps leaders build a shared sense of “us” and put it to work with the groups they lead.
WORK WITH 5R
Ways to work with 5R
From small teams to complex organisations, we can shape the pathway, delivery format and level of support around your context.
Organisations
and teams
Bring 5R into your organisation, leadership cohort or intact team, with delivery shaped to your needs and scale.
Public
programmes
Join a facilitated 5R cohort and apply the framework directly with a group you lead.
Facilitator
accreditation
Develop the knowledge, facilitation capability and supported experience required to deliver 5R well.
Partner
with us
Work with us to extend 5R through aligned research, delivery, sector or regional partnerships.
OUR STARTING POINT
What we mean by leadership
5R begins with a social identity understanding of leadership. Leadership is not something an individual possesses. It is a relational and group process that depends on people wanting to contribute to shared goals.
WATCH 3 MINUTES
What is leadership? Understanding the foundations of 5R
“The process whereby one or more people motivate one or more other people to contribute to the achievement of collective goals by shaping beliefs, values, and understandings in context.”
What this means for 5R
Leadership is grounded in relationships and connections.
Without some form of followership there can be no leadership.
Leadership is more about getting people to want to do things than about making them do them.
Leadership is a group process and ultimately about the activities of collectives, not just individuals.
How the pieces fit
From theory
to practice
5R connects a research foundation, a model of identity leadership practice, a structured development process and practical work with the group.
Theoretical foundation
Social identity approach
Explains how shared group membership shapes the way people think, relate and act together, and why a shared sense of “us” matters for leadership.
Tajfel & Turner, 1979; Turner et al., 1987
Leadership concept
Identity leadership
Describes what identity leadership involves: creating, advancing, representing and embedding a shared sense of “us”.
Haslam et al., 2025; Lynch & McMillan, 2025; Steffens et al., 2014
Development process
A five-module development process
Provides the structured process through which leaders develop their understanding and practise identity leadership with the groups they lead.
Haslam et al., 2017; Haslam et al., 2023
- 01 Readying
- 02 Reflecting
- 03 Representing
- 04 Realising
- 05 Reinforcing
Leadership practice
Work with the group
Structured activities allow leaders to put the learning into practice through the relationships, priorities and everyday work of their own group.
Intended outcomes
What 5R aims to improve
By putting identity leadership into practice with the group, 5R aims to strengthen three connected aspects of group identity. Together, they provide a way of understanding whether a group has the shared sense of “us” needed for coordinated collective action (Haslam et al., 2022).
Identity Strength
Do people experience a meaningful sense of “us”?
The strength of members’ identification and connection with the group.
Identity Content
Do we understand who “we” are?
Clarity about the shared beliefs, values, priorities and ways of working that define the group.
Identity Alignment
Are our identities pulling in the same direction?
Alignment between the group’s identity, its wider organisational context and the goals people are working towards.
A note on evaluation. These outcomes do not represent a fixed evaluation template. We work with each organisation to identify the outcomes that matter and determine the most appropriate evaluation methods for its objectives, context and practical constraints.
5R IN RESEARCH AND PRACTICE
From early research
to organisational
delivery.
5R and the ideas underpinning it have been shared and applied across a range of settings, from introductory sessions and feasibility studies through to controlled evaluations and organisational programmes.
Research and feasibility studies
- Airservices Australia
- Leading Well Queensland initiative
- Metro North Hospital and Health Service
- Seqwater
- Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service
- Workplace Health and Safety Queensland
Controlled evaluations
- Fletcher Building
- House of Commons UK Parliament
In these evaluations, outcomes for 5R participants were compared with those of a control group or a waitlist control group.
Introductory sessions
- ACT Education Directorate Multiple leadership forums
- ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) EMCR workshop
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems (EQUS) EMCR workshop
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Quality Work in a Digital Age (QWiDA) CI workshop
- Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) Executive Fellows Program session
- Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) MENAP Deputy Ambassadors Conference session
- The University of Queensland Health Research Accelerator (HERA) workshop
Organisational programmes
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (Qld) Ltd (ATSILS)
- Fletcher Building
- Queensland Department of Education
- University of Exeter
- The University of Queensland
- University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC)
The organisations and initiatives shown here are listed solely to identify settings in which 5R, related programmes or its underpinning ideas have been shared or delivered. Inclusion does not imply endorsement of 5R, Synact or any delivery partner. Engagements varied in format, scope and degree of adaptation. Some initiatives and research centres sit within larger institutions also listed, while repeated entries reflect distinct forms or phases of delivery.
Evidence and learning
Research you can inspect.
Explore the broader research behind 5R through our Living Evidence Library, alongside peer-reviewed studies that have directly evaluated the programme.
Broader research foundation
Evidence from around the world
The Living Evidence Library brings together research on shared identity, leadership, change, performance, wellbeing and collective action.
Direct peer-reviewed research on 5R
2017
Initial field study
Allied Health leaders reported improvements in identity leadership capability and team goal clarity after completing 5R.
Read the study2023
Randomised controlled trial
Leaders completing facilitated or self-directed online versions of 5R reported greater gains in identity leadership knowledge, team engagement and teamfulness than a waitlist control group.
Read the studyRecognition
Winner Australian Psychological Society’s 2017 Workplace Excellence Award for Leadership Development.
Finalist 2023 Academy of Management MED Evidence-Based Leadership Development Program Award.