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 different 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.
“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.”
Four key points
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.
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.