5R Leadership

Public Programmes.

Overview

The 5R Leadership Development Programme was developed at The University of Queensland’s Social Identity and Groups Network (SIGN), drawing on more than 40 years of social identity research led by Professor Alex Haslam and colleagues. It translates that science into a structured, five-module journey that helps leaders and teams create, advance, represent and embed a shared sense of “us” and “we”.

Most leadership programmes focus on the individual leader: their skills, their style, their presence. Decades of research point somewhere different. What most predicts whether a leader is effective is not what they do alone, but whether the people they lead feel a genuine sense of “us”: a shared identity that gives their work meaning, direction and collective force.

5R is built to develop exactly this capability.

Brisbane Cohort 2026

Delivery mode: In-person, intensive

Dates: 25-26 August & 16 September 2026

Location: UQ City Venue, Brisbane

Facilitator: Dr Blake McMillan

Cost: $3,500 (inc. GST)

Register your place

What you’ll learn

5R — Learning Outcomes

Understand leadership as a relational, contextual practice rooted in shared identity and responsive to the histories, values and communities that shape who people are.

Build the confidence and capability to draw on diverse perspectives and lived experiences as strengths, rather than challenges to be managed.

Develop capability through practice and reflection, working with your own team between sessions to build skills in real relationships, real contexts and with real outcomes.

Strengthen your capacity to work with how history, power and identity shape group dynamics, to build genuine belonging and collective wellbeing.

How you’ll learn

5R — How You'll Learn

5R is built around doing leadership, not just thinking about it. The main thing to sort out before the programme is the group you will practise with throughout. This might be a workplace team, a volunteer group or a community group. Because the between-session activities are carried out with that group, it helps to choose them early and to let them know they will be involved.

The programme runs as a two-day intensive, then a three-week application interval, then a final day. That spacing is deliberate. After the intensive, you undertake leader-led activities with your own team, so you are practicing identity leadership (CARE) in real relationships and real situations between sessions, then bringing what you learn back to the cohort to refine it.

Learning happens in the room as much as from the front of it. The cohort brings together leaders from different roles, levels and backgrounds, and that diversity is the primary resource: knowledge flows in every direction, not only from facilitator to participant. The room itself is set up to reflect this, with the group, not a lectern, at the centre.

Throughout, the research is made visible. You are never asked to take the approach on faith, and you leave with a workbook, The New Psychology of Leadership, CARE cards, and a set of practical tools and plans you can keep using with your team.

Who should attend

5R — Who Should Attend
  • New and experienced managers who lead a team
  • Senior leaders shaping culture and collective performance
  • People and culture or L&D professionals evaluating 5R for their organisation
  • Practitioners exploring the 5R facilitator accreditation pathway

Entry requirements: There are no prerequisites for this programme.

Your 5R journey

5R Leadership — Learning Journey
Stage What happens
Before the
programme
  • Identify the group you will practise with during the programme. This might be a workplace team, a volunteer group or a community group.
  • Let them know in advance that they will take part in some short 5R team activities, since the between-session work is done with them.
Day 1:
Tuesday 25 August
9am – 4pm
  • Readying — Why does 'we' matter? Understanding the value of groups for leadership and ways to harness this.
  • Reflecting — Who are 'we'? Identify important group memberships as a basis for connection and growth.
Day 2:
Wednesday 26 August
9am – 4pm
  • Representing — What are we about and what do we want to be? Clarifying identity through values, norms and aspirations.
  • Realising — How do we become what we want to be? Developing strategies to align different identities.
Application interval
Three weeks
  • You carry out some of the team activities with your group, putting the work into practice in real relationships before the final day.
Day 3:
Wednesday 16 September
9am – 4pm
  • Reinforcing — How can we be better? Ensuring that ongoing identity leadership supports health, performance and resilience.
After the
programme
  • You keep the practical tools and plans you have built to keep applying with your group.

Your facilitator

Dr Blake McMillan holds a PhD in Organisational Psychology from The University of Queensland and is an applied researcher and leadership development practitioner who specialises in translating social identity research into evidence-based organisational interventions. He is a co-creator of the 5R Leadership Development Programme, developed at UQ’s Social Identity and Groups Network (SIGN), and a co-author of its published research. Over nearly 20 years he has worked with government agencies, universities, research organisations and industry partners in Australia and internationally, across leadership development, organisational diagnostics, executive facilitation, coaching and applied research.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

  • No. 5R is built for practicing leaders and translates the research into practical tools and activities. As one participant put it, the academic content is pitched “just right”.

  • Three full days, spread across approximately three weeks: a two-day intensive on 25 and 26 August, then a final day on 16 September. Between Day 2 and Day 3 you will complete one or two of the leader-led activities with your own team.

  • Yes. Leaders attend as individuals or in small organisational groups. If you are considering enrolling several people, contact us first about group enrolments.

  • Yes. 5R is grounded in more than 40 years of social identity research and has been tested in randomised controlled trials. It is delivered under exclusive licence from The University of Queensland.

  • Completing the Open Programme is the first step on the facilitator accreditation pathway. Indicate your interest when you register and we will be in touch.