An Exploration of Two Different Models of Leadership for Youth Justice Reform

Abstract

Youth justice in Australia is at a crossroads. A series of recent reviews and inquiries have called for major reform of the sector and identified the need to develop and deliver new and different ways of working. And yet implementing change in youth justice has proven difficult, with an absence of strong and effective leadership identified as a particular issue that constrains progress. In this paper we describe two different models of public service leadership – a ‘transformational leadership’ approach that is widely used in healthcare, and a ‘coherence leadership’ approach developed specifically for use in education. We use these to illustrate how youth justice leaders and leadership teams might approach the task of conceptualizing and delivering an agenda for reform and continuous improvement. We conclude by arguing that it is only by adopting a strategic approach to organizational and cultural change that leaders will be able to successfully engage and equip the workforce to deliver effective justice services for children and young people across Australia and elsewhere.