Systems Leadership Association

About the SLA

Systems Leadership (SL) is a coherent and integrated theory of organisational behaviour developed over several decades by Dr Ian Macdonald, Dr Catie Burke, Karl Stewart and others building on work with Elliott Jaques. It is described in the book “Systems Leadership, Creating Positive Organisations – 2nd Edition” written by Ian Macdonald, Catherine Burke and Karl Stewart.SL supports the leaders in an organisation to create the conditions where people at all levels willingly give of their best. It uses sound principles about human behaviour to create models of good leadership, organisational strategy, systems design and social process. Use of the SL has become and continues to be embedded in many organisations throughout the world.The SLA is a not-for-profit organisation that exists for the benefit of its members. SLA acknowledges that there may be overlapping areas of interest with Macdonald Associates Consultancy and Systems Leadership Community Interest Company.Membership of the SLA comprises a contemporary mix of individuals with a range of knowledge and experience in the use and application of SL who share a desire to develop that understanding and application.

The purpose of the SLA is to assist each other in the understanding and application of Systems Leadership.

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SLA Charter

This group initially became the Systems Leadership Development Association (SLDA) in 2014. In 2024 our name has been updated to Systems Leadership Association (SLA).

The Charter has been developed to provide a clear description of the Association, its purpose, scope, guiding principles and how it works. View a copy of the Charter.

Latest news

Annual Conference 2025

🌐 Dates confirmed – 15th, 16th & 17th May 2025 🌐

The Organising Committee has procured a venue for the 2025 SLA conference to be held at the Stamford Plaza in Melbourne, Australia on May 15,16 and 17. Registrations via our secretariat will open in January but for now, please save the date.
In a similar structure to this year’s conference in Cairns on Thursday 15th we will provide pre-conference development sessions with the conference proper on Friday and Saturday 16,17.

The 2025 SLA Conference theme is: Successful use and application of Systems Leadership

As we develop the agenda for the conference, we are now seeking expressions of interest (EOI) from members and/or their contacts/clients who are willing to share a story at the conference about their experience in the successful use and application of Systems Leadership. The Organising Committee will be happy to support you in the development and design of presentations.

Please send your EOI about presenting at the conference by email to enquiries@sldassociation.com or contact one of the Organising Committee for more information. The SLA operating committee will be meeting on the 14th of January and one of the agenda items for discussion will be the conference so ideally, we would like to receive EOIs by that date so that we can start forming an agenda.

Latest Newsletter

To view the latest newsletters click on this link SLA Newsletter. This includes articles from some of our members on their work, as well as details of planned events.

Book Publication

The SLA (SLDA) published book authored by several of our members looking at organisational and leadership responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The book is titled:

“Organisations and Leadership during Covid-19: Studies using Systems Leadership Theory”

Click here to see more details including how to purchase the book.

Contact Us/Enquiries

If you would like more information or to enquire about joining the Systems Leadership Development Association please contact us.

Become A Member

Thank you for your interest in becoming a member of the Systems Leadership Development Association.