Lista Consulting is a recognised national specialist and expert adviser on Australia’s vocational education and training (VET) system.  We also use our executive experience in leadership of organisational change to advise organisations on strategic planning and change management.
Examples of key clients and pieces of work include:

• Facilitation and organisational change
  – Co-facilitation of the professional development program for the Quality Assurance panel which provides independent quality assurance of training packages prior to their submission to the Australian Industry and Skills Committee.

  – Extensive planning, project and stakeholder work across industry sectors covered by former Industry Skills Councils in the transport and logistics, agrifood, innovation and business skills and government sectors.

  – Working with a number of Industry Skills Councils Boards and CEOs to navigate and plan for the contestability reform environment and to design the governance, structure and functions for new companies under the new arrangements.

  – Facilitation of strategic planning for the Chairs of the 12 national Industry Skills Councils and their respective CEOs in 2013 and 2014.

  – Engagement by Skills Service Organisations appointed to support Industry Reference Committees, providing advice on a range of industry projects, establishment and planning issues and submissions to national reviews.

  – Facilitation of national stakeholder forums on Australian Apprenticeships, hosted by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research and the Australian Government Department of Education and Training.

  – Commissioned by a major public training provider to conduct consultations, convene workshops and recommend strategies to build a high performing leadership team.

  – As part of a consortium, design of an organisation-wide Youth Justice Learning and Development Strategy to build workforce capability in delivery of high quality youth justice services to young people and the community.

  – Engaged to provide support and advice to the board and management team of a large not-for-profit community services organisation for a smooth transition to a new legal structure, establishment of good practice governance, and planning for the future.

  – In four years as General Secretary of the International Vocational Education and Training Association facilitation of strategic planning, review and revision of the Constitution, Bylaws and key policy documents and provision of strategic advice on good governance practice and ways to increase member benefits.

• Independent reviews and evaluations
  – An independent evaluation of the training package development and endorsement process for a national training system committee, with the revised policy and process fully adopted.

  – An investigation of post-endorsement speed to market of training packages for a national training system committee, with all recommendations accepted.

  – Leading a two-person team to conduct an independent evaluation of a national industry body’s pilot pre-apprenticeship programs across three states.

  – For the South Australian Department of Further Education, Employment, Science and Technology, leading the external evaluation of the arrangements for regulation of quality in VET and higher education.

  – Commissioned by the Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills in South Australia to lead an independent review of red tape in the VET system and identification of ways to reduce red tape.

  – Independent analysis of the impact of the five year national Equity Blueprint for the VET system.

  – Independent formative and summative evaluator and facilitator for the national Work Integrated Learning (WIL) project led by Griffith University on behalf of six universities.

  – Leading a two-person team to independently review the delegations of the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) functions to external bodies.

  – Independent investigations of workplace and student grievances in the higher education sector.

  – Review of sexual assault and sexual harassment policies and responses at a large university.

• Regulatory reform and quality
  – Analysis and drafting of content for the Australian Skills Quality Authority’s (ASQA’s) strategic industry reviews into the marketing practices of registered training organisations, induction training for the construction industry, training in the security industry, training in horse riding and handling, and course durations.

  – Design of a pilot in ASQA to test a new student-centred, risk-based audit model, independent evaluation of the initial implementation phase of the new model and drafting of resources to align with the new model and support registered training organisations in self-assessment.

  – Research, policy development and stakeholder engagement in relation to two Council of Australian Government (COAG) reforms: national licensing of key occupations and harmonisation of mine safety regulation.

  – Facilitation for the aged care regulator of a series of roundtable consultations with aged care providers across Australia about the risk-based regulatory approach and transition to new reforms.

  – Design and costing for the pilot of an innovative partnership between five industry sectors and a training provider aimed at attracting new entrants to the industry, increasing retention and completion, and building employer confidence in the training system.