As the housing challenge grows, so too does the leadership challenge
Evolve Housing is a Tier 1 Community Housing Provider delivering social, affordable and key worker housing across NSW, Victoria and the ACT. Today, the Evolve Housing Group supports more than 11,000 residents across more than 5,000 properties.
As the organisation grew, Evolve recognised that its leadership capability needed to grow with it. Leaders needed greater confidence in people leadership and feedback, stronger cultural consistency and a deeper pipeline of people ready to step into future leadership roles.
In 2021, Evolve partnered with Maximus to begin building that capability at scale.
From leadership program to learning ecosystem
What began as a foundational leadership program in 2021 has evolved each year in response to Evolve’s strategy, growth and changing organisational needs.
The initial program supported 33 participants, followed by a further 30 in 2022. By 2023, distinct development experiences had emerged for senior leaders, team leaders and high-potential employees.
Today, the ecosystem supports Senior Leaders, Team Leaders and Middle Managers, and Emerging Leaders, reinforced through leadership assessments, coaching, LSI 360 feedback and whole-of-leadership forums.
The program now reaches 59 leaders — approximately 35% of Evolve Housing’s workforce.
When more than a third of an organisation is developing around a shared leadership language and set of expectations, development begins to move beyond individuals. It shapes how the organisation communicates, manages performance, works across boundaries and responds to change.
Rather than operating as a fixed curriculum, Maximus and Evolve review the organisation’s needs each year, using participant feedback, diagnostics, organisational priorities and frontline insights to shape what comes next.
Leadership development beyond the classroom
Development extends beyond the classroom. Senior leaders have participated in a High-Performance Leadership and Teams Hospital Immersion at Royal North Shore Hospital, observing teams operating in an environment where communication, trust, role clarity and judgement are critical under pressure, before translating those lessons back to Evolve.
Evolve Housing’s frontline teams regularly support people experiencing homelessness, domestic violence, financial hardship and complex personal circumstances. That work can place considerable emotional demands on employees and the leaders supporting them.
Recognising these challenges, Evolve has also embedded Group Reflective Supervision for employees working in complex frontline environments. Facilitated by qualified social workers or psychologists, these confidential sessions create space to reflect on live challenges, strengthen practice and support employee wellbeing. To date, 61% of the workforce has participated. This creates an important bridge between leadership development, psychological safety and frontline practice.
Building deeper leadership capability
The impact of sustained investment is visible across the organisation.
In FY26:
- 98% of participants reported benefiting from the program
- 76% reported significantly or moderately improved confidence as a leader
- 77% said the program was improving organisational culture
- 19% of the workforce had been promoted or acted in a more senior role in the previous year
- 17% of the workforce was identified as succession-ready.
Voluntary turnover has also reduced to 11.5%, while Employee Experience positivity has increased from 84% in 2021 to 85.17%, with Evolve reporting improvement across 13 of 14 survey drivers.
Behind the measures is a broader shift: stronger leadership depth, clearer pathways for emerging leaders and a shared leadership language that is increasingly embedded across the organisation.
As one participant reflected:
“I will be more curious as a leader and view the team’s development as a journey of progression. I have a strategy to strengthen accountability within the team and support them in building confidence to speak out and hold each other accountable for standards and performance.”
As Evolve continues to expand its housing portfolio and community impact, its leadership capability is growing with it.
What began as a leadership program has evolved into a system for continually building the capability Evolve needs to meet future challenges.
This is value-led leadership in action: investing in leaders who can amplify organisational impact and create lasting value for the people and communities Evolve serves.
