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    Home page
    > Learning and development > Career Development Assessment Centre
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    Career Development Assessment Centre (CDAC)

    Introduction

    CDAC is a unique, strategic and future focused learning and development initiative, which ensures that the APS continues to maintain the high quality of its Senior Executive Service (SES) in order to meet the future challenges of the APS. 

    CDAC is a structured five days of personal awareness and development designed in consultation with the Senior Executive Service and managed by the Commission to fast track EL (Executive Level) 2 employees who demonstrate exemplary standards of leadership into the SES.

    CDAC assesses future SES leaders from within the APS, providing these EL 2 employees the opportunity to evaluate and identify core leadership capabilities through a series of challenging workplace scenarios.

    Participants are measured against the Senior Executive Leadership Capability Framework (SELC Framework) and the Integrated Leadership System (ILS), the Commission’s carefully designed benchmarks for APS career advancement.

    Like all Commission learning and development opportunities the CDAC experience is results driven, culminating in well thought out individual development plans designed to address capability strengths and gaps identified through the CDAC experience.  Participants overwhelmingly endorse the course as an invaluable personal development tool crafted to meet the high performance expectations of the SES.

    CDAC is mentoring of the highest possible standard and another impressive and well regarded aspect of the Commission’s suite of learning and development programmes.

    CDAC information

    Who is CDAC for?

    For high performing Executive Level (EL) 2 employees who demonstrate genuine potential for fast-tracking into the Senior Executive Service (SES).

    What is involved?

    A five day development centre that identifies the strengths and development needs of participants and initiates a development plan to address skill gaps and build on untapped potential. The centre consists of three days (Monday–Wednesday) at the centre, followed by a 2½ hour feedback session (Thursday or Friday) and a recall day approximately 8 weeks post centre.

    When is CDAC?

    The Australian Public Service Commission runs approximately 10 CDACs a year.

    Where is it held?

    The CDACs are held at Tuggeranong Homestead and follow-up meetings and recall days are held at the Australian Public Service Commission in Phillip.

    Why is CDAC important?

    Currently, one of the most critical issues relating to learning and development in the Australian Public Service (APS) is succession planning and the ageing workforce. In the next few years large numbers of the SES will reach retirement age. The challenge will be to ensure that there are people developed and ready to step competently and confidently into those roles.

    Background

    In early 1999 APS agency heads identified a need to strengthen the development of future executives. Originally, 15 agency heads agreed to collaborate on and commit to the design and implementation of a CDAC. The CDAC was specifically designed for the APS using the SELC Framework as a basis for all activities, evaluation and participant development planning. The first CDAC was run in December 1999.

    This initiative is co-ordinated on behalf of participating agencies by the Australian Public Service Commission. As at February 2008, there have been 91 centres in which 1034 EL2s have participated and the effectiveness of CDAC has seen the number of participating agencies grow from 15 in 1999 to 39 in 2008.

    A third series of CDAC began in the second half of 2005 following an open tender which secured a provider for the next three years. This new series is designed around the Commission's ILS. This will ensure that CDAC participants be assessed in relation to the specific capabilities and behaviours of an SES Band 1.

    Overview of the CDAC process

    Assessment activities

    The major focus for CDAC is the identification of participants' strengths and development needs in relation to the SELC Framework, and specifically the SES Band 1 behavioural indicators in the ILS. This is achieved through a range of assessment activities that are mapped against the SELC Framework and the ILS. These activities include:

    Each centre runs for three days and includes a three day centre, a 2½ hour feedback session and a recall day. The three day centre involves 12 EL2s employees from participating agencies, six observers, a senior organisational psychologist facilitator and the Commission’s CDAC team. Of the six observers, four are SES Band 2 or 3 officers who have been trained to observe and evaluate the performance of participants in the CDAC simulation activities. The other two observers, who are qualified and experienced organisation psychologists from the facilitating consultant organisation, have extensive experience in assessment and capability development.

    Feedback

    On the Thursday or Friday following the CDAC, participants receive a 2½ hour, one-on-one, detailed feedback session on their overall performance with one of the facilitating organisation's observers. The focus of the session is to provide specific information about the participant's development needs and strengths, in relation to the SELC Framework and ILS based on the CDAC activity results. Additionally, the session is designed to provide assistance to participants in determining what they would need to do in order to bridge the gap between their current performance and expected levels of SES performance. After the session, a written report on the feedback is provided to participants. To optimise learning outcomes and ongoing development, participants are encouraged to discuss CDAC results with their line managers.

    Development plans

    Detailed development plans are constructed by the participants and tailored to address their individual needs in relation to the SELC Framework and ILS as identified through the CDAC activities. The role of a participant's line manager in ongoing development, review and evaluation of development plans, is a critical component to ensure sustained success of a participant's ongoing development in relation to the ILS.

    Input from agency head

    Each participant's agency head receives a copy of the 360° feedback report and a summary report of performance against the SELC Framework and ILS capabilities as assessed in the CDAC simulations. It is an expectation that, post-CDAC, all participants meet to discuss the CDAC experience with their agency head.

    Recall Day

    Approximately eight weeks post centre there will is a recall day for participants to discuss their progress with their development planning, any strategies or stumbling blocks, and the opportunity to present their plans thus far to the group. There are also two SES guest speakers on the day addressing "Starting in the SES" and answering questions afterwards.

    Privacy

    Distribution of reports is subject to a number of Information Privacy Principles, which govern the secure and appropriate storage of information, rights of access to personal information, the use of the information only for relevant purposes and the limited disclosure of personal information. Wider distribution of the reports, other than outlined above, has been subject to individual participants' agreements.

    All information is classified and stored to comply with the Archives Act 1983 and the Privacy Act 1988.

    How does the nomination process for the CDAC work?

    Each agency manages its own process for determining participant nominations, however the APS Commission suggests that the following guidelines be taken into account:

    If you are interested in attending CDAC you will need to contact the HR area in your agency.

    Evaluation of CDAC

    CDAC is evaluated at a number of levels. These include:

    The participant evaluation data and aggregated trend data are reported on after every five centres in an Oversighting Report to sent to the agency heads of participating agencies.

    Further information

    For further information contact the CDAC Project Team: