Leaders in Conversation: AI, work design, and what we need to get right
Last week's client event brought together Professor Sharon Parker (Curtin University) and our CEO Jeroen van Dalen to talk about AI and the future of work.
Sharon's central point: most organisations rushing into AI skip the work design conversation entirely. Her SMART model - Stimulating work, Mastery, Agency, Relational connection, Tolerable demands - is a useful lens for anything you're redesigning right now. Whatever future scenario plays out, agility will be the superpower our people need most - which means investing now in change management, self-reflection, emotional intelligence and critical thinking. She also shared two terms worth knowing: "AI washing" (blaming the algorithm for a decision that was really about cost-cutting) and "human washing" (claiming a "human in the loop" who has no real authority).
Sharon also shared that she's just been named Director of QWiDA, a new $94.6 million national research centre on quality work in the digital age, launching in 2026.
Jeroen and Sharon didn't agree on everything - a genuinely good-natured debate over how much real-time human oversight AI still needs made for the liveliest ten minutes of the morning. But they landed together in the same place: humans stay ultimately accountable, and the human experience of work has to stay front and centre as this plays out.
Lead your team into the AI era: Integral’s new public program with UWA
AI is changing how work gets done, but most teams are still experimenting rather than truly capitalising on it. A new six-week AI Leadership Program, delivered jointly by UWA and Integral, is designed to close that gap for leaders and managers who are already across the AI basics and want to lead AI adoption across their teams.
Starting on Thursday 29 October, with weekly half-day sessions at UWA, participants work through three two-week sprints - from identifying opportunities and reimagining workflows, to designing practical team solutions, and building the leadership capability needed to make AI adoption stick. Throughout, participants apply what they learn to a real opportunity from their own area, and the program culminates in an executive presentation of their AI-enabled roadmap.
Participants will leave with a prioritised AI opportunity and implementation roadmap, a benefits realisation plan, a change and adoption strategy, and the confidence to lead AI-enabled teams.
Integral joins WALGA Preferred Supplier Panel
Preferred Supplier Program
Professional Services Panel — Organisational and Workforce Services
Integral has been accepted onto the WALGA Preferred Supplier Program, under the Professional Services Panel – Organisational and Workforce Services category. For local governments we haven't yet worked with, this means that engaging our services is now even easier.
What it means
Preferred status follows a tender evaluation WALGA runs before any supplier joins the panel, covering the due diligence a council would otherwise have to do itself — capability, sound business practices, fair pricing. That work is already done.
Why it matters
Normally, engaging a new provider means running your own procurement process, and for anything above $250,000 that usually means a full public tender. Because Integral now sits on the panel, WALGA member councils can engage us by seeking quotations instead, under a regulatory exemption from that tender requirement — even at that scale. In practice: less procurement overhead, a faster start, free access to VendorPanel for running quotes, and WALGA's own Contract Managers on hand if needed. Councils still decide budget, how many suppliers to invite, and how the work is scoped.
The invitation
If your council has been curious about evidence-based leadership development, executive coaching, or culture and team work with Integral, this is the easiest it's ever been to find out. Get in touch and we'll talk through what a first engagement could look like.