Transport Accident Commission: Reimagining capability with a leadership framework for everyone
The brief
The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) helps Victorians recover from road trauma and works to prevent accidents before they happen. Following the launch of its 2025 Strategy and a shift to hybrid working, TAC identified the need to refresh its capability framework. While the existing framework had solid foundations, it was no longer fit for the future. TAC needed something simpler, more intuitive, and able to guide performance, development, and career conversations across all roles - from technical specialists to senior leaders.
At the heart of the brief was a bigger ambition: to shape a resilient, inclusive, and empowered workforce by embedding leadership behaviours organisation-wide.
The response
The project began with a comprehensive review of TAC’s existing framework, relevant strategic documents, and broader people initiatives - including TAC’s refreshed purpose, values, brand, hybrid working model, Inclusion & Diversity agenda, and Reconciliation Action Plan. We supplemented this internal scan with research into best practice and next practice capability frameworks, particularly those focused on future-of-work readiness and enduring human capabilities.
Key insights guided the response:
Leadership is a mindset, not just a role
Human capabilities are more future-proof than technical skills
Fewer capabilities, more impact
Capability frameworks should shape culture, not just describe it.
These insights informed a new framework anchored in eight timeless, transferable human capabilities - Courage, Empathy, Critical Thinking, Curiosity, and Adaptability - relevant to every TAC employee, not just leaders.
TAC Capability Framework
The activation
Once the Executive and Board endorsed the revised capability framework, we created a set of practical tools to support implementation across the employee lifecycle:
Behavioural descriptors for each capability, showing what good looks like (and doesn’t) in practice
A self-assessment tool to support reflection and guide development planning
A development guide aligned to the 70:20:10 principle
Sample interview questions to support capability-based recruitment
Communications copy and toolkits to support internal engagement and integration with people processes.
The results
The new framework positioned leadership as something everyone does, not something only formal leaders are responsible for. It created a shared language for development - one that was practical, future-oriented and culturally aligned.
Endorsed by the Board and Executive
Streamlined from 16 capabilities to 8 essential human capabilities
Designed to be applied across all roles and levels
Simple enough to use, robust enough to matter
Actively shaping culture and enabling strategy.
TAC’s refreshed framework is now being embedded across systems and processes as a key lever for development, performance, and culture change.
Why it worked
A leadership lens from the start. While framed as a capability project, the core design philosophy treated leadership as a mindset that should be expected and supported at all levels, challenging hierarchical thinking and encouraging personal accountability.
Deep alignment with TAC’s purpose and values. Each capability was mapped to the organisation’s strategic direction, brand refresh, and cultural aspirations.
Simplicity without diluting impact. The framework captured rich behavioural insights in a format that could be ‘held on a page’ and used in everyday conversations.
Focus on what’s timeless and transferable. The emphasis on enduring human capabilities ensured relevance over time and across contexts, a critical feature in a rapidly changing environment and world of work.
Ready to design or refresh your own framework?
Whether you’re rethinking how leadership shows up in your organisation or looking to embed values-led capability development, I can help you design a practical, future-fit framework that supports strategy and drives meaningful behaviour change.
Let’s set up a time to explore it further.