Faith in management tumbles across the board at one of Australia's top institutions

Resumen detallado

Executive teamwork hits a three-year low in a damning federal staff census.

Trust in leadership at one of Australia's most significant cultural institutions has cratered, with its staff survey exposing a collapse in confidence across both senior executives and middle management.

The National Gallery of Australia's latest employee census results highlighted a stark institutional divide, with front-line employees fiercely committed to their work even as their faith in those running the agency plunged.

While 82 per cent of NGA staff said they were proud to work at the institution, the overall index scores for both Senior Executive Service (SES) managers and immediate supervisors dropped by three points compared to 2025.

The slide in leadership ratings was so severe that every single metric in the agency's "least improved" list targeted management with four aimed directly at the SES, and the fifth at immediate supervisors.

Positive ratings for senior executives clearly articulating direction and priorities plummeted by eight percentage points to 64 per cent. Confidence in SES managers communicating effectively and ensuring work contributed to the NGA's strategic direction also slumped by seven points each.

Nearly one in three staff (31 per cent) disagreed that the SES worked as a team resulting in the worst disapproval rating in three years, up from 24 per cent in 2024 and 29 per cent in 2025.

Middle management did not fare any better, with every immediate supervisor metric declining compared to 2025.

Ratings for supervisors encouraging teams to regularly review and improve their work fell by eight points, while those providing helpful performance feedback dropped by seven.

The overall decline marked an abrupt reversal after both SES and immediate supervisor scores had improved between 2024 and 2025.

Inicio del artículo, extracto de The Canberra Times. Para leer el resto, abra el artículo en el sitio del medio.