About.

I work with leaders who carry responsibility in highly sensitive, visible, and complex environments.

My work focuses on leadership where accountability is real, scrutiny is constant, and decisions have consequence. This includes settings with formal authority, informal power, and strong cultural dynamics.

I support leaders navigating pressure, expectation, and competing demands—often without the benefit of full control. The work is grounded in understanding how systems actually operate, not just how they appear on paper.

Across government, enterprise, creative, and community settings, I am engaged where clarity, judgment, and steadiness matter most. I work alongside leaders to strengthen decision‑making, coherence, and sustainable leadership capacity and presence.

My approach is practical, contained, and respectful of the systems leaders work within. The aim is not performance for its own sake, but leadership that holds under pressure.

I work directly, quietly, with purpose, and with your goals in mind.

- Ted, Executive Coach (IECL) and Founder of Koaching the Gap®

About Ted.

Ted Johnston is a Murri man (Tagalaka & Taepithiggi), business owner and board member with over a decade of experience across government, not‑for‑profit and education settings. His background includes senior leadership roles within complex public sector environments and extensive experience across system‑level reform in social and strategic policy, Aboriginal self‑determination and mental health. Ted brings expertise across policy and programs, governance and risk, and contract management, alongside a clear commitment to building capable, confident and inclusive workforces. He has worked closely with executives, managers and frontline leaders across a wide range of organisational contexts, supporting leadership practice that is thoughtful, responsive and grounded.

Informed by both professional and lived experience as a queer First Nations person, Ted delivers coaching, speaking and advisory engagements focused on mental health, lived experience and culturally diverse workforces through a First Nations lens. This work centres the strengths, insights and leadership of people who identify with or as First Nations; culturally and racially marginalised (CARM); LGBTQIA+ and gender diverse; neurodivergent; or with lived and living experience of mental health challenges.

Through experience, Ted understands how leadership and contribution are expressed differently across contexts, and how people draw on cultural knowledge, community connection and personal values to lead effectively. His whole‑of‑person approach to leadership and workforce development is shaped across professional, personal and community environments, including team sport, having represented three states at National Touch League level. This breadth of experience supports work that helps people recognise their strengths, navigate complexity with confidence, and lead authentically within any group environment.

As a coach, Ted works relationally with people across all career and leadership stages, supporting layered identity and cultural responsibility while balancing challenge with care and remaining aligned with values, integrity and long‑term growth and remaining aligned with values.

Credentials

  • Certified Organisational Coach (IECL, 2020)

  • Certified Community Director (ICDA, 2025)

  • First Nations Board Governance Training (ICDA, 2025)

Studies

  • Law — Charles Sturt University (Executive Dean’s Award, 2023)

  • Sociology — Australian National University (2015–17)

  • Languages — James Cook University (2012–15)

Reach out!
Reach out!
  • White computer cursor icon inside a white scalloped border on a black background.

    7+ Years | Government Leadership

    Across 2 Public Sectors

  • A black background with a white heart inside a flower-shaped outline.

    5+ Years | Professional Coach

    Trained to Globally Recognised Standards

  • Icon of three people inside a badge outline.

    International Keynote Speaker

    Mental Health and Social and Emotional Wellbeing

In Their Words

"Having had the privilege of working with Ted well before this venture was even conceived, I’ve seen firsthand his unwavering commitment to his identity, to our Mob, and to the people he serves. Ted is someone who carries himself with great dignity and integrity, and his genuine dedication to uplifting others is inspiring.

If you have the opportunity to work with him, I strongly encourage you to take it. Ted has an exceptional ability to connect with people, evoke both reflection and emotion, and provide the kind of accountability that drives real growth."

Duane Fraser, Wulgurukaba & Bidjara Traditional Owner & CEO, Council of First Nations Ltd

“Ted changes lives through an authentic combination of humour, curiosity and humility. Ted draws on his lived and living experiences, and learned knowledges, wasting no time to deliver deep insights, hard truths, and transformative perspectives. If you or your organisation are grappling with some complex, thorny issues, I couldn't recommend Ted highly enough.”

Dr Caroline Lambert - Lived Experience Academic

“Ted has been an exceptional mentor who helped me build confidence in my leadership skills and navigate challenging workplace relationships. His guidance extended beyond day-to-day advice - he encouraged me to explore different career pathways and embrace new opportunities. Ted exemplifies courage, integrity, perseverance, and passion, and through his mentorship, I learned to embody these qualities myself. One of the most significant impacts of his support was giving me the courage to leave a role where I excelled but faced an unsupportive environment and instead take on a new challenge in a different organisation and subject area. I am deeply grateful for Ted’s wisdom and encouragement, which have been instrumental in my professional growth.” -

First Nations leader, public sector