Academic leaders face particular challenges when they assume formal leadership roles in higher education. For the most part, they have had little prior engagement with the political, economic and strategic context of their institution and limited leadership networks on which to draw. The University of Western Australia has trialled a number of strategies to build its collective leadership capacity. These include immersion programmes, communities of practice, coaching, residential programmes and tailored consultancy support. The gradual accretion of various components into an integrated model of collective capacity building is explored from the context of complex adaptive systems theory. It demonstrates the importance of encouraging reflective and adaptive leaders who are willing to share their knowledge and wisdom across the university community. The case study demonstrates the importance of recognising and integrating collective learning into ongoing systems and strategies in a flexible manner. (Contains 2 tables.)