We – about 25 staff and I – rode the bus this morning at 630 from Rockhampton to Gladstone, perhaps a little sleepy-eyed but that wore off quickly as the sky grew brighter and the coffee kicked in. We met up with some 60 of our colleagues at CQUniversity Gladstone for our 2nd Annual Leadership Conference which began with a series of conversations and workshops about our relationships with each other and our stakeholders. They involved participation from ‘outsiders’ as well as those of us inside CQUniversity. Perhaps more than anything, can I say how impressed I was with a very articulate Bachelor of Learning Management student and a local school representative, both of whom made very constructive and thought provoking contributions to our exchange on the ‘student life experience’. I was equally impressed with the response and interaction they generated among staff. We learned a fair amount about what ‘s driving school leavers to University and other education providers, and how we as an organisation, need to respond to the pace at which our communities expect , in fact demand, change. In areas of program development and service provision, time and time again the messages – from our external stakeholders and from our 80 CQUni leaders -- were you (CQUni) have great people working here but you have to listen better and follow up with specific actions. No big decisions were made today, but I can say that I feel very strongly – even only after a few hours into the day --- that CQUni is not a uni that will succeed based on the action of the 80 or 90 people drawn together here in Gladstone for a 48 hour conference. We will succeed because we are --- or will be --- an organisation of 1000 leaders or more. We will reach that point when each of us acknowledge, believe and understand the role each of us have, indeed, in the success of our students.
Scott
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