Here at ICT, the wheels are spinning. Our team and I are doing the groundwork to create our new digital strategy for Stellenbosch University. We have two choices today. We can either keep on doing things the way we always have, or we can take a different road and build a better IT – one we can be proud of.
With change and new leadership, there is always a bit of anxiety, fear, and expectations. I have decided to meet all SU's stakeholders to understand their needs, from the deans of our faculties, the faculty managers and the SRC. I have also requested to have a cup of tea with each member of my internal ICT teams, and yes, that's 151 cups of tea! It is rather ambitious for my diary at current; however, this evidences my commitment and dedication to the 'people' aspect of change, getting to know them, hearing them out, and eventually bringing people along with this new ICT digital journey at Stellenbosch University.
Apart from active listening to the needs and expectations of our students and staff at Stellenbosch University, my 100-day plan focus on three areas:
Firstly, I would like us to focus on maintaining, running, and fixing our existing systems to ensure our users have a seamless ICT experience. Secondly, I would like to transform our SU stakeholders' mindset of ICT's staff and culture into a 4IR mindset. And lastly, our focus should be on emerging technology: providing "sprinkles" of new technology to be implemented that will give value-add to our stakeholders.
I like to see myself as a transformational IT leader, and where I come from, I've had many successes thanks to people buying into my vision and helping me transform for the future, which we know can change in a day altogether. Here at IT, we need to be at the forefront of these rapid changes, and although hard at first, messy in the middle, successful change is gorgeous in the end.
I would like you to talk to me and tell me your thoughts and how you see yourself in this new journey ahead. I am energised and so excited to be here.
And I cannot wait to hear from you all.
Denisha
