Informed by the extensive staff and student consultation undertaken in the Professional Services Transformation (Ways of Working area of focus), Maria Claudia will draw on her impressive background in service delivery – and expertise in systems technology – to lead and inspire a consolidated services unit whose focus will be on customer experience and continuous process and service culture improvement.

We spoke with the Bogota-born, self-confessed tech-head to find out what makes her tick.

You’ve built an impressive career in service delivery, most recently as Executive Director of Shared Services at the NSW Department of Education. What have you learned about what it takes to deliver service excellence at organisations like Macquarie?
The most important lesson I’ve learned is that it’s all about people.  People are at the heart of  modern shared services, and service excellence is a mindset – having the empathy to engage customers and stakeholders, the curiosity to explore what we do and how we do it, and the courage and the vulnerability to transform ourselves and our services.  No technology can do that.

What are you most looking forward to about implementing a shared services model at Macquarie?
Modern shared services are people-powered organisations that thrive on an information- and automation-rich environment.  Our new model must balance this tension, as the power of data analytics and automation can’t be realised unless you also have a solid customer-centric and service excellence culture, as well as staff skilled and empowered to implement new practices and continually improve the service experience.

What has impressed you about Macquarie?
In my brief exposure to the team, I have been impressed with the University’s ethos.  I have experienced a cohesive and engaged team, driving transformation in an environment of ever-increasing complexity, as the pace of change in education continues to accelerate.  This is a time of uncertainty, but also a time for opportunity.  I’m very excited to be joining Macquarie to help realise the potential of a modern and agile Shared Services function.

How would you describe yourself as a leader?
I would describe my leadership style as inclusive, resilient and adaptable.  I ask lots of questions, as I value collaboration and thrive in an environment where success is achieved by mashing different perspectives.

The qualities and values I encourage in my teams are agility, clarity, accountability and discipline delivery. The most important part, however, is that we learn and grow together and find the time to celebrate and have fun.

You’re originally from Colombia, and completed a bachelor degree in computer science and a masters in database design at the Universidad de Los Andes. How has your background influenced your approach to life and work?
My career in technology gave me the opportunity to travel the world – a dream come true for a geeky girl from Bogota.  As I worked with technology, I learned that success in my projects was solely dependent on the people I worked with and the people I delivered solutions to.  I started to pivot from worshiping technology to embracing the power of people.

As I travelled the world, I also learned that distance was not an obstacle to staying connected to my family – technology allows me to have regular video calls with my mum and virtual parties with family members in different countries.   Technology and people in a finely-tuned balance – it’s what’s made me who I am.

As such, we’ll be implementing a reinvigorated performance and development review process, underpinned by the ‘Talent and Performance’ functionality in Workday. Here, Nicole Gower, Vice-President People and Services, takes you through the changes.

Following broad consultation across the Macquarie University community, including academic and professional staff, hospital and clinical staff, and staff in Campus Life, we have now developed an improved PDR process to facilitate this for all our staff.

Our current Performance and Development Review (PDR) will be re-named the Development and Performance Review (DPR). We wanted to place the emphasis on having conversations not only about performance but also about what development is required to help our staff achieve their goals and support career aspirations. The Academic DPR has been designed to align with the new academic promotion criteria. Professor Lesley Hughes (member of the Our People board and lead on the Academic DPR Workday Project) says “the new system has been designed around the concept that if the university prioritises and supports staff development, excellent performance will follow”.

We’ll be underpinning the new DPR process with new capabilities in Workday such as the employee ‘Talent Profile’. This is essentially an online resume – listing your skills, education and career experience – similar to an internal ‘LinkedIn’ profile.

Workday will also enable leaders and managers to cascade goals to staff, eliminating the need to develop custom DPR templates for different parts of the organisation as priorities change over time.

Training will be conducted during October in preparation for the launch of the new DPR and Talent Profile capabilities in November, with dedicated sessions to be run for academic and professional employees and MQ Health staff. Please look out for communications and information in coming weeks as we prepare for the launch.

For more information about these changes, please refer to the Workday FAQs page or email workday@mq.edu.au.

During this time, the Briefing and Consultation Paper was accessed on over 5200 occasions, over 600 staff viewed the PST Townhall, 135 staff participated in focus groups contributing over 1000 years of experience at Macquarie to the conversation, and 49 formal written submissions were received.

Feedback has been considered and is being actively incorporated in to the PST work. A formal response to feedback will be provided to all staff in mid-February.

Information will also be provided on the PST webpage and any queries can be sent to the PST email inbox – PST@mq.edu.au.

The PST stream of work actively supports the delivery of our University Operating Plan and sits under the Ways of Working area of focus.

PST falls under the Operating Plan’s Ways of Working stream sponsored by Professor David Wilkinson (Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Engagement), Nicole Gower (Vice-President, People and Services) and Robin Payne (Vice-President, Finance and Resources).

The two-year program will transform the delivery of key professional support services to create more consistent and efficient processes across the University. This will enable a more effective professional staff support structure, allowing a better staff and student experience and reinvestment in our academic mission.

“Our professional staff play a critical role in enabling Macquarie to achieve its purpose and vision,” says co-sponsor Nicole Gower.

“We have talented people who work tirelessly to deliver key services to our students, who support our academic mission and ensure the University runs well and is well respected. What we know, is that our staff are often held back by inefficient processes and structures.

“With its focus on simplification and standardisation of professional support services and processes, PST will seek to unlock the full potential of our professional services and will deliver a greater experience for our staff and students, as well as enhance career growth and opportunities.”

Find out more
To explain more about PST, and to answer your questions about the program, Nicole will be hosting three webinars:

Professional staff webinar: 10 August, 10.30am – 12.00pm
Webinar registration link

Academic staff webinar: 13 August, 12.30pm – 2.00pm
Webinar registration link

Professional staff webinar: 24 August, 11.00am – 12.30pm
Webinar registration link