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The future is inexact
JCU vice chancellor Sandra Harding AO . Photo : Supplied
How can universities best respond to the ambiguities and uncertainties of our world ?
By Sandra Harding
Ambiguity is inexactness . It is doubtfulness , uncertainty , vagueness , dubiousness , equivocation , obscurity . Ambiguity is a puzzle .
Ambiguity permeates every facet of life . It ’ s in the news and on TV . Our social newsfeeds replicate , duplicate and reproduce ambiguous content at an R-number that makes COVID-19 seem innocuous . And it is growing .
Universities are not immune from ambiguity and its effects . We are working with it in policy and funding , regulation and enabling technologies , and in the changing preferences of our students and their circles of influence . It may be that in our sector we have always had to work with ambiguity , but not to my memory in every area in which we work and live , at the same time .
How are we responding ? Are our internal decision-making hierarchies and processes designed to cope ? Are they coping ? Are we ?
Google is ahead of us on this one . In 2015 Project Oxygen sent shockwaves around the world as it argued that the eight most important qualities of Google ’ s managers consisted mainly of soft skills : being a good coach , communicating and listening well , possessing insights into others , having empathy toward and being supportive of one ’ s colleagues , being a good critical thinker and problem solver , and being able to make connections across complex ideas . Joining-the-dots where no one else can see the connection – a critical talent in times of ambiguity . STEM skills came in last , although in fairness they are assumed in the personality types who succeed in the technology sector .
I wonder how far we have come as a sector in enhancing our decision-making hierarchies and processes by honing these attributes in our own managers . And what of our students ? If we are tasked with equipping them as job ready graduates , who probably want to work for Google , can we do this authentically if we are ourselves challenged by the task ?
Google followed up Project Oxygen with Project Aristotle in 2017 , this time to determine what makes an effective team . Using the same methodology as Project Oxygen , Aristotle found that soft skills
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