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Innovation
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One of the nation’ s largest TAFEs has shown it is far from‘ outdated’ by demonstrating a list of successful, groundbreaking courses. By John Mitchell
Over the past 12 months, the prevailing narrative emanating from some commentators was that TAFE institutes were tired, unresponsive and in need of a massive overhaul.
While there will always be aspects of TAFE institutes, like any large organisations, that could be made more efficient and responsive, this prevailing narrative deserves some scrutiny. For instance, what could be said of this public narrative if evidence emerged of extensive innovation in TAFE institutes?
One reason I find the prevailing narrative unconvincing is that I have just finished drafting a publication on innovations at one of the largest TAFE institutes in Australia, TAFE NSW – South Western Sydney Institute( SWSi), where the hardest part of the project for the institute was to decide which innovations to leave out of the nearly 40,000 word publication.
The committee I worked with found it challenging to select the 16 final examples of innovation for me to research and profile in the publication, because over the past few years the institute has documented and tracked 72 innovations. And as the research project unfolded it became apparent that there were even more.
Not only are there many recent innovations in this institute, the innovations are no accident: they are the product of
36 | Issue 2 2013 deliberate planning by the institute to be more customer-focused. As institute director Peter Roberts said in the foreword of the publication, innovation at SWSi“ is systematic, in the sense of being deliberate, planned and thorough.”
He continues:“ As you read through the exemplars in this publication, you will notice in every case the innovation was not a coincidence: it was pursued and achieved. This systematic approach is a clear demonstration of the institute’ s seriousness about being flexible and responsive in serving our students and clients.”
Light bulb moment
In popular folklore, innovation is associated with light bulbs going on. That is, innovation is seen by some people as being about the initial inspiration and excitement, not the perspiration and stamina required to develop a new service, or product or organisational approach. In folklore, innovation occurs occasionally, is fluky and can’ t be managed.
In contrast, reputable literature on innovation shows that innovation can be generated on an ongoing basis, often can be handled in an orderly fashion and certainly can be managed, particularly when an innovation reaches the stage of implementation. Think about the large telephone manufacturers, continually producing new versions of their smart phones. Like the phone companies, SWSi is not only committed to ongoing innovation, it is continually innovating, using a systematic approach.
In an interview at the start of the SWSi publication, Terri Connellan, associate institute director strategy and development, reinforced the position taken by Roberts, that innovation is a high priority of the institute, and aligned herself with the finding in the literature that innovation can be actively pursued and highly valued, not left to chance.
“ In an increasingly competitive environment, it is critical that the institute continues to work on our customer focus and develop creative solutions. That is what we have based our strategic directions on heading towards 2015,” Connellan said.
“ Our driving principle is that we want to support customers to develop skills, and in developing skills our customers will build community capacity and assist job growth. That’ s our key driver.”
The main section of the publication contains six case studies that highlight the impacts of SWSi innovation on industry, clients and individual students. And each of the six case studies contains an interview with a SWSi client that confirms three elements of the SWSi model for innovation: that relationships were built with clients,