Katie McDonough - Southern Cross University

Where people meet passion: How Katie found hers with SCU

It’s no secret that Katie McDonough loves what she does. As Organisational Development Coordinator at Southern Cross University, she supports a team achieving incredible things. Drawing on her visual design background, she brings creativity and innovation to every project. The icing on the cake? Belonging to a team with heart she’s proud to be part of.

Because impact matters

When Katie McDonough spotted the organisational development position at SCU in mid-2022, she knew she had to apply. The role ticked all her boxes. Katie had already glimpsed the university’s caring culture, witnessing its incredible generosity towards the community and hearing from friends about the strong support for staff during the 2022 floods. Her own experience as a student at SCU had been just as positive. Plus, our values aligned with her warm, friendly nature.

Yet, what Katie didn’t realise was just how proud she would become of our wider purpose, too. Shortly after joining us, she was involved in coordinating academic promotion interviews. Walking in not knowing what to expect, she found herself truly blown away.

“I got to hear first-hand how passionate our academics are about research and teaching. It made me so proud of what we are doing here – I couldn’t stop talking about it to anyone that would listen!”

“We’ve got experts researching so many things - from endangered frogs to sea cucumbers to how we can teach AI and improve our judicial system’s processes. I had this initial expectation that all our research would be based in this little corner of Australia but it’s so widespread, and you’re actually getting to see these real-world actions coming out of it, too.”

For Katie, this experience has driven home to her the value she can bring to her own role.

“It’s such a privilege to hear first-hand all the wonderful things our academics are doing, whether that’s in teaching or research. It just reaffirms everything we’re doing in the organisational development space to support them and the professional teams, too.”

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The space to do things differently

Katie has always valued new ideas and ways of thinking, and she’s excited to be part of SCU’s innovative, forward-thinking culture. One project she’s particularly passionate about is the roll-out of a new performance review approach.

“It’s about shaking up that old formula of what a performance review is, from a once-a-year chat to emphasising how each conversation matters. We’re seeing quite a lot of positive feedback to date. I love that we’re able to try new things like this and bring people on board, and to think differently about things.”

With a background in visual arts, Katie also appreciates that she has the freedom to exercise her creative muscle in her role. Take a recent popular professional development event: instead of a routine call-out for nominations to attend, Katie and her team crafted something special.

“We built excitement and then opened nominations for 24 hours only, asking people to get creative in telling us why they should be chosen to attend the workshop. People used their 50 words or less to quote Freddie Mercury and write haikus! It was so nice to see them enjoying the process, and it aligned with the creative nature of the event they were applying for. To be given the space to do things like this in my role is just really wonderful.”

Katie says the fact her creative brain has been so strongly embraced at SCU confirms she’s in the right place.

“I’ve just felt such an incredible opportunity at SCU to really be creative in my role. It’s being able to bring personality, fun and humour into how we work. It makes me feel really valued.”

Where people are at the heart

Katie reflects that at SCU, every person is embraced for who they are, and she's proud to be part of a team that goes the extra mile to help each other succeed.

“It can be a bit daunting working for a large organisation, but any time I’ve reached out for help, someone is always willing to help and it just feels really good to know that.”

Part and parcel of this, Katie knows, is supportive leadership.

“I work with a director who is just an outstanding leader - authentic, supportive and an inspiring mentor. In fact, the whole leadership team in my area is approachable and genuinely supportive of the work I do.”

The final ingredient, according to Katie, is people who care and are willing to stand up for what they believe in.

“People are passionate here. There’s often constructive debate and people are willing to stand up for what they believe in, but also equally willing to listen and take on different perspectives and change their mind. That's certainly happened to me!”