My experience is in Organisational Change Management, specialising in technology change and its impact on individuals in their roles and day-to-day. It has a much broader application in the VUCA macro context of how humanity is interacting with digital and AI as we go through the huge AI revolution – how that will manifest for individuals at work is evolving and fascinating.
I was interested in a deeper dive into corporate communications, as I had only taken smaller communications courses before this programme, and I wanted to explore how internal communication supports and enables change in an organisation. All my previous degree-level studies had been remote and virtual earlier in my career, so I felt I was equipped to take on this masters in an area I find fascinating.
The course is structured with a great mix of quarterly in-person learning events, balanced with virtual and asynchronous contact. This works well for anyone who has a full-time career. Having that dedicated time with the tutors once a quarter, even for those who had to dial in, is invaluable to the learning process and it set our cohort up well for each module.
Our year was right on the cusp of experimenting with generative AI. I would have loved to experience a more digitised masters programme, as I am sure that, as the masters management team starts to embrace AI the digital learning environment will be fascinating.
I’ve never met a more dedicated tutor team than the IC masters team and we were so lucky to have all of them as our guides. The response rate and level of support from the tutoring team were superb.
Prior to the masters, I had not done any academic research, and it’s invaluable to now have the skills to present a set of recommendations to a leadership team, backed by research. Since the masters, several of my recommendations have been piloted and adopted by my organisation, and it’s led to robust frameworks being implemented to solve organisational problems.
It’s also helped me apply critical thinking when doing any business reading. So much of industry is driven by consultancy-applied recommendations, many of which don’t have cited sources. Research reading should always be a balance of academic and popular business literature sources.
My most impactful experiences during the masters came from the engagement with my fellow cohort members. From the first in-person sessions, we created a group of communication channels thanks to Sanna, our genius WhatsApp guru. This provided a platform for the whole cohort to engage with each other on topics related to studies, personal topics, work life etc.
I was often asked by the tutors what made our group gel so well during our year, and I think it started in our first week, when we opened communication channels and had a few early, very vulnerable conversations, which opened the door to incredible support among our cohort.
The WhatsApp structure was also very helpful for breakouts into smaller groups when we had to collaborate on specific topics, and for our final reports, when we had a dedicated tutor and more focused interests in our report topics.
My biggest piece of advice to anyone taking this on is to engage regularly with your cohort. This is a tough 13-month journey, and being able to navigate it with others who are going through it is what will get you through. My cohort from my masters in 2024 are still actively chatting to each other and meeting up where we can.
There will be no one else who can really understand the pressures and trials you go through during that year, and as a source of motivation, encouragement, and support, your cohort is the backbone of your whole year.
I am sorry for anyone considering the masters now that you didn’t get to be part of the 2024 cohort – they are 17 of the best humans I’ve ever had the pleasure of adventuring through life with, and I’m so grateful to know them!
