By Tom Andriola. On April 5, thirty-four members of our UC IT community completed the third annual UC IT Leadership Academy. They spent six intensive days learning how to be stronger leaders, innovators, and collaborators.
Participants got lots of great tools to use in their work now and to prepare them for future roles. And they built relationships with colleagues from around the UC system, not just spending time together but really working together. Don’t just take it from me though. Watch the video below to see our lecturers and participants in action:
Those relationships will be invaluable in the months and years ahead. They now have colleagues at every campus they can reach out to for advice about a project, or team up with on a collaboration, or – who knows – even launch a business together!
The UC IT Leadership Academy is one way the CIOs are growing UC’s capabilities so that IT can bring greater value to the UC mission. Last fall the academy was recognized at California Public Higher Education Collaborative Conference as an innovative program to prepare the workforce for tomorrow.
Skills development is so important for all of us. I strongly believe it’s not enough for us to get our work done, we must continually evolve and strive to do it better, do it differently. This can only happen if you continue to invest in your career growth.
Some people tell me they cannot afford the time for training. I tell our academy participants, “You can’t afford not to spend the time” to develop your skill sets. This is especially true for the soft skills, which are a key to career growth.
As you plan goals for the coming year, let’s make it a balanced year – tangible IT goals with career development goals – the most winning combination.
Tom Andriola is chief information officer for the University of California system.
Thank you for sharing Tom!
Thank you for founding this important program. Congratulations to you, Tom, for fostering a culture of innovation at UC.