Tiffany Bower
Industry Development Lead for the Digital Economy, Sunshine Coast Council, Australia.
Postgraduate Diploma in Communication 2021
My Postgrad Diploma in Communication has given me a real breadth of skills and knowledge that I draw on nearly every day, in both work and personal life. In fact, I draw on the learning a lot more than I ever thought I would!
I signed up for the program initially to challenge myself, stretch my brain in a new way and just ‘learn’ for learning’s sake. In retrospect, the real value in this program was how it pulled together the different traditions - business, organisational and interpersonal communication - and grounded the theory in practice you can apply in the workplace.
My current role is the Industry Development Lead for the Digital Economy in the Economic Development branch of local government (Sunshine Coast Council - the fourth largest local government area by population in Australia). I am essentially a people-connector. My role is all about helping local industries, businesses and our wider region grow and thrive, with the ultimate goal of creating high-value jobs and lasting economic impact. Day to day that means a lot of stakeholder management and engagement, both internally and externally: networking, advocacy, elected member briefings, event strategy and delivery, program development, funding applications, survey development and analysis plus advocacy across different levels of government.
The part I enjoy most is sitting down with a local startup founder, learning about their business, understanding their goals and challenges and then connecting the dots - linking them with the people and organisations that can help accelerate their innovation. In ‘innovation-industry’ speak, I’m often referred to as an ‘ecosystem enabler’. I find great satisfaction in working out the levers to pull, lighting the pathway for someone and the long-lasting relationships that result.
The skills I draw on constantly from my studies are interpersonal communication, strategic PR, advocacy, strategy development and relationship and stakeholder management. It's proof that a strong grounding in communication theory and practice translates directly into real-world impact. With AI now a rapidly growing influence in our lives, I feel a deep understanding of the communication field is vital.
When I signed up for this course in 2018, I hadn’t been a student since 1995 when I did my BA at the University of Auckland!! The internet did not feature at all back then, it was the library – and everyone read the same books. Coming back to study and having so much information (including a global library) at my fingertips was quite overwhelming at first. However, as I learned to navigate, filter and apply my upgraded learning skills, it became easier – and that was a skill in itself.
As a mature student, I really felt my work and life experience gave me an advantage in this programme. Especially when we learned about business and organisational communication, I could think of scenarios I had experienced in nearly every single instance. It really changed my thinking and approach to workplace and business communication.
Living in Australia, I also really enjoyed connecting with New Zealand again. The consideration of Māori and Pasifika cultures in the course and listening to the New Zealand-based case studies chosen by other students to analyse, I felt like I was being re-introduced to my homeland. I attended a couple of tutorials IRL during a trip to Wellington in 2019 and I found it really worthwhile connecting with the lecturers and students. That trip also included experiencing a small earthquake one night while I was there, just to remind me I was back in Wellington!