PROFILE
Dee Roche
Started at UWA: 2003
A lifelong learner and innovator in leadership, strategic change and transformation
My role is to prepare students for the relentless and ever-accelerating rate of change.MBA Teaching Fellow Dee Roche
MBA Teaching Fellow Dee Roche is a coordinator and lecturer at the UWA Business School, specialising in leadership, strategic change and transformation. Since 2009, Dee has coordinated the MBA Organisational Change and Transformation unit. She is a passionate change-maker who puts theory into practice by marrying together lived experience and academic understanding of change and transformation.
Dee’s UWA journey began in 2003 and over the last 17 years, she has worked in a variety of roles including the UWA Executive Education as a Senior Management Consultant in the areas of leadership, strategic change and transformation.Before commencing her role in academia, Dee started her career as a registered general and paediatric nurse educator. Her experiences of travel and education opportunities in England, Saudi Arabia, Papua New Guinea, Southeast Asia and Australia kick-started her transition from nurse to UWA. A life-long learner, Dee describes her career as a continuous work in progress, neither finishing one position nor starting another.
Her cumulative experiences provide her with a rich source of portability and transferability into the diverse fields of health, education, social impact and facilitation. Her personal philosophy is to provide ‘service at its best’. She is also actively involved in student support and mentorship programs at UWA.
- Master in Leadership and Management, Curtin University, WA
- Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, GAICD
- Certified Learning and Development Practitioner, CLDP
- Foundations of University Teaching and Learning Certification
- IAP2 Australasia Certificate in Engagement
- TAE40110 Certificate 1V in Training and Assessment
- Diploma in Assessment and Training System
- Spiral Dynamics Integral Technologies: Level One Certification
- PsyOpus Team Synergy Scale Accreditation
- Design Thinker: Experience Innovation
External positions:
- Senior Management Consultant at AIMWA–UWA Business School Executive Education
- Director of Dee Roche Leadership Development Consultancy
- Registered Nurse (current) (WA Registration No: 7456)
- Registered Sick Children's Nurse (UK Registration No: 0026)
- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Administrator, Australian Psychologists Press
Awarded Fellow of the Australian Institute of Professional Facilitators, FAIPF
Awarded Fellow of the Risk Management Institute of Australasia, FRMIA
Awarded a Gold Leaf Honour Award for contributions to people who are blind and deaf
Awarded Fellows' Recognition for Leadership in Mentoring
2014 winner of the UWA Excellence in Teaching and Research Awards (Program Award)
2013 winner of the UWA Excellence in Teaching Award
Nominee for Western Australian Women’s Hall of Fame (2014)
Nominee of The University of Western Australia Excellence in Teaching Award (2014, 2015, 2016 & 2018)
Teaching
Areas of professional interest
- Change leadership
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While there are many theories and concepts about the general steps, elements and processes required for successful change programs, applying these to one’s workplace is rarely a straightforward exercise.
Dee believes technology has transformed how workers carry out their jobs, with new tools and protocols contributing to a working world that’s changed beyond recognition.
All organisations are faced with the continuous need for change, regardless of source or cause, and this change is normal. However Dee argues that leading change successfully is a complex and multifaceted process, with both planned and, at times, unintended consequences. Her view is that we must understand how to lead disruptive change, rather than simply managing it. Workplace changes themselves are not difficult for employees and managers to grapple with, yet the internal emotional impact of the transition process is far more dynamic.
Dee’s research suggests that the key to leading change is to grasp that it is an external process; transition leading to transformation, meanwhile, is an internal and emotional reaction to change. Therefore, comprehending the process and the emotions involved in transition is a significant step forward in effectively leading workplace change.
- Authentic leadership
- Dee believes in authentic leadership – the idea of holding onto one’s beliefs, and saying and doing what one believes in. Dee models this behaviour every day, and suggests that becoming an authentic leader is about taking what is genuinely inside you and letting it be visible to all.
- Design thinking
- Design thinking combines what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically and economically feasible within any organisation or sector. Related skills such as innovation and collaboration are becoming more vital to all types of businesses, and with her IDEO Experience Point team training, Dee is able to bring the latest methods of design thinking to her students in class.
- Mentoring
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Dee has demonstrated successful mentor program experience; designing, developing and providing start up mentor support to many leading organisations within the public and private sectors and has been instrumental in the development of the UWA MBA Mentor Program, since its inception.
What makes a successful mentoring program is the generosity and wisdom of the mentors involved. Mentors unconditionally offer their expertise, time and generosity to encourage someone else’s growth and wisdom. Mentoring as a concept is often thought to be a one-way street, Dee says to the contrary, part of the appeal of mentoring is that it is a reciprocal and open process of knowledge sharing which benefits both parties.
