52 FACULTY OF HUMANITIES ANNUAL REPORT 2021 1. Stewart R (2021) Keynote: How policy, implementation, evidence, and politics come together to improve the future of millions of South Africans. Global Evidence and Implementation Summit, March 2021. 2. Leach B and the AEN Secretariat (2021) Lecture and facilitated discussion: Capacity development for Evidence Use in Africa. Evidence Capacities webinar series, September 2021. 3. Okwen P (ACE research associate) (2021) Designing for equity in capacity development. Evidence Capacities webinar series, September 2021. 4. Lavis J (ACE DVP) and Grimshaw J (2021) Global Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges, September 2021. How will ACE do things differently in 2022? It is essential for a research centre to constantly reflect on its performance to ensure it serves the larger purpose of the university by delivering on its unique blend of expertise. In this light, we share below the lessons from 2021 about enhancing efficiency, ensuring effectiveness, and empowering our staff through change management. 2.1. Enhancing efficiency The pandemic forced teams across the world into virtual working spaces, in some cases before they were fully equipped to excel in these spaces. For this reason, ACE is proud of our team members who have not only demonstrated how they are capable of operating using the Office 365 suite of tools, but have actually risen to the challenge of taking on new skills to further enhance their efficiency while using these tools. One example of this from 2021 has been how every member of the ACE team has completed a project management course. Gaining project management as a skill has ensured that our team will remain agile in working together. We have learned that offering a robust wellbeing programme is a powerful tool to protect the productivity of our team members from the onslaught of mental health issues associated with the continued pandemic. In 2021, this programme offered a mix of opt-in and mandatory activities that allowed staff time to nurture relationships with team mates, share their challenges within a dedicated support system, and keep active. Research has shown all of these interventions to have a positive effect on workplace mental health. Throughout the pandemic, ACE has been at the forefront about what the best-available evidence is saying about how to lower the transmission of COVID-19. Armed with this knowledge, ACE charged a representative of our operations team with developing and communicating agile COVID-19 work practices as part of an evidence-informed return-to work to support the seamless, uninterrupted operation of ACE’s activities. At the start of the year, we developed and implemented an internal communications strategy. The aim of this strategy was to align all team members – some of whom were new to our team at the start of 2021 – to familiarise themselves with a core message which enhances our teams’ efficiency by increasing our accountability to one another. The core internal message for 2021 was that ACE is a single team; we all need each other to deliver our projects successfully. The internal communication campaigns executed as part of this strategy included a Q&A session about COVID-19 vaccines and a new format for hosting staff meetings that rotated the roles of chair and teamed facilitators together. 2.2. Effectiveness We see effectiveness within an organisation as being closely linked to adapting to real-world challenges and being intentional in collecting evidence to demonstrate the effect of your teams’ work. To this end, in 2021, ACE continued to benefit from a multilayered governance system consisting of internal management of teams by line managers, external guidance from an advisory group made up of experts in the evidence-informed decision-making space, and oversight from the UJ executive. This multi-tiered accountability system holds staff accountability to their project delivery, thereby ensuring ACE’s effectiveness as a centre. How will we do things differently in 2022? All staff are aware of the processes, procedures, and the expectation for them to adhere to them. How will we do things differently in 2022? We will draft content as part of this communications strategy early and schedule the publication of these messages to ensure the strategy rolls out as planned. How will we do things differently in 2022? Drawing on team members’ skills gained from this course, we will be designing ACE’s operations system using project management techniques and expecting teams to deliver their work accordingly. How will we do things differently in 2022? With a thorough understanding about which activities are more effective in ensuring wellbeing at ACE, we have designed a plan that draws on a committee of volunteers to execute.
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