Jacqui Cross

It’s a real great privilege for me to be invited here to celebrate this important day with you and your families. I’d like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and I also acknowledge elders past, present and future and pay my respect to them and any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people present here today.

As we’ve heard from our previous speakers, today marks an important milestone in your lives, and the beginning of new aspirations, hopes and challenges. And it’s important on days like this to take stock, to reflect and to celebrate your achievements. Too often in life we spend time focusing on the completion of an important goal in our lives, and we lose sight of the significance of the journey and the things that we’ve learned about ourselves along the way. I’m very honoured to have been asked to deliver this occasional address, and in preparing for today, I reflected on my own career since I first graduated some 30 years ago. I have been privileged to have had a diverse and interesting career that has taken me on a number of different paths, and I certainly would never have imagined that I would have been speaking here with you all today. During that time, I have moved countries, had the opportunity to complete postgraduate studies – so I’m part of the UTS community, so thank you – worked in a number of different roles in very different settings, and hopefully I’ve contributed in a meaningful way to my profession and as part of the communities in which I have lived and worked. And obviously, I continue to love and to be actively involved in my chosen profession.

So, if I was able to provide some advice to my new graduate self all those years ago, what would I say? Firstly, we never stop learning. Being inquisitive and asking the challenging questions is what keeps us engaged, and there’s always a different way of looking at things. It’s the diversity around us that challenges us to learn and to do things differently. Take risks and always look for opportunities. You never know where those opportunities might lead you, and sometimes taking a risk regarding a move or a change within your career can seem daunting, but invariably new opportunities will take you in directions that you may never have considered. Actively search out mentors and leaders that will support and challenge you, and in turn, model those behaviours and attributes for others. Stay focused on the reasons and the values that first attracted you to your chosen career. They will keep you anchored, provide a compass for future directions, and will keep you passionate and engaged as you progress through your professional life. It’s a wonderful achievement to be graduating here today, and for many of you, it has meant that you’ve had to learn new skills, identify strengths and ways to develop in areas that you may not have been so strong in. Importantly, you are developing your existing knowledge and attributes, further shaping your values and gaining confidence in how you will enact them in your everyday practice and lives.

In writing this address, I was reminded of a recent conversation that I had with a couple of registered nurses who were at a function for a residential course for emerging leaders in NSW. I had the real privilege of speaking to them- as I said, they’d been selected in NSW to take part in this program, and within a couple of minutes of speaking to them both, it was clear to me why they were outstanding leaders in their chosen profession.

In talking with the first of them, it was very clear that she felt that nursing was what she always wanted to do. She spoke about having had a career change after having a family, and she told me that she chose nursing as she wanted to provide an holistic approach in caring for people. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anyone so naturally passionate and genuinely engaged in what she’d chosen to do. The passion and the commitment that she had for nursing was truly palpable. She spoke of looking forward to going to work every day, and having the opportunity to work with people and their families at such vulnerable times in their lives. It was a real privilege to her, and it meant that she was able to make a difference to those people during really challenging times.

The second nurse, who was in her second year of nursing, also spoke about her love of nursing, what caring compassion meant for her. She told me that she had a focus on leading practice improvement so that she could ensure the best possible care for patients, and she talked to me about a project that she was working on with other members of the care team, focusing on improving medication safety. Both nurses were able to speak clearly about the evidence that they brought to their nursing practice. They also knew that they really wanted to contribute and to lead improvements in the way that they and their colleagues provided care.

The thing that made them leaders was not only their great commitment and enthusiasm for what they were doing; they were clearly compassionate with a focus on supporting others. What stood out for me was that they were using the skills and the attributes that they had developed through education, learning and enquiry. They were using that to embed evidence and critical thinking into their practice. As individuals, they were leaders who were committed to making a difference.

As nurse leaders, we often talk about the translation of evidence-based research into practice, and here I was having a conversation with two nurses, both early in their careers, who were able to so clearly articulate what it meant being a nurse, and the confidence and the focus that they had on using evidence to improve clinical care. In my position as a chief nursing and midwifery officer, I’m very fortunate to hear stories similar to these from nurses and midwives who hold varying positions in health care settings every day. I see firsthand the difference that individuals and teams make to how they provide care across diverse settings and geographical areas. The fact that you are graduating here today means that you have demonstrated the same leadership attributes, passion and focus for your chosen field.

Today is an exciting day – it’s your graduation, and I congratulate you all, the graduates, on your achievement. The ceremony marks both the end of one journey and the beginning of another. I also pay recognition to your families and friends who have supported you throughout this journey. Like many things in life, achievements such as these are only made with the support of those around us. Once again, I thank you for the opportunity to share this day with you, and I wish you every success in your future endeavours. Thank you.