With 13 years’ experience across healthcare and support services in the not-for-profit sector, including five years as Director of Research, Education and Prevention at Red Nose Australia, Margaret Polacska has significant experience translating evidence into practical action.
Her work spans research, prevention, education and organisational strategy, with a focus on ensuring evidence does not remain confined to research papers but shapes services, education, partnerships and responses to emerging issues.
Increasingly, she has been asking another question: how can organisations extend their impact through technology without losing the human connection at the heart of complex health and bereavement support?
That question helped lead Margaret to the University of Sydney MBA (Technology and Digital Strategy), an online program designed for professionals seeking to strengthen their understanding of how technology shapes strategy and organisational change.
Learning to lead digital transformation more thoughtfully
After leading people, programs, research and organisational change, Margaret wanted to better understand how technology was reshaping health services.
“I’m not trying to become a specialist in technology. I want to understand enough about technology to ask better questions, make better strategic decisions and bring people with me through change.”
Already, the MBA has shifted how she approaches digital transformation. Rather than focusing only on what technology can do, she now considers governance, accountability, adoption, risk, user experience and where human judgement must remain.
“When thinking about the use of AI in health and peer support, instead of asking, ‘What could we automate?’, I’m asking, ‘What should technology do, what should humans do, and where does responsibility sit when the two interact?’”
Learning alongside people from other sectors has also reinforced how universal many organisational challenges are, particularly those involving trust, leadership, incentives and change.
I’m not trying to become a specialist in technology. I want to understand enough about technology to ask better questions, make better strategic decisions and bring people with me through change.
Margaret Polacska
MBA (Technology and Digital Strategy) student
Using digital strategy to strengthen human support
Margaret’s motivation is also deeply personal. She has experienced the death of a child through stillbirth and understands the profound impact of losing a child.
That experience has shaped her interest in what happens after an immediate crisis: how people navigate complicated systems, find reliable information and connect with support.
“I’m interested in making systems easier to navigate and making sure people don’t have to become experts in healthcare or bureaucracy at the same time they’re experiencing something incredibly difficult.”
For Margaret, this is where digital strategy has particular potential.
She sees opportunities to make evidence-based information and support easier to access, identify gaps in services and create more personalised pathways. But technology must remain in service of people.
“In bereavement and other complex health experiences, there are moments where human judgement, empathy and connection are essential. Digital strategy should help us extend those capabilities and not assume technology can replace them.”
MBA (Technology and Digital Strategy) student Margaret Polacska at the taster class in Melbourne
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