Changemakers - Jutta von Dincklage

Jutta von Dincklage, Product Manager, Wiki Development at the Cancer Council Australia, is profiled in Changemakers – a regular column which examines inspiring people and their careers in the Not for Profit sector.

Cancer Council Australia is Australia's peak national non-government cancer control organisation. Cancer Council Australia advises the Australian Government and other bodies on practices and policies to help prevent, detect and treat cancer. Cancer Council Australia also advocates for the rights of cancer patients for best treatment and supportive care.

What are you currently working on in your organisation?

Leading the development of a collaborative web platform to produce up-to-date, evidence-based and transparent cancer treatment guidelines.

Up until now, evidence-based treatment guidelines have primarily been developed in a written format. Given that guidelines take up to two years to be developed and the fact that in average 75 clinical trials and 11 systematic reviews of medical studies are published per day, a new model of developing guidelines was needed to avoid publishing already out-dated information. We are using wiki technology and a collaborative working model to overcome the challenges in this area and move into the era of “living” treatment guidelines, where the information can be updated as soon as new evidence emerges. Our aim is to help guide clinical practice by providing constantly updated, evidence-based information and ultimately improve patient care.

What drew you to the Not for Profit sector?

During my communications studies I did an internship at a cutting-edge PR company. My assigned client was one of the most popular fast-food chains and my task was to research sports organisations in order to support their image campaign at the time. I realised that I did not want to work in areas that I didn’t believe in, that were operating on ethical edges and brain-washing people through smart marketing campaigns.

How long have you been working in the Not for Profit sector?

7 years

What is the best thing about working in the Not for Profit sector?

It gives me the chance to work in organisations that are driven by a higher purpose, have intrinsically good intentions, strongly believe in their ethical values and are aimed to make a difference and contribute to the greater good. There are a lot of opportunities to be involved in or initiate innovative and life-changing projects.

I consider my greatest achievement to be…

Very difficult to answer… the sum of all the things that I am and have done and all the people that I was able to meet, connect with, help and inspire so far 😉 The project that I am currently leading at Cancer Council Australia is definitely at the top of the list so far and I look forward to the projects yet to come.

Favourite saying…

No particular one, but I like Rainer Maria Rilke

The great renewal of the world will perhaps consist in this,
that man and maid, freed of all false feelings and reluctances,
will seek each other not as opposites, but as brother
and sister, as neighbors, and will come together as human beings.

If you could have dinner with 2 people from history, who would they be?

I would probably have dinner with three people: Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama and Mahatma Gandhi. They have changed our world by simply being themselves and sending messages of love and peace.

School taught me …

To strive for the impossible and go beyond what I think I can do.

What (or who) inspires you?

I do believe that our society is at a critical point and we are facing many challenges, climate change, economic crisis, governance failures, wars, environmental disasters. Models that have worked in the past are not working any more. A lot of people are very scared. We are in need to explore new ways of working on these challenges and I believe collaboration, sharing of information and transparency play a crucial role in being able to create and implement effective solutions.

I am strongly inspired by design thinking and creative facilitation methods involving storytelling, improvisation techniques and the like that help people to get in touch with their deeper knowing, out-of-the box thinking and expressing ideas they didn’t even know they had, that get people to collaborate with each other and design solutions together. I love Nancy White’s, Edward DeBono’s and Matt and Gail Taylor’s methods.

I am also very inspired by systemic organisational constellation work and believe it is a very powerful method to explore systemic issues. My trainer, Maria Dolenc, is an amazing facilitator in that field…

I love it when people are tapping into their depth and potential and get the opportunity to express themselves and what’s in their hearts. At the end of the day, we are all human beings and love is what truly matters (I know it sounds very cheesy, but it is true). We all have something unique to contribute