The impact of Change Academy:
a story of organisational development and changing cultures
Nigel Dandy
University of Sheffield
Change Academy is a ‘flagship’ development programme for the HE sector, jointly sponsored by the Higher Education Academy and the Leadership Foundation. A study commissioned through the HEFCE Leadership, Governance and Management Fund on Enhancing Organisational Development in English Universities (November 2007), includes a recommendation that institutions should “foster an environment conducive to change” and “utilise the methodology of the Change Academy to support enhancement of organisational development capability…”.
This workshop explores how a large institution participated in the programme and, inspired by its content, is enhancing the experience of its students and staff and is building capacity to achieve effective change.
A Sheffield team first participated in Change Academy in 2005. The project was a strategic and institution-wide exploration of the concept of “customer care” in relation to stakeholder groups and their expectations. This initially focused on students in anticipation of the advent of a new tuition fees regime, but rapidly grew to encompass other relationships with internal and external parties. The aim for Change Academy was to find a manageable way of clarifying and taking forward these ideas.
Change Academy provided a catalyst both for advancing the original project and for thinking more broadly about building the University’s capability to achieve effective change. Building on Change Academy ideas, a new Corporate Plan was developed using a very different approach to consulting the University community. This captured a new ‘shared vision’ and set of values for the University, intended to be more effective in enabling strategy to be understood and translated into practice. Delivering this aim is challenging in a large, research-led institution, with a strong departmental identity.
‘Exemplar’ projects have helped to lead the practical implementation of the new corporate vision. The portfolio is supported by a prominent internal development programme inspired by Change Academy, called SeeChange. This has twin aims of advancing key strategic projects in ways new to the University, and also developing broader organisational capacity to lead and achieve complex change successfully. The approach emphasises inclusivity, involving staff from different roles and seniorities, and also students. A formal evaluation of the impact of SeeChange across the University, using the Theories of Change methodology, was conducted in 2007.
Three years on from the institution’s first engagement with Change Academy, the session will reflect on the longer-term impact, including both intended and unanticipated consequences. This will include the evolution of the whole initiative, from its original ambitions regarding a specific project and ‘culture change’, towards a focus on creating conditions for effective (and in some cases ‘emergent’) change, and equipping people to engage with and lead that process.
At the end of the session participants will have:
o gained insights into the nature of the Change Academy programme;
o explored a case study of how this has been influential in one institution to develop and implement a new corporate vision and develop organisational capacity for change;
o experienced examples of Change Academy ideas and techniques directly, as part of their engagement in discussion;
o considered some of the challenges arising from seeking complex change across an institution, in the face of competing pressures which do not always prioritise the student experience.
The session would be of general interest, and in particular for colleagues engaged with staff development and supporting leadership challenges involving cultural and innovative change.
HEA Conference presentation 1 July 2008