Bringing Strategy to Life: Higher Education
The Transformation Challenge
Following the creation of its new corporate strategy, a prominent London university was looking to transform strategically and culturally. With their new Strategy launched but still in its infancy, they needed to ensure that the whole organisation was prepared, aligned and supported to deliver it.
You can read about how I worked with the institution on the development of their new five-year strategy here.
The Solution
Working as an associate for Caja, a leading transformation consultancy, alongside the Vice Chancellor and his team, the Board of Governors, and my Caja colleagues in the Programme Team, I brought my change expertise to ensure that the conditions were created to ensure the successful implementation of the 17 strategy projects and that its leaders were equipped and confident to deal with change.
To ensure success, this is what I did:
Maintained oversight of the Strategy’s mobilisation plan alongside the day to day running of the university to make sure it delivered on its other commitments and that people didn’t become overwhelmed.
Facilitated conversations upwards to the Board and down to the Workstream Leads to ensure complete alignment with the Strategy’s original vision.
Acted as an independent sounding board to the VC and his team to discuss challenges, conflicts and opportunities that arose from this change and embed new ways of working.
Created explicit communications that underpinned the desired culture where cooperation and trust exist between team members and effective confident leaders.
Created a governance system that was fit for purpose, with every team member clear on their role and responsibilities and committed to a co-created set of principles to guide working relationships.
Set for success
Before stepping away from the project, I worked as part of the Caja team to ensure a deliberate, gradual and supportive knowledge transfer and handover to the University’s newly on-boarded Programme Office leaving them equipped to lead the delivery phase.
With everybody on board, with enthusiasm, a clear understanding of the vision and what is expected of them, and optimism for its success, the university is now in the best place to deliver this innovative and forward-thinking Strategy.
Read more about my recent projects on my LinkedIn page, or get in touch to chat about how I can support your organisation to reach the next stage of success.