jiscinfonet.ac.uk http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/whole-infokit/?infokit=219 Change management Change is endemic in the education sector. The pressures for change come from all sides: globalisation, changes to the funding and regulatory regime, doing more with less, improving the quality of student learning and the learning experience, and the pace of change is ever increasing. Living with change and managing change is an essential skill for all. Change is also difficult. There are many different types of change and different approaches to managing change. It is a topic subject to more than its fair share of management fads, quick fixes and guaranteed win approaches. Finding an approach that suits you and your situation goes to the heart of being an effective and professional manager in the education sector. We hope that this resource will help you in this challenge. The following diagram describes the general route through the materials in the Kit: Route through the Change Management infoKit This infoKit was originally developed in 2006 out of a HEFCE Good Management Practice Project led by the University of Luton (now the University of Bedfordshire) entitled ‘Effecting Change in Higher Education’. The project team consulted widely on aspects of change in the sector and put together theories, approaches and tools that resonated with them and with those they talked to about their experiences of the practical difficulties of managing change. The ‘Effecting Change’ team summarise their findings by the following observations: There are no easy solutions Adapt processes to suit the change intended Change requires teamwork and leadership (and the two are related) Work with the culture (even when you want to change it) Communicate, communicate, communicate In the 2014 update we have amended the core model and associated resources with more evidence-based research from projects involving large-scale change, focusing on: organisational efficiency, the student experience, business and community engagement and environmental performance. Aspects of change Change usually involves three aspects: people, processes and culture as shown in the figure. Often the emphasis has been on the processes – get the processes right and everything else will follow. In this resource we have attempted to redress the balance to acknowledge the importance of each aspect. There are no easy solutions or quick fixes in the infoKit but we have attempted to give you some pathways through the vast array of approaches and tools available by suggesting activities you may undertake at different stages of your change lifecycle. This infoKit assumes you will be approaching your change activity as a project and we make frequent reference to the P3M suite of resources on project, programme and portfolio management for guidance on a structured approach. We also reference the infoKits on Risk Management and Process Improvement. Templates View or download our templates from Google Drive™ Business Case Assessment Form Presumably you are reading this because you have identified a need for change in your organisation. If you have come to Jisc infoNet then it is also possible that the change has to do with the use of information and learning technology within your organisation although the guidance given in this infoKit can be applied to any type of change project. Alternatively you may have identified a need to improve some aspect of your business processes in which case the infoKit on Process Improvement can help you identify what needs to be done. Before you begin a major change project, with a particular end goal in sight, you need to know where you are starting from. You might want to think about ways of assessing your baseline position. A baseline is a start point against which you can show that your project has delivered a tangible improvement. This may imply a measurable improvement in time, cost, quality etc but qualitative evidence that the experience of certain stakeholders has improved can be equally valid. By developing a baseline you ensure that you understand the current state of play before you try to change it. The benefits of capturing a baseline include: Getting project scope right – baselining gives you an opportunity to refine the scope of your project. Sometimes you will realise you cannot solve a particular problem without tackling one or more related issues Identifying project stakeholders – baselining can help avoid you finding a “skeleton in the closet” further down the line in the form of a stakeholder you should have consulted but didn’t Managing and communicating project scope – baselining helps you manage stakeholder expectations of your project. You may need to make it clear that certain issues are out of scope if you are not to disappoint certain stakeholders Challenging myths – sometimes baselining activity can reveal myths and fallacies that need to be challenged before you can move forward. Often they relate to unspoken assumptions about what aspects of processes and system can and can’t be changed: remember “We’ve always done it that way” is neither a reason nor a justification Showing evidence of improvement – you cannot show how far you have travelled unless you know where you started You may already know your baseline and have already developed a Business Case for the change – if not you may wish to view specific guidance on developing a Business Case for a Change Project . Our Project Management infoKit provides a template for preparing a Business Case. You will need to be clear about how the proposed change fits in with your institutional Mission and Strategy. Whether you are still assessing your baseline or have begun moving forward with a change programme, it is equally important to know what you are already doing well. The section on Appreciative Inquiry offers a means of doing just that. Tools Many of the tools used for Process Review can also be helpful at the stage of identifying exactly what you need to change and why. Listed below are a number of tools that may help clarify your thinking and allow you to define your project more accurately: 5 Whys – helps analyse a problem Assumption Surfacing and Testing – challenges the ‘inevitable and preordained’ and might help you generate new ideas Backward Planning – can help generate a mind-set that the change can be done Change Variables – allows you to assess the impact of implementing the change to a greater or lesser extent Clarimission – can help you clarify and communicate your goals Clariscope – develops clarity about outcomes and generates ideas about how they can be achieved Prioritisation Matrix – helps you to take better decisions in a transparent way 7S Model – allows you to see how changes in one area may affect others SMART Targets – will help you to monitor whether the desired results are being achieved The Appreciative Inquiry approach is beginning to demonstrate to academic staff that there is much that is positive in what they do and in their experiences. It has also provided a context in which they are not being ‘told what is wrong and how to fix it’, but a supportive environment in which to try out ideas. Queen’s University Belfast’s Assessment and Feedback project final report Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a technique for approaching change in a positive way. It can be used to gain an understanding of the baseline situation you are starting from and as a basis for action planning to move forward building on what you are already doing well. The approach is about focusing on the positive as opposed to identifying “what is wrong and what you need to do to fix it”. The approach was developed by Cooperrider and Whitney (2005) who devised a 4D cycle of Discovery, Dream, Design and Destiny with your “affirmative topic of choice” at the centre. The approach is very flexible and non-prescriptive and the timescale and level of formality at each stage of the cycle will vary depending on the topic and organisational context. The diagram below shows how Queen’s University Belfast used Appreciative Inquiry to enhance assessment and feedback practice across the organisation taking educational principles for assessment and feedback as its affirmative topic of choice. To illustrate how the approach worked in practice Queen’s University Belfast has published the appreciative inquiry script that it used in discussions around assessment and feedback practice. Let’s focus on these positives…Think of a time when you experienced assessment and/or feedback and it was a positive experience. It may not have started that way, but the outcome was positive for you. Discovering what worked well in the past reminds us that we can bring about positive assessment and feedback experiences for ourselves and our students. Building on these capacities envision how you can position yourself to embrace assessment and feedback in a more positive way in the future. Identifying what works, imagine what YOU can do in your modules or the teaching team can undertake to improve assessment and feedback for all.Queen’s University Belfast’s AI script Brunel University has developed a novel adaptation of Appreciative Inquiry that it used in reviewing the management of its course information. Brunel saw the value of AI but realised that when reviewing processes, people often find it easiest to start by identifying the negative aspects so it combined AI with the work of Edward de Bono and his Six Thinking Hats. In Brunel’s AI workshops stakeholders released their negative thoughts at the door by physically writing them down on post-it notes and sticking them to the black hat. This allowed them to see that the negative views were represented whilst preparing them to move forward and embrace AI. Brunel University has developed a toolkit for others wishing to try out the technique.