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Organisational change, while often challenging, provides a unique opportunity to reassess and enhance culture, behaviours, and ways of working. Change initiatives allow leaders to address longstanding challenges, improve governance structures, and create a shared vision that both engages and energises staff. When approached thoughtfully, change can drive long-term improvements that strengthen both the organisation and its people.

Of late, I find myself increasingly reflecting on the importance of empathy in everything we do. We live in an ever-changing world with ever increasing expectations, opportunities, noise and threat. I keep coming back to the urgent need for empathy to be baked into our service design and delivery, into how we deliver change and into our leadership styles and how, in these times, we need to lean into this as much as possible.

Developing a robust strategy is crucial during major institutional change to ensure a clear direction and cohesive vision. It allows organisations to align goals, resources, and efforts effectively. Engaging all stakeholders in the strategy development process is essential, enabling diverse perspectives to be considered, fostering a sense of ownership and commitment to shared goals.  

Taking the time to collectively articulate and embed shared values, beliefs and behaviours can positively impact business outcomes.

The obsession for benchmarking in higher education is all about what everyone else is doing, and whether we are doing the same.

Comprehensive and accessible disability services are essential to remove barriers and support diverse needs throughout the student journey.

Change is challenging to navigate for everyone involved, but change also presents opportunities. Ultimately, embracing change is about finding balance between the discomfort it brings and the opportunities it presents.

The process of collating and submitting data regulatory returns is not unlike a Traitors Round Table.

Ensuring accessibility in online workshops demands the same focus on participant experience as in-person sessions.

Successfully implementing organisational strategy requires collective accountability from leadership teams during times of change.

In this article, the first in series of insights focussing on EDI, we explore common challenges facing the HE sector.

Moving to a service culture with a clearly defined service catalogue enables everyone to understand the ‘what, how, who and when’.

What does it really mean to be in the middle of a university league table?

Measuring civic engagement in higher education is inherently complex due to the diverse and varied nature of civic partnerships.

Understanding the different types can help individuals and organisations leverage these tools effectively.

In the face of an increasing set of challenges, universities must find new ways to innovate and adapt.

Best practice examples of how digital capabilities are deployed across the higher education sector.

Viewing people strategies through the lens of civic engagement offers opportunities for universities to deepen their civic mission.

Providers are required to collect and submit data on the full range of their activities, and much of this is available as open-source data. Institutions are regulated and held to account on their basis of the data they submit. So why is it so complicated to penetrate? And how can the same data give rise to such difference of opinion? 

Many processes in universities remain localised and manual, and as such, staff may think that wholesale change must be driven by experts. But technological implementation can’t just be made in the back office and ‘rolled out’ when it is already diffused throughout our workplaces and social fabrics: it requires individuals to adapt.