Consolidated Administration: The Key to Delivering a 60-Year Curriculum
Shift the status quo to achieve long-term success and viability for your university.
As innovators, we have millions of ideas that have the potential to lead to tangible product, process or service innovations. These great ideas in higher education have revolutionized online learning, taken learning to scale through free and open courseware, resolved some of the issues of textbook affordability, partnered with companies to support adult learners, re-imagined housing for the Gen-Z student, identified technological solutions to support student success and much more. Some of these innovative ideas may be formed collaboratively through a healthy dose of design thinking, empathy building, discussions with all of the right people, extensive brainstorming and prototyping. Other ideas are just an abstract and fuzzy spark written on the back of a cocktail napkin waiting to be embraced. In either case, ideas are just ideas. The innovation culture requires evidence of successful execution and teams that persevere on a daily basis to visibly bring ideas to life.
To bring innovation into the main culture of higher education is an ongoing battle with several institutional readiness factors to consider. Moving ideas into the institutional culture requires framing around the value of the institutional priority of the moment. When there is a direct connection to current issues, ideas are going to be better received and have a stronger likelihood of getting the right people to support the innovation. Being able to frame the problem that is being solved by the work will help leaders, decision makers and opinion leaders continue to listen and even begin to support, at least in theory. Having the drumbeat that “in this effort, we are trying to grow enrollment, move to scale, attract a specific audience, etc” will go a long way to maintain focus on the issues at hand and be able to answer the question of WHY a change is even needed. To be able to have these kinds of discussions up and down the organization requires institutional readiness.
Factors for consideration include the following:
To create an innovation culture is complex on a good day. There are some tangible things to put in place that can support innovation recognizing whoever carries the “innovation flag” will be constantly defending processes, timelines and the messy parts of the innovation process. Institutional boards and the president want to see results and are not usually as interested in the process. Yet as innovators, we always say trust the process and the right solution will emerge, be tested and executed.
Even if innovation teams have been successful a hundred times, this will always be a tension. The innovation leader must have a tribe to support efforts. Without it, success within the institution will not occur and the leader will fail.
Good first steps to launching an innovation culture include appointing an innovation senior leader, laying out a plan for campus innovation and establishing a responsible, creative, likable team to deep dive into design thinking and doing. Innovation centers or institutes that serve as a second set of rails to think outside of the traditional daily operation of an institution should be put in place. Innovation teams can flourish when there is place to do the work, and ideas are supported and encouraged. It is up to organizational leaders to create a place where these teams can do their best work.
Institutions wishing to take great ideas to execution inside of the campus culture also need layers of support in place to recognize that the work is different and valued, and to give it a chance to succeed. This is easier said than done. Without visible support from innovation leaders all the way up to the executive teams of institutions, innovation efforts will begin to unravel due to lack of understanding, politics, traditions or perceived (or real) relevance. Innovation that is supported has the potential to significantly impact campus operations, promote new processes toward student success, develop new tools to solve key issues and radically impact the bottom line of an institution.
Shift the status quo to achieve long-term success and viability for your university.
Author Perspective: Administrator