Four higher ed business consultants address the question: What key communication elements or approaches make cross-institutional communication successful?
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Clint Davies, Principal, BerryDunn
Kate Hazen, Higher Ed Practice Director, M&S Consulting
David Hemingson, Partner, ISG
Rebecca Weaver, President and CEO, Fox & Weaver Consulting Inc.
Clint Davies: It's oftentimes easy to underestimate the amount of communication that's needed. We like to say that it takes five to seven touches to get a message across. And that really is true. And it's a matter of making sure that the sponsors focus on the vision and communicating why it's important. It's a matter of making sure that the people who need to be on the team understand what's in it for them. Establishing the right desire for improved processes and changing dealing with the same old problems. Changing that, and really providing more streamlined opportunities. And many people are resistant to that because it's change and it's not easy and it's not comfortable for people to change. And so hearing that clear message is really important. And then having an awareness, understanding that it's the knowledge that they're going to need to function in the new environment and in the new processes, having the confidence to do that. And again, understanding that and being supported throughout the process. So those are the elements of communication that really need to occur And I'll come back to the five to seven touches. It can't be communicated too much and it needs to be reinforced. And I find it's very easy when leaders are close to the situation. It's easy to lose track of the amount of communication that is needed. So it's really important. We've seen the greatest success come when sponsors, project managers, people involved to communicate often and clearly. And doing that across the campus so that it's understood what the impact to different parties. I'll come back to the the admissions example we talked about earlier that touches so many departments and people on the campus that all need to understand, what the impact is going to be and what the benefits are for them.
Kate Hazen: So I think of communication as one-sided. Yeah, I communicate to you or out. And I think too often IT is doing that. It's about a partnership. It's about building those individual conversations. It's about going and meeting and talking about what can enable business. If you think about it as I'm going to send out announcements or I'm just going to communicate, that's one sided and it's seen as IT is talking down or talking to or at you. So key to the communication is sitting down and engaging, as a partner in the institution.
David Hemingson: Part of the issue is that everyone needs to feel represented and well represented. So some of this has to do with where you actually do the communication. So moving to a situation where those institutions that are not necessarily the largest or the strongest or have the most resources, and have the communication occur there, goes a long way to establishing a good relationship. Also, leadership from the institutions that are not the obvious leaders, I think provides a means of inclusion that you wouldn't otherwise have. For example, in a system, you may have a flagship or a large medical institution and having say it also includes Community College. Having representation and leadership from key individuals in those Community Colleges may go a long way to helping the communication occur. And I can lastly, the transparency of the process that you're involved in, the communications that you're having, things will inevitably happen that will cause complications in being open and honest about that. I think will provide the participants with a feeling of trust. And again, trust is a key factor in making the communications effective.
Rebecca Weaver: To make cross-institution communication successful, you really have to start with a plan. When we say a plan, we're talking about, what are the various communication methodologies that you can leverage? So that might be banners on your employee portal. It might be email, probably is email to some extent. But I think institutions in general, over leverage email, so you need to be careful. And so anyway, all the different ways that you have to communicate and who are the resources that manage those methods and all of that. Then you're also looking at what do you need to communicate, how do you communicate it, methodology, and when do you communicate it. And also who is doing the communication. So that plan starts, with the beginning of the project and moves forward to the end. And so you have that in place. The next piece of that answer is bearing in mind change management methodologies. So, with change management methodologies, there are really a couple of key ideas takeaways from this. One is, why are you doing this? You really need a mission and a vision for this project that is easily understood, and can be communicated succinctly, and also with images. Picture's truly worth a thousand words, it's been proved throughout history. We get an idea and we keep an idea faster, if we have an image that is sort of demonstrating the concept. You need to leverage a couple of key types of resources in your communication strategy, which is also your change management strategy. One is, folks in the trenches who really believe in your mission and vision for this project, for this process change. Those folks are singing from the same hymn as it were, and they will help naysayers, the rocks to some extent the sand throwers, for sure, understand on a continuous basis, with that consistent message, why it is you're doing what you're doing. What is the benefit? So in that plan that we talked about that communication plan, you really need to think about what's in it for the person who's being impacted by the process change, and that succinct message that they're hearing consistently, whoever that person is, whatever their role is, will help move them off of the sand throwing place, if that's where they're living right now. So, those are the folks in the trenches. The other thing that we have seen be very very successful and helpful for a positive outcome for any project at all, is leadership communication. And I don't mean a little email that goes out to the troops, thanks for whatever. I mean Moses coming down from the mountain, okay? And I say that like that because it's sort of how it feels. At one institution in particular I recall, the Provost title there was different it was in England, but this leader came down from their office into the project office and spoke directly to the folks who were already experiencing some change fatigue, because this thing had been going on for quite some time. And really communicated the importance of what they were doing and how grateful they were for what they're doing. Because the other thing is that it's a lot of hard work. It's not just difficult because it's change, so you've got that, but it's also a lot of hard work. Sometimes it's late nights and weekends. Sometimes folks are giving up their vacation in order to make this thing happen. That doesn't happen if they don't feel like what they're doing is truly important and appreciated. So having that leadership come down and speak directly to the troops from time to time throughout the project and just, maybe remember remind them of the mission and the vision but also the appreciation of what they're doing, it really can go a long way to a positive outcome.