Converting Threats to Opportunities

"So what are university leaders and stakeholders to do, as their institutions are buffeted by such powerful forces of change, and in the face of unpredictable futures? ...It is important for university leaders to approach issues and decisions concerning institutional transformation not as threats but rather as opportunities...once we accept that change is inevitable, we can use it as a strategic opportunity to control our destiny, while preserving the most important of our values and our traditions."

—James Duderstadt, President Emeritus of the University of Michigan, from his talk The Future of the University: A Perspective from the Oort Cloud, presented at Emory University Futures Forum, Atlanta, GA on March 8, 2005.

The pressures to change assail universities constantly. Constrained resources, demands for enhanced quality and relevance, equitable access of education as a "public good," competition for rankings, increasing costs, and competitive alternatives to traditional modes all press upon universities and colleges of all kinds.

Most agree that higher education must become more pro-active, flexible, and entrepreneurial. Yet, paradoxically, universities also need to become communities more cohesively focused on goals, resources, and mission (Tierney, 1999).

How can this paradox be solved? Organizations of higher learning are uniquely equipped to become self-regulating learning organizations that adapt, embrace change, and respond pro-actively to paradoxes, tensions, complexity and uncertainty. With multiple stakeholders and a networked organizational structure focused on learning, universities are uniquely oriented to respond to the pressures of change as Teeming V organizations.

What Can Your Partners Do For You?

Differentiate a Unique Identity
The mission of an institution of postsecondary education is "a statement of the institution's raison d'être, its justification to the larger society for its existence" (Dill, 1997, p. 171). Universities have many submissions: research, outreach, service, teaching, character formation and others. The unique identity—the raison d'être—is the one that embraces them all and that uniquely differentiates the university.

We use processes of appreciative inquiry with many stakeholders to discern and articulate your uniquely differentiating raison d'être. We don't apply a branding slogan. Rather, we help you discover your own unique difference.

Your mission, your authentic and unique difference, your raison d'être, becomes the organizing principle for decision-making across all sectors of the institution. When you know who you are and the distinct value you deliver, decisions everywhere in the university are easier. You more readily know where to apply resources to enhance your mission, where to look for students who would appreciate it, and who to include on your faculty, administration and board to amplify it.

Unique Identity/Mission
Differentiate to Thrive: A Case Illustration of Differentiating the Unique Identity of the University

Bring the Identity to Life
With a raison d'être articulated, the daily, continual work across all sectors of the institution is to sustain or grow the value delivered by that mission. It is not enough to write a mission. Once identified, it must guide the growth and development of the entire learning community. Growth and development take time; they require patient, incremental improvements.

Partners for Innovation offers tailored facilitation and training for various stakeholders of the university—faculty, administration, board, alumni, and students—to insure that the "flywheel" of perpetual innovation continues to grow and to develop the value of the university consistent with its overriding mission.

We establish forums for collaborative dialogue and teamwork; we engage the board as a more effective strategic collaborator; and we coach the leadership on developing a Teeming V™ organization.

When the university engages the collaborative genius of its vast intellectual capital, extraordinary things happen. The university pulls ahead of its pack of competitors, the faculty becomes more engaged, students take ownership, alumni become more generous, and the distinct value offered by the university keeps getting richer.

Strategic Innovation
Collaborative Forums
Board Development
Leadership Forums and Coaching

Strengthen the Value offered Individual Students
Using resources provided by Gifts Compass Inc. (www.giftscompass.com) Partners for Innovation, certified GiftsCompass™ Consultants, provide tailored training to career counselors and faculty. The training helps advisors, counselors and faculty adapt to individual learning styles and assist students in discerning their own uniquely differentiated value.

When students more fully grasp their individual value and purpose, they become more passionate in their studies and more endeared to the university that helped give birth to their direction and purpose in life.

Student Individuation

References
Dill, D.D. (1997). Focusing institutional mission to provide coherence and integration. In D.D. Dill, L.A. Mets, M.W. Peterson, & Associates (Eds.), Planning and management for a changing environment: A handbook on redesigning postsecondary institutions, pp. 171-190. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Keller, G. (1983). Academic strategy: The management revolution in American higher education. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University.

Peterson, M.W. (1997). Using contextual planning to transform institutions. In D.D. Dill, L.A. Mets, M.W. Peterson, & Associates (Eds.), Planning and management for a changing environment: A handbook on redesigning postsecondary institutions, pp. 127-157. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Tierney, W.G. (1999). Building the responsive campus: Creating high performance colleges and universities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.