Difficult stakeholders are everywhere - that's why we can't ignore them

Addressing big issues in a university environment is fraught with tension. There are practical challenges to overcome - systems, processes, technology - but there’s also the human element. 

Last week HEPI released a report authored by Professor Susan Lea, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Hull, about her experiences leading the university, titled “Turning Around a University: Lessons from personal experience”. Among the many valuable insights in the report for anyone involved in higher education, one thing stood out to me, embodied by this quote:

"In response to my very first presentation articulating the importance of us being a team delivering the strategy of the University, I was informed the executive had debated this and decided they were not a team but a group, each working on their own portfolio of activity."

We’ve worked with a lot of universities. The people we work with tend to be dedicated, hardworking, passionate about their work and the institutions they represent. But even the most passionate people in HE would have to admit that they recognise parts of their institutions in that statement. 

This particular example is evidence of a trend that is all too common - that people within universities see themselves as somehow exceptional, and therefore can choose to ignore what might be seen as best practice elsewhere.

There is some truth to this - universities *are* special places. They’re amazing! They do do a lot of things differently, and very successfully. But when it comes to what we focus on at Pickle Jar Communications - to communications, to content, to the experience of interacting with these institutions - this kind of thinking can be a huge barrier to a university’s success.

What it has led to in this case is another familiar scenario - that of universities dividing themselves into separate entities with little connection, while still trying to present a single unified appearance to the outside world. When I tweeted about this report, I had a response from a university employee who recalled that they were once encouraged to think of their institution as a “loose federation”. And as much as we might find these comments amusing and exasperating, these internal divisions create problems both for the smooth running of a university, and for how it appears to external audiences.

Senior figures at universities often talk about wanting to define a clear identity for their institutions. They want to stake their claim on a particular part of the sector, or on a particular reputational space. They want to be able to convey a cohesive brand experience to prospective students, to current students, to alumni, to their local community, to all kinds of different audiences. But how can they possibly do this if the university isn’t even a cohesive organisation in itself?

All of this is why, whenever we start a new piece of work with a client, we like to start with a period of stakeholder engagement. We like to consult with the people within an organisation who will have influence over - or be affected by - the end result of the project. We want to learn about their concerns, to build a picture of their priorities. We want to be able to understand why they might value being “not a team but a group”, so that we can address those values. 

Because that’s the thing to remember about the attitude in the quote I used above - there will be a reason for it. There’ll be a justification of some kind. We can’t do anything to tackle this until we know what it is and why it exists. In some cases we could take drastic action - we could sweep away all the old structures and impose something new - but would that solve the underlying issues? It’s unlikely. 

Instead, being able to bring those people onboard and make them understand that we care about their priorities will allow us to develop a strategic approach that will be met with open arms, rather than resistance. And - hopefully - with an attitude that might be more likely to embrace the idea of “team”.

If you want to talk to us about those early stages of brand development or another project that might require dealing with senior stakeholders across your university, get in touch. We’d love to hear about it.