Impact of Change

Things change.  We must change things.  

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Everyone and every organization has a unique response to change, capacity for change and timing for transitioning through change.  Without an effective, practical change strategy nothing else matters --not curricula, programs, initiatives, data, resources or commitment alone matters.

Desired outcomes don’t happen until someone actually implements something tangible, relevant and sustainable that achieves results in a timely and systematic fashion. In the transition between the current state and the desired result is often a very messy middle.  

Let’s imagine that an unexpected electrical storm causes severe damage to campus buildings structures, and utilities. The campus  is inaccessible by motor vehicles due to a fallen tree across the main road. A damaged power line causes electrical failure, compromising communications while students, faculty, and staff who were already on campus are traumatized by being stuck in elevators and rooms with no windows.

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It would be difficult to pretend the storm never occurred and therefore still expect classes and operations to resume as normal without first convening cross-campus departments to support the people, assess the damage and risks, reallocate resources, and implement a continuity strategy. However, in some important ways, that is exactly what is happening post-pandemic on many campuses, and as a result it is very easy but very calamitous to push the institution, and it's people, beyond capacity. 

Assume that something is broken, let's find out what it is and repair it.