Review
At the outset of any project that sets out to change processes you need to think about how you will evaluate the project. Once you know the scope of what you are setting out to do, you have to ask yourself 'How will we know when we're successful?' or 'How will we know when we're doing it better?'
It follows that you need to set targets that are measurable in some way such as time taken to get students enrolled. The SMART philosophy applies - objectives should be:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Targeted
It also follows that your future process models need to be thoroughly tested prior to implementation. Try to find examples of exceptions and special circumstances and check that they will not cause the process to fail.
Troubleshooting/Barriers
Process change isn't easy. The reasons why it sometimes encounters difficulties or even fails altogether are many and varied but the issues tend to be common to those faced by many projects in the education environment. Here are a few of the issues you may have to tackle:
| Barriers to Change | ||
| Symptoms | Possible Causes | Mitigation |
| Taking too long to implement | Lack of strategy & vision Lack of planning Lack of communication Lack of leadership/empowerment Lack of stakeholder involvement/engagement Lack of focus on clients/value/opportunities, focussing instead on costs Poor understanding of processes in a holistic sense, and/or information needs and flows Trying to undertake too many change projects at once Lack of staff development |
Think Strategically, underpinning this with sound Project Management and Change Management frameworks |
| Proposals not accepted by stakeholders | ||
| Expecting new systems to solve problems without considering process | ||
| Trying to change without making anyone unhappy | ||
| Losing sight of vision as soon as somebody resists the change | ||
As you review the outcome of your process change think about the above factors and what lessons may be learned for your next round of process improvement.
