Potential ladders and snakes

As with any change process, the politics of implementation need to be carefully considered. Senior support is critical, as is peer support, for the objectives of the community. Aligning these with institutional desire for diversifying funding and increasing commercial income should be relatively clear, as should the ability to reduce cost and to increase impact.

Specifically, there are certain issues that might be less obvious and will need political support to iron-out. Don't assume that the following will automatically support the initiative.

Obtain early ISS/Computing Services support

Do not assume that your Information Systems Services/Computing Services will automatically support the use of external or Web 2.0 services. Gaining such support at the start of the project will make the deployment of the new systems much easier. University ISS departments have consistently protected university IT infrastructure from those outside the institution that might seek to harm or piggyback off it.

Notwithstanding the excellent efforts of JISC's Business and Community Engagement programme, in promulgating the benefits of engaging with Business and the Community, pockets of computing services/ISS staff may still regard the use of open, Web 2.0-style tools, as a threat to the integrity of the university IT infrastructure. Clearly this varies for each institution, but it would be wise to ensure that you have some political support within the ISS hierarchy.

Experience from Northumbria University, as part of the JISC funded 'Trialling of Collaborative Online Tools for BCE' supports this view. The Director of IT Services was involved in the trial project from the start and this 'talking with' not 'talking at' approach ensured the success of the project with open Web 2.0 tools now being available for all collaborative projects.

Obtain early marketing support

Do not assume that your marketing people will automatically fully understand the benefits of KT 2.0. The best amongst them will pick up such openly participative and collaborative initiatives with relish, and run with them - seeing them as a way to increase good news output.

There is a risk that if the leap hasn't been made to a more open 'marketing 2.0' approach, that this strategy might be regarded as, at best, a circumvention of critical quality control that marketeers as gatekeepers exert over all external communications. At worst, an open approach could be viewed with be hostility and seen as a democratisation of communications that questions the exclusivity of the marketing profession.

It may take careful preparatory negotiations to demonstrate the utility of social media as a source of additional marketing material, and to dispel some of the concerns about the creation of user generated content. This is a terrain that is still being negotiated, as universities come to policy terms with the fact that any one of their staff (and students) can develop as much media clout as their comms team.

Make it a necessary and helpful part of the KTOs business process

As noted, most KTO staff are extremely busy already - handling a bursting pipeline with insufficient capacity, and learning to address new challenges. Some of the tactics for helping to manage change have been addressed above, but ultimately anything that is presented as yet another set of tasks or skills to learn, is unlikely to be positively received. Conversely, where a KT 2.0 approach can be demonstrated to simultaneously improve productivity andto act as a '12th man', it is more likely to be adopted.

Overcoming the status quo bias within the team can most effectively be achieved if the new processes are hardwired into the KTO's processes. If all new disclosures are automatically presented, via the online platform, to the Entrepreneur-Consultant crowd as part of the process, without having to think about it, then it is more likely that the process will stick.

'not a tool just to make connections. It's a tool to run your business, otherwise it's just a distraction for the team'

Image CC BY 2.0 GIRLintheCAFE

By analogy: even though Digital TV may have benefits over its analogue precursor, many users will prefer the status quo and resist change. Sometimes the only way to ensure change is to make a 'digital switchover' obligatory.

This is only to break the habit of older, less effective, routines to buy time to show results. Any new process needs to provide real benefits. It will not work if it is simply viewed as a means of marketing and making new connections.