On Monday afternoon at the 探花楼 Annual Meeting, S. Reed Cooper presented a session on how to champion change in campus policy and procedures.
Cooper, a registrar at Midwestern University, said campus officials seeking change must have a destination or goal in mind. 鈥淚f you are just trying to change something to change something, you鈥檙e going to burn out really, really fast and probably get nowhere,鈥 he said.
He offered the following suggestions for working toward change:
- Align university, department and personal visions (focus on similarities to move forward);
- Know your audiences (What are the current policies and procedures and what is their impact? Who are the decisionmakers, allies, and champions?);
- Build relationships (observe personality types and cultural norms, and work hard);
- Consider personal as well as department/team strengths and weaknesses (and develop training plans); and
- Network.
"We can only control what we can control,鈥 Reed said. 鈥 It is an art. Figure out what motivates others to be on your side.鈥