Communicating change: maximising the potential of the University website

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Communicating change maximising the potential of
the University website

• EUPRIOStavanger, 2008Martin HerremaMedia
  Relations ManagerUniversity of Westminster

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• Founded 1838 in Regent Street, London as the
  Polytechnic Institution. It was the UKs first
  polytechnic
• Became home of new technologies hosted
  Britains first paying cinema audience in 1896,
  when the Lumière brothers presented their moving
  images
• Became a university in 1992
• 23,000 students
• Among these are 5,000 international students from
  over 150 nations, making Westminster one of the
  top ten most popular UK universities for overseas
  students
• Leading post-1992 university for research in
  communication, cultural and media studies, law,
  Asian studies (Chinese) linguistics, art and
  design, electronic engineering, Italian and
  politics and international relations

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• New vice-chancellor
• New Vice-Chancellor (V-C) Professor Geoff Petts,
  started September 2007
• Commitment to clear communication to engage with
  staff, students and other stakeholders
• Announced consultation for a programme of change,
  to be known as Westminster 2015
• Change programme involving all sections of staff,
  both academic and administrative and support

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• The communications challenge
• Ensure that as many staff as possible gain access
  to the V-Cs change messages
• Engage staff in ways that make them feel part of
  the change process
• Make use of the full potential of the
  universitys web site alongside other vehicles
  such as open meetings and newsletters to both
  broaden reach and showcase V-Cs modern
  leadership style

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• Web manager joins communications department
• University had appointed its first web manager
  just prior to the new V-C starting. This post was
  located within the marketing and communications
  department
• Web manager combined a strong technical skills
  with great awareness of communications issues
• His background of working for a political partys
  web site and a leading national conservation
  organisation provided him with fresh ideas for
  the university

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• Setting the agenda
• Working with the marketing and communications
  office, the V-C announced a series of
  presentations to staff, outlining a consultation
  exercise to inform his agenda for change
• Before these meetings began, an electronic
  Suggestion Box was developed by the web manager.
  This was incorporated in to the V-Cs web pages
  and was aimed at encouraging staff to let him
  know what they thought of the university as it
  currently stood, warts and all
• This electronic Suggestion Box formed part of a
  wider staff engagement exercise that also
  included a questionnaire and focus groups

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• The Suggestion Box
• Sitting within the V-Cs home pages, the
  Suggestion Box was open for three periods from
  September to December 2007. All comments came in
  to the Web manager.
• The Suggestion Box was open for use for a fixed,
  two-week period
• It provided an opportunity for staff to comment
  on any University topic. Staff could identify
  themselves or remain anonymous
• Staff posting comments or suggestions could also
  indicate whether they wished for their comment to
  be published

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• Using the feedback
• All suggestions and comments were collected by
  the Web manager and collated into themes and
  topics
• These were all then made available to the V-Cs
  office. All suggestions and comments posted by
  staff who had indicated that they were happy for
  them to be published appeared on the V-Cs home
  page
• Comments on issues ranging from the perceived
  over-bureaucratic style of management to the lack
  of showers for cyclists to suggested improvements
  to the universitys research funding mechanisms
  were made
• A total of 250 comments and suggestions were
  received over the three Suggestion Box periods

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• Feeding into the change process
• V-C read every suggestion and comment and
  responded where possible
• Some of the issues raised fed into a series of
  staff open meetings
• The perceived openness of the process with
  critical comments as well as positive ones being
  published on the web site encouraged staff to
  engage in the consultation process and attend
  meetings to discuss the change agenda

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• Other web initiatives
• Videos of all the V-Cs change agenda
  presentations were posted promptly on his home
  pages, alongside a transcript
• The outcome of the consultation process that
  concluded at the end of 2007 was a new structure
  and set of academic priorities for the
  university. These were announced in the early
  part of 2008 at two meetings at which the V-C
  delivered what he called his State of the
  Nation address, which again was immediately
  posted on his web site

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• Other web initiatives
• Well-known UK journalist, academic and satirist
  Laurie Taylor agreed to carry out a TV-style
  interview with the V-C on his proposals for
  change. This interview included a number of
  searching questions on the restructuring plan and
  the universitys research policies. The video of
  the interview was again posted on the V-Cs
  pages, along with a summary of the main points
  covered

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• The rest of the communications toolbox
• Although the response to the web initiatives was
  positive, we felt it important to make full use
  of a range of communication tools
• Large staff meetings, smaller focus groups and
  all-staff emails were all used
• As well as the normal staff newsletter, a special
  newsletter called Change News was produced
• This proved beneficial in reaching staff that
  dont have regular access to a computer as part
  of their normal working day

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• Summary
• Its important to have the web manager sitting
  within the communications department
• Using the web in innovative new ways can engage
  staff to take more interest in a process of
  change. Feedback received on the Suggestion Box
  was that staff felt part of the process
• However, its important to publish Suggestion Box
  comments and suggestions as fully and as quickly
  as possible after the open period to maintain
  momentum and credibility for the process
• The web site can be used effectively to embed a
  new leadership style within the organisations
  consciousness
• However, its important not to forget that not
  all staff will have access or the inclination to
  go on to the university web site so traditional
  newsletters can still play an important role in
  the communications mix