Leading change together: managing cultural change across the higher education workforce

This report describes findings from a Leadership Foundation for Higher Education funded Small Development Project. The study explored how university staff view and cope with change. It aimed to develop an understanding of the role and dynamics of formal and informal leadership practices and strategies. It also aimed to make evidence based recommendations grounded in real world challenges to support programmes and interventions suited to promoting the career development of ‘leaders’ at all levels. The project collected evidence from a national survey that had 356 respondents, from interviews with 11 people and from focus groups with 11 participants that were representative of the higher education workforce. The project hosted a Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (LTHE) Tweetchat on the theme of change and teaching, which engaged 168 people, and drew on participants’ artefacts in the form of drawings to elicit their experience of change. The project was supported by an advisory group comprising academics, professional services, governors and the vice-chancellor of the University of Northampton, Professor Nick Petford.