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Over the last few years, universities have been getting very good at making themselves smaller. Across the sector, there is an understandable focus on reducing costs, restructuring, consolidating services, simplifying…

Have you ever known what needed to change in your organisation, but found it difficult to get the right people together to make it happen? In universities, the people who…

What is the Agency Crisis in Higher Education? The agency crisis is an organisational pattern where university teams are unable to turn strategy into action because institutional culture prefers certainty,…

How can you reduce workload and burnout in your HE team? Reducing workload in Higher Education and other complex organisations requires tackling systemic pressures, not just the volume of tasks….

What 60 litres of cider taught me about leading change in Higher Education Alongside ThenSomehow, I co-run a small cider business with my pal Phil. Phil has a bit of…

What if helping your team less is actually the secret to developing them more? It’s a counterintuitive question, but a critical one for any leader in HE. Because often the…

Why do people react so differently to change? Some workplace behaviours can seem irrational until you understand what sits behind them. An HE client we worked with recently had become…

The quiet loss of agency in Higher Education There’s a common frustration that we hear from many leaders in HE: why won’t colleagues step up? Why does every decision get…

This is what is wrong with leadership programmes If you work in Higher Education, you will probably recognise this pattern. Universities invest significant time and money in leadership development. Programmes…

Difficult conversations in Higher Education If you are a leader or manager in Higher Education, you don’t need a report to tell you that the pace of change is relentless….