Change leaders and teams should continually assess the needs and resources of the department, as change costs time and money, even when the outcome saves both. Without sufficient organizational capacity and readiness, organizational changes are not likely to succeed. Before beginning strategic planning, and throughout the organizational change process, consider the potential costs and how they will be addressed in the short- and long-term. For example, how will faculty and staff workloads be supported as organizational changes are being developed, enacted, embedded, and maintained? What resources and sources of support are needed (e.g. facilities, funds, technology)? How does the availability of resources impact the prioritization of needs? 

Toma (2010) offers a number of key conditions and structures that are helpful for establishing and maintaining organizational capacity for change (e.g. a purposeful mission, strong governance processes, facilities, technology). Does the department and the institution of higher education have the support structures needed to engage in an organizational change process at this time?

Readiness surveys are useful tools for answering these questions. Kezar (2018) provides a readiness survey in her book (Appendix 3, pg. 255-259) that guides leaders and teams through an assessment of a variety of factors they should consider prior to tackling organizational change (e.g. priorities, stakeholders, governance, processes, values, communication strategies). How ready is the department for change? What conditions are necessary for moving forward? Or should the department pause change efforts for now and revisit them later?

When building a change leader team for your department, be sure to include people who are able to carry out the work (e.g. bandwidth, expertise, project management skills) and who provide a range of insights. Team size, membership, and composition will vary depending on your institutional context and the size of your computing department. In general, a core change team consists of 4-8 team members that represent a variety of roles and perspectives, including faculty (e.g. teaching, tenure-line) and staff (e.g. advisors, admissions staff). 

Broad, comprehensive engagement is needed throughout the change process, otherwise little is accomplished. Organizational change efforts are more likely to be successful when a group works together, rather than one individual. Engage a wide base of people in planning and implementing change, so they feel ownership in the change efforts. Ask people for small-scale, time-limited, and clearly articulated commitments that can be used to scaffold greater involvement and interest. 

NCWIT’s resource, Build a Change Leader Team, offers additional guidance and insights.

Building a shared vision, a highly integrated and cooperative effort, is essential for facilitating organizational change. This process involves creating a common language for key terms, setting collective purposes and expectations, engaging in collaborative sense-making and organizational learning, offering meaningful roles for all participants, and sharing credit across the change team.

The shared vision for a better future must be translated into agreed-upon strategies and actions that are built by consensus. NCWIT’s TIJs provide a concrete way to guide team discussions and consensus building by aggregating team members’ anonymized responses into a summary report, which forms the basis for team discussions around program challenges and opportunities. 

Once the team discussions have concluded and there is consensus on how to address specific departmental needs, change teams should appeal to a broader base within the department to motivate action and build momentum for change. Change teams should communicate a clear and appealing vision of a better future using a combination of evidence and data to support the organizational changes. 

Seeking buy-in with your colleagues is a powerful tool in the organizational change process. Specific strategies are described in the NCWIT Communicating for Change resource.

Change is also more likely to be successful when there is visible support from all levels of the organization. For example, top-level support might include public endorsement of the change efforts and ongoing interest in progress toward goals. Throughout other levels of the organization, identify people who champion and guide the change efforts to lend legitimacy, provide expertise, garner resources, and recruit participants. They motivate and facilitate engagement in the change effort, as well as assist in succession planning when there is turnover. Support from external stakeholders also contributes to successful organizational change. Parents, alumni, professional associations, and peer institutions, for example, can be quite influential. 

Kotter (2014) offers additional guidance in his change model on how to “build a guiding coalition” and “enlist a volunteer army.”

Other ideas on how to engage and communicate with stakeholders can be found in the NCWIT Communicating for Change resource.