We've all been to them. The away day that treads well-trodden ground so hard it compacts any possibility into rigid ideas you've heard before. Presentations that could have been emails. Updates that tell you nothing new. Next steps that don't have any momentum.
A bad away day is a discrete event – a glorified get-together, more about time away than setting a new direction or challenging old assumptions.
Universities are facing unprecedented challenges – inflationary pressure on fees, rising global competition, declining units of resource, rising costs, and pressure on long-understood models of staffing, research, and estates.
These problems don't occur inside an institution. Like any storm, they happen outside it. They may not be your fault – but they are your problem. Without change, the foundations will be damaged.
Not weathering the crisis – realigning priorities, grounded in expert advice on the world of higher education as it actually is.
Every away day is tailored to the institution and its context. But every one of them shares four hallmarks.
Conversations with your team before the day to delve into institutional context.
A focus on what you need to meet the challenges you face.
A session that takes the external policy environment as the starting point for change.
Practical advice and facilitation pointed at decision-making, not further talk.
Leaders leave equipped to make brave, informed choices – based on the world as it is, not as we wish it to be.
Plan an away day