Change management strategy wins community support for major rebranding, restructuring
Situation:
A small, private nursing/healthcare university, facing financial pressures, realized it needed to re-envision its organization to better meet student needs as it pivoted from a faith-based institution into a secular organization. Fundamental change included expanding with a new campus, a complete brand and name change, and internal restructuring, including the involuntary elimination of some positions. At the same time, the university was facing significant academic challenges in its largest program. BMCG was brought in to not only develop and oversee the change management process during a time of financial and existential uncertainty, but to address the long-standing academic challenges facing the university and ensure alignment with state agencies and partners.
Actions / Recommendations:
Identified and mapped out the risks, benefits and dependencies the university faced in undertaking significant change across the institution.
Created a change management and communication strategy that provided key internal stakeholders –with a focus on staff, faculty and students – information necessary to increase support for the change.
Developed supporting materials and approach to retain the trust of business and clinical partners, as well as accrediting and state agencies.
Results:
While there was anxiety and uncertainty over the elimination of positions, the reorganization was greeted positively as faculty and staff understood where the institution was going and largely agreed the changes were needed. University leaders were able to focus on the transformative change the re-organization brought and how it would benefit students, setting the conditions for the institution to grow in both enrollment and clinical partnerships.
