Strategic foundations and operating model transformation in higher education. Embedding leadership alignment and trust-based governance.
The Brief
As part of Future Leadership’s broader remit with a major university’s faculty of medicine, dentistry and health sciences to embed an enterprise leadership mindset across the faculty, Future Leadership worked with the school of medicine on the following scope:
- Development of a strategic principles framework for the School.
- Strategic thinking capability development for the members of the School executive.
- Socialisation of the strategic principles framework with the broader School of Medicine community of leaders.
Improved Employee Engagement
Companies that undergo successful organisational transformation experience a 30% increase in employee engagement. Engaged employees are more productive, less likely to leave, and contribute to a positive workplace culture.
Reference: McKinsey & Company, "The People Power of Transformations" (2018)
Financial
Organisations that successfully implement transformation initiatives see an average 25% improvement in their financial performance, including revenue growth and profitability.
Reference: BCG, "The Role of Leadership in Transformation" (2020)
Return on Investment (ROI)
Transformation projects with effective change management practices are six times more likely to meet their objectives and achieve a 143% return on investment (ROI).
Reference: Prosci, "Best Practices in Change Management" (2019)
Reduced Time to Market
Organisations that undergo successful digital transformation reduce their time to market by 20-50%, allowing them to bring products and services to customers faster and stay competitive in rapidly changing markets.
Reference: Deloitte, "Digital Transformation: A Roadmap for Billion-Dollar Organizations" (2021)
The Process
The aim of the program of work was to create a document setting out the key strategic foundations of the School of Medicine for 2023; build a clear and compelling strategic purpose for school alignment; build a clear set of working culture and leadership principles; and, facilitate a presentation to the broader community of the Melbourne Medical School through the MMS Planning day. To achieve these aims, Future Leadership delivered the following:
- Phase 1, Strategy – workshops to develop strategic foundations and underlying strategic principles. In this workshop, the operating environment was considered and foundations of team trust laid.
- Phase 2, Strategic Pillars – underpinning goals of the School were set as well as values, how the Executive needed to operate, and ways of working established around risk and decision-making.
- Phase 3, MMS Planning Day – Future Leadership’s Advisory team helped the Executive plan and test the strategic foundations of the school with its broader partners and professional staff.
- Phase 4, Integration – in the final workshop, the Advisory team brought together the enterprise leadership themes of the entire program to create a sustainable, transparent, open and trusting environment. CLA used a brand voice framework to create a deliberate articulation of the strategic foundations, and guide how the school communicates with external stakeholders.
- The Advisory team also built a communications and change management framework to support the consistency and sustainability of the desired environment.
The Advisory Team's Impact Across Clients Through Survey Feedback
32% Increase in Self Awareness
Individuals’ awareness of motives, values, strengths and development needs
21% Increase in Motivation
Individuals’ motivation to apply learning, insight and further develop
27% Increase in Confidence
Individuals’ confidence in their abilities and impact as a leader
30% Increase in Role Clarity
Individuals’ clarity around success factors associated with their role
The Outcome
The program successfully established a clear strategic roadmap, aligned with enterprise leadership principles and trust-based governance.
Faculty leaders reported improved clarity in strategic direction, strengthened leadership alignment, and enhanced decision-making structures. The initiative created a sustainable, transparent operating model, ensuring long-term adoption by new leadership teams.
