Change and transformation isn’t all about large-scale programmes of work; it is about being adaptable, responsive and supporting change in all its forms.  Over the past few weeks, like everyone else, we have quickly refocused our resources and attention to deliver important activities as part of the University’s response to COVID-19. 

We may not be the biggest team in terms of actual numbers so I’m really pleased that our small team has been able to deliver quickly and collaboratively, working with amazing colleagues across the University on activities that provided immediate support to our students and staff.

Some of the headlines from what the team have been working on in the past month or so include:

  1. Supporting new approaches to Teaching and Assessment: Working with Professor Moira Fischbacher-Smith and Professor Jill Morrison, members of the Transformation team have helped support the development and implementation of new online teaching and assessment approaches to enable the exam diet to take place. This has been a massive piece of work for everyone involved and a great example of how the University responds positively to challenges. Beyond the immediate challenges of moving to remote teaching and assessment for the exam diet we are also supporting the working group led by Professor Frank Coton to think through the options we may need for the start of the next academic year in relation to online teaching and assessment. This builds on the work of the Assessment & Feedback project (which recently confirmed the University's preferred approach for the future).
  2. From zero to a fully functioning helpline:  Developing the COVID-19 Response Helpline - the WCGT team helped establish a physical and virtual call centre, resourced with volunteers from across the University, in only three days.  The Helpline provided essential support in the early days of the crisis when people needed information, reassurance and guidance on a wide range of topics.  In addition to answering calls, this was a crucial first step in being able to listen to and respond to queries from students and staff via frequently asked questions. Almost as soon as the helpline was up and working the team moved on to working closely with Information Services colleagues to design and implement the longer-term helpdesk functionality that is now ready to support the preparation for the exam diet. A great example of collaborative working.
  3. Modern Ways of Working - Creating the information resources to support staff and students working from home: we all know that this is a challenging time in terms of having to move to remote working incredibly quickly and the challenges this presents for many of us. We’ve worked closely with IT, People & Organisational Development, Communications and Change Network colleagues to develop a website that focuses on health and wellbeing – part of Glasgow Anywhere. They are now developing guidance, support and training on ‘Modern Ways of Working' - particularly important as we all adapt not only to the technical aspects of working from home but also the communication and social issues that accompany our new working arrangements. We will soon be publishing more on this and keen to keep talking to colleagues to understand what help they may need in terms of remote working, what they’ve learnt and crucially what they’ve realised they can stop and free up time.
  4. Planning to get through this – as you would expect from a team that includes project management in its kit bag, we have been supporting senior colleagues to develop the medium-term plans that will enable us to move out of the initial crisis period and take the necessary steps to establish our ‘new normal’.

As a Transformation Team, we have to be able to demonstrate how quickly we can adapt and flex to deliver new priorities - the crisis meant pausing some of the larger-scale projects that we had in progress.  We are determined to continue to focus on those activities that support our staff and our students during this challenging time and will update you on how this changes the plan for the University’s transformation work when we can.  As a bit of food for thought, I thought you might find this article ‘Necessity is the mother of invention:  How COVID-19 is accelerating digital transformation’ interesting.

In the meantime, please stay safe and let our team know if you think there is something we should be tackling to help us get through this together.

Chris

Chris Green (Chief Transformation Officer)

 

First published: 24 April 2020

<< 27 April 2020