Supporting Coventry University’s strategy amid the pandemic
Supporting Coventry University’s strategy amid the pandemic
UK-based Coventry University Group includes campuses and initiatives across the globe.
The university group was developing a 2030 strategy
Coventry University Group was developing an ambitious 2030 strategy. To inform the strategy, Coventry engaged Nous to rearticulate its university values, report on higher education trends and facilitate a strategy away-day with the board of governors and leadership team.
Nous’ engagement went virtual during COVID-19
To develop outputs tailored to Coventry’s needs, Nous undertook three major activities:
Nous was highly professional and engaging in its approach, responding to new ways of working as a result of the COVID pandemic and ensuring that we met the development timelines for our 2030 strategy.
Dr Clive Winters
1. researching trends in education; including compiling international case studies, identifying future scenarios for education (our method is shown below) and highlighting how the university might navigate the future
2. facilitating a full in-person day of workshops and discussion with the board of governors and senior leaders
3. designing a 400-employee survey and workshops to assess Coventry’s current culture and rearticulated values.
When COVID-19 disrupted Coventry’s activities by preventing in-person engagement, we quickly redesigned the culture workshops so that they could be facilitated virtually and remain interactive. These workshops engaged staff in the UK and Singapore. From this extensive engagement Nous developed five proposed values that we mapped across current trends, future trends and potential opportunities to illustrate how they would enable Coventry to adapt quickly and thrive.
Nous’ insights informed Coventry’s strategy
Nous’ report is a critical input into Coventry’s 2030 strategy, and senior leaders commended the proposed values as being pertinent to the university’s cultural identity. These values are now being used as the foundation for Coventry’s rearticulated 2030 values.
What you can learn from Coventry
- Virtual engagements can provide outputs that are just as useful as those from in-person workshops.
- Tailored external insights can push institutions – even those that are already forward-thinking – to stretch their ambition.
- Comprehensive cultural goals play an integral role in effective corporate strategy.
