The case against standing still: How universities can embrace rapid change and transformation

Higher education institutions are facing mounting pressures to rapidly adapt their traditional ways of working in an ever-evolving market. The traditional model of large-scale, multi-year transformation programmes is increasingly being called into question and often fails to deliver on expectations. Often burdened by bureaucratic inertia, universities are finding themselves at a crossroads: continue with comfortable but outdated approaches or embrace a more iterative, flexible way of working.

It is time to rethink how universities approach change. The potential for empowering teams to drive rapid incremental change from within remains, as yet, largely untapped.

Universities can no longer afford to wait for a two or three-year transformation programme to deliver. Students’ expectations are higher than they have ever been. Operational change must happen faster. 

This sense of urgency is not just about responding to external challenges, such as financial constraints or advances in new technologies and AI. It’s also about recognising that the old ways of working (lengthy approval processes, siloed teams, and a reverence to long term strategy) are no longer always fit for purpose.

Instead, a different approach, which allows for small, rapid experiments to pave the way for incremental improvements, can often be more effective. In addition, it enables teams to experiment with new process and emerging technologies and fine tune new approaches to delivery before rolling them out across the university.  

For forward-thinking organisations, the days of solely relying on large transformation programmes are, largely, over. Universities should look to release potential from within and give teams the freedom and flexibility to make change on the fly.

At the core of this approach is a fundamental shift in mindset: from seeing senior leaders as gatekeepers to allowing them to act as enablers of change.

At one university we worked with, there was a clear need to significantly improve the student experience of the assessment process. We worked alongside the internal design team to bring together a cross-functional group of nearly twenty staff, all experts in the different part of the assessment journey. These individuals, drawn from various grades and departments, were given a clear mission and permission to drive rapid change. 

We carved out time for them – about a day-and-a-half per week – and ensured that senior leaders were on board, not to oversee the process, but rather to provide air cover and rapidly remove barriers and support decisions. 

By empowering the team to identify and rapidly implement solutions, we helped the team to begin delivering change early. At the end of the 10-week engagement, change was in progress, medium- and longer-term solutions had been identified, and the impact was beginning to be felt by staff and students. 

For this approach to succeed, leaders must strike a delicate balance between managing risk and fostering a culture of experimentation. One ongoing issue in universities is an innate risk aversion. 

This can take a number of forms:

• Privileging process over purpose. Universities often prioritise compliance and consensus over outcomes or impact, which slows decision-making and sidelines urgency or innovation.
• Cultures of appeasement. Risk aversion is reinforced by a desire to avoid internal conflict, leading to diluted decisions that supposedly please everyone but solve little.
• Over-reliance on precedent. Change is often dismissed unless it has been successfully modelled elsewhere first, creating a culture where originality is treated as a risk rather than opportunity. 

Obviously, you don’t want to reinvent the wheel as a square simply because it’s a bold idea. But leaders must be willing to create environments where teams feel safe to experiment, within the limits of best practice, even if that means occasionally failing. By avoiding the pitfalls of the three points above, leaders can help teams understand that setbacks are part of progress. What matters is the ability to pivot quickly, draw lessons from what didn’t work, and keep pushing ahead.

This iterative mindset not only accelerates progress but also builds trust and confidence among staff. When people feel empowered and heard, they’re more likely to lean in and contribute their best ideas. Senior leaders need to create the conditions for this to happen, helping to remove barriers to change.

At the same time, it is worth noting the messy, non-linear nature of rapid transformation. Sometimes, the path through the thicket is so overgrown that you need senior leadership to step in with a hatchet. But the point remains to keep moving forward. 

This pragmatic, action-oriented approach contrasts sharply with the perfectionism that often paralyses traditional transformation efforts: why change, if the change isn’t going to be perfect? The challenge is to break this cycle, aim high, take calculated risks and deliver experiences that delight students and staff. Some of your efforts won’t come off perfectly, but that’s okay. What matters is that you’re making progress, learning as you go, and adapting to the challenges in real time.

As universities grapple with the complexities of their transformation agendas, the lessons for higher education sector are both timely and urgent. The message is clear: the future belongs to institutions that can embrace agility, empower their people, and move at speed.

But this shift requires more than new processes, technology or tools. It demands a fundamental rethinking of leadership itself at all levels. Can universities balance the need for oversight with the courage to experiment?

The answers to these questions will determine not only the success of individual projects but also the long-term resilience of the sector. The only thing holding us back is our mindset. Change that, and the possibilities are endless.

Standing still, in any case, certainly isn’t an option.

Get in touch to discuss how your university can unlock rapid, practical change by empowering teams, removing barriers, and building momentum from within.

Connect with Darren Leafe and Lucy Hubbard on LinkedIn.