Yesterday I was in the room where it happened. Where a group of UoE staff heard from renowned professor John Robinson. And I think it will be a day I will remember for a very long time. To steal Scott Davidson’s phrase, he ‘blew my socks off’. In one hour, we got a masterclass in organisational change. Jim has supported some of the most iconic HE institutions across the world to embed sustainability. No mean feat! It was a privilege to hear his advice at such a pivotal moment in our sustainable MarComms journey at UoE. Here are some of my key takeaways from my pages and pages of notes: 🌎 We cannot think of environmental and cultural elements independently. We should enter into initiatives trying to create a happy, healthy, more productive environment for people. It will organically become environmentally sustainable if we do this. 💼 There are no such thing as green jobs. All jobs are green. That’s why we are upskilling all MarComms staff at UoE in sustainable practices. It is everyone’s responsibility to make changes to meet our institutional goals and also to give us the knowledge our future careers. We are supporting MarComms staff to change the world and become change agents in their department but also in future organisations. Pretty cool eh? 🤝 We need to improve collaboration between academic and professional services (operations) staff to have real impact. This is where significant challenges lie. Our working cultures and structures are so different that collaboration is difficult. But co-creation that ‘floats’ above typical university structures can help. 📢 Sustainability often makes people think of sacrifice. Not very sexy or motivating. And the public are never told that things could be better. Only that we are in a climate crisis. We need to change the narrative to create excitement and inspire about the positive possibilities. It’s a good thing that Sarah Ford-Hutchinson and I are publishing the first chapter of our new guidance for MarComms stuff on narrative tomorrow. A step in the right direction! A massive thank you to Dave Gorman, Scott Davidson and the SRS team for inviting me to the session with John. It has given me so much inspiration for the future and how we embed wider change in our large staff community.
Valerie Jackman
3mo
This is the work.
Nothing like being in the room where it happens. Hooray for progress 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻
Dave Gorman
3mo
Great to hear! Credit due to Scott Davidson Shireen Jawas
Jane S Barr
3moSounds as if it was an hour well spent. Although I think the aesthetics of the ceiling could be better!