Workshops
Building the Capability to Realise the Transformational Power of IT for Higher Education
Benefits from IT: benefits workshops
At the core of the benefits-led IT project is a series of 5 one-day workshops.
Key objectives of the workshops are to:
- Further enhance the leadership skills of individuals engaged in IT-enabled transformation.
- Enhance benefits realisation from real, current projects at Newcastle University (including some already underway, or about to start).
- Build up a ‘toolkit’ of good practice and capture it in formats that allow for multiple use and re-application across projects.
The workshops contribute to the overall project aim:
Identify and embed great IT-enabled Business Transformation practices in UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).
Participants in the workshops will be able to make a greater contribution to realising benefits from IT at Newcastle University. The workshops address both the principles underpinning a successful approach to IT-enabled transformation and the practices that provide you with the know-how you need to make a difference.
In the workshops we create an environment where you learn by doing – applying new ideas to projects and issues from the workplace, and you can share your insights and learn from your colleagues. It provides you with a toolkit of ideas that you can use to help share your learning with others and to make a direct impact on the projects you are working on.
Benefits Workshop programme: five 1-day workshops
The five days were as follows:
Day 1: Engage
We explored some of the opportunities and challenges of benefits realisation from IT. We introduced the benefits toolkit as a way of sharing knowledge and improving practice.
We started coverage of the toolkit by introducing the Benefits Review. The review allowed all the teams, regardless of the current stage of their project, to start to apply benefits-led thinking to their current issues.
Day 2: Explore
On day 2 we tackled Benefits Planning. As part of the session we introduced the IT and Change Portfolio as a way to explore the strategic contribution of a project, and also focused on benefits for stakeholders as a critical starting point to any benefits-led activity.
Day 3: Evolve
Day 3 started with the project teams presenting to the group to share their learning to date from adopting the benefits toolkit. We then focused on stakeholder engagement, consulting and influencing skills.
At this stage the group was getting used to a more creative way of working and we tried a number of techniques that got a really high level of engagement and increased creativity. The stakeholder activities provided important insights for teams that had been working on projects for some time.
Day 4: Evolve (II)
We tackled the challenges of measuring benefits, particularly non-financial benefits and ensuring clear ownership of benefits.
The primary focus of the session was on collaborative and creative ways of working to help build engagement and enable innovation.
Day 5: Evaluate
On the final day, the project teams reported back on progress and there was valuable learning across the different teams. We also focused on the next steps to take forward and embed the benefits-led approach in individual teams as well as across the department.
Key contributions of the workshops
The workshops were a major investment of time. They took 25 key people, including the management team out of the workplace for 5 days. But it was a crucial investment.
It is right to say that the investment was transformational. Relationships were developed, people worked together in new and more creative ways, ideas were applied to live projects, and the overall result was to start to develop a ‘benefits mindset’ and the expertise to apply the benefits toolkit to enhance benefits realisation from current and future IT projects.
