Most people don’t like change (I thrive on it, but I know I’m in the minority on this one ;-).
In higher education, the announcement of any proposed change (be it a website or logo redesign, a new strategic plan or even worse a change in the name of the institution) will result in complaints, fights, protests and worst case scenario: status quo.
That’s why the communication around the decision-making process is so critical. It’s very important to offer the proper communication channels to allow people to voice their concerns or their praises.
Andrew Careaga, UMR communication director and a seasoned higher ed blogger, has just launched a blog about the name change project in discussion at his institution: “Name Change Conversations.”
Obviously, comments — mainly from alums at the time of this writing — are open as the reverse would defeat the whole purpose of the blog, i.e. get conversations going about the project.
Andrew has done a great job addressing concerns and complaints in the comment area while sharing links to newspaper coverage about the topic.
Go check it out if you have a big change coming your way!
Related posts:
- Karine to speak about new media and crisis communication at the CASE Annual Conference for Senior Communications and Marketing Professionals in Philadephia, September 13-15
- Your students blog about your institution at TheU.com
- From homepage to furniture: a controversial take on higher ed website design?
- Live from the CASE Conference in Philadelphia: 4 tips to get PR and communication professionals started with blogger relations
- Almost Live from EduWeb 2006: To Blog or Not To Blog in Higher Education
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Thanks for mentioning this, Karine. This is a new approach for us, but an important one, I think. The idea is to provide an open forum for all sides of the issue. It should be an interesting experiment.
So far, it’s been an interesting experiment — and a lot of fun, if you happen to be a masochist! :)
As for change, I recently heard this quote: “Change is inevitable – except from a vending machine.”