According to Shaimaa Hassanein, senior manager of GEM and Assessment at The American University in Cairo, design thinking is an effective approach to begin analyzing and solving enrollment challenges.
In an AACRAO 2021 SEM Conference session, Hassanein led small groups to identify challenges at their institutions and apply “design thinking” to address these challenges. Attendees focused on low levels of faculty involvement, lack of key competencies among senior management, lack of synergy across departments, significant micromanaging, inadequate communication, and low enrollment. In discussing these challenges, the groups considered the following design thinking steps:
Discover (collect data, identify needs and challenges)
Define the problem/find inspiration (write the problem statement and analyze it to get ideas)
Ideate (examine the feasibility of these ideas and recommendations)
Prototype (share the final strategies and start practicing)
Validate (check the validity and impact of your strategies)
Hassanein also discussed the importance of “upskilling” higher education teams to create awareness, foster a sense of purpose and meaning, and establish empowerment and self-leadership. “We have to upskill our faculty, students, and staff,” she said, adding that upskilling community members, such as parents and other members of the society, is also key. “We can’t leave anyone behind.”
The process, Hassanein noted, can be aided using a change management framework: introduce plans for promoting alteration; clarify how the future will be different from the past; categorize the strategies that need to be executed to make that future a reality; and communicate with empathy, clarity, and reason.
“Fear of change is induced in every human being,” Hassanein said. “We have to communicate change with empathy.” She noted that work-life balance is important to consider within any change.
The steps she shared to shift culture under this framework include:
Create a sense of urgency
Pull together the guiding team
Develop the change vision and strategy
Communicate for understanding and buy-in
Empower others to act
Produce short term wins
Don’t let up
Create a new culture
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