First Browne, then the Comprehensive Spending Review, 
and with more reviews and uncertainty to come it’s easy to feel like the distraught lover in L’Âme Immortelle’s song – “life will never be the same again.” While this is de facto true it is certainly not the end!
Higher education and research have been well funded over the past decade but are now moving into a new phase which will require a renewed spirit of innovation and collaboration.
As the budget reductions kick in we will all be faced with seemingly impossible tasks. However, situations often appear impossible only because our natural instinct is to assume that the way in which we have acted in the past is right for the future. If we focus on the benefits that our communities require and not the features we think they like, the future may not be so impossible after all. An outcome-based approach combined with free and adventurous thinking surely underpins successful performance in a challenging world. The solution to achieving this is likely not so much to be ‘out there’ in the latest management tome but rather within our own experience. If our own understanding based on experience is harnessed in an innovative way then this could offer the key – organised common sense still has great value and this approach is enshrined in the five factors.
1. Know your business – This sounds obvious but how many of us, when asked what we do, tell them exactly that … what we do! What the enquirer really wants to know is not what we actually do but what we contribute – in management speak, our value proposition. At JANET our occupation is not so much the 1s, 0s, routers, applications or any other technical solution but rather may be described as the way we enable the UK to continue to have a world class research and education community. I recall once doing an exercise where we had to come up with a 15 second sound bite that could be extracted from a one minute answer. It was quite challenging to construct a few words which encapsulated a complex business: however, it did help focus on what was important and what wasn’t. I commend this exercise to you in a quiet moment.
2. Know your numbers – Many people in our organisations instinctively prefer to leave the numbers to the accountants, particularly in a system which has been substantially grant funded and based on annual cash flow profiles. When the going gets tough it is crucial to know the precise nature of the finances. The ‘know your numbers’ factor really seems to resonate with colleagues engaged in the business of research and educational information technology. When the budgets are cut it is essential to know your total cost of ownership, otherwise it is highly unlikely that you will be able to adapt and flex effectively without damaging the quality of provision to those who use the services. It may be a little frightening at first but once the shock is over it will focus thinking on which is really important.
3. Strive to be trusted – Any sales person worth their salt has the ambition to become a ‘trusted advisor’ to their customer. In the new, lean, mean world we will be required increasingly to both collaborate and compete – a sensitive relationship but one which has no chance of success if there is no trust. Our prime pursuit must be to establish trust based on honesty and integrity, even when we disagree – this is an effective and pragmatic route to success.
4. Empower the team – No one person can do it all, however able or driven they may be. Successful leadership is about drawing out the best from all the team but this doesn’t happen by magic. Just as in sport, a good team last year may not necessarily be a good one this year. The game may have changed, circumstances altered or players moved on. As we seek to achieve results in a changing world, team members will be asked to do challenging things. In such circumstances it is important that the team are equipped to complete the task, both as a team and as individuals. Failing to train and empower the team proactively leads to organisational dysfunction and thus failure to achieve targets.
5. See over the horizon – If this could be done 100% accurately we’d have few problems. Just because this is challenging, however, it doesn’t mean giving up. In a fast changing political, economic, societal and technical environment it is essential to explore the likely scenarios that are just over the horizon. The legendary ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky said, “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” We must all seek to be where the action is going to be tomorrow and not just where it is today.
