Case study: Business school move

A university business school was given the opportunity to move into a newer building, which would be fully renovated to meet its needs.
Some staff were hesitant to move from their existing building and needed to be convinced of the benefits of a modern, open-plan space.
We had to give staff the opportunity to co-design a home for their growing and ambitious school and address some of the barriers to change.
Then we needed to ensure a seamless and positive experience during the moving process.

I started by meeting senior stakeholders to understand the rationale and vision for the move, and I developed this into an outline communications plan with clear key messages. I also started to log some of the barriers to change that were emerging as important.
In the co-design period, I collaborated with the architects who were gathering the requirements of the school and turning them into plans. In this phase we hosted a number of workshops to creatively refine their ideas, culminating in an exhibition of the final designs.
Over the six month period when the designs were turned into technical drawings and renovation work undertaken, we kept staff engaged with weekly drop-in meetings where they could share questions or concerns. I used this feedback to craft regular updates about the move and ways of working in the new building – addressing and mitigating any concerns.
In the final phase, I collaborated with the project managers who were overseeing the move to ensure that staff were clear on how they would need to pack and how they would get set-up in the new building.
I wrote all the communications throughout this process – including updates for students, researchers and the campus trade unions.
I sat on the project board and also initiated a weekly operational meeting to ensure we could look in detail at how decisions were going to impact stakeholders.

Thanks to a considerable team effort involving a number of external partners, the business school moved into its very smart new home without any major issues.
Staff who had been reluctant to move reflected positively on the experience.
Senior stakeholders and partners noted how beneficial it was to have flexible communications resource involved with the project from an early stage.

“Thank you for all your help. Your work has had a fundamental effect on this project.”
– Senior project manager