By Holly Parker.

Involving faculty in college transformation is critical to student success. Here’s how to do it well – no matter where you are in the change process.

Faculty care deeply about student success.

College faculty are on the “front lines” of efforts to help students gain credentials that are valued by employers. Perhaps no one, other than students themselves, cares more about student success than the instructors who are working with them daily.

In planning and executing changes to the way colleges do business, it is critical to engage faculty to ensure these changes are well-informed, supported, and stick. Without the authentic engagement of the very folks who work with your students every day – and will likely be implementing many of these changes —you can bet all the grant money in the world won’t lead to lasting or positive change!

Involve faculty early, often, and ongoing.

Early

1) Invest the time and resources upfront to include faculty in research and planning of proposed changes, especially those that impact curriculum and/or learning activities. This investment will pay off!

• Include adjunct faculty – as many of those who will be delivering the changes as possible.
• Pay overtime or bonuses to show that faculty time involved in planning and implementation is valued.

2) Communicate from college leadership to faculty. This cannot be done too frequently!

• Leadership needs to show enthusiasm and support for the proposed changes.
• Leadership also needs to express clear expectations about the proposed changes. This includes the role of faculty in the planning process, as well as what is expected during implementation.

3) Saturate faculty in information about the new practices, including data or case studies supporting the proposed changes. Show them why this works and how it can apply at their school!

• Make it clear how these approaches lead to improved student success.
• Sponsor visits to or from other colleges doing similar things.
• Line up quality coaching or peer support, for example from faculty who have tried these approaches elsewhere.

Often

Let’s face it, the grant-writing process is inherently chaotic. There is rarely time to involve all the right people and take all the careful steps to ensure deep engagement from the outset. If you’ve already received funding or started implementing transformative efforts at your school and are realizing you’ve got a faculty buy-in gap, it’s not too late! There are a number of steps you can take to get your faculty solidly behind your efforts.

1) Communicate. More. Again.

• Get leadership to cheerlead these efforts. Describe the vision — why do we (still) believe these changes will impact student success?
• Convene faculty and any others who’ve been working to implement (however happily or grudgingly) these changes.
• Certainly tout successes, but also be honest about setbacks and challenges.

2) Show commitment. Prove that early challenges don’t scare you.

• Engage experts, peers, coaches or others to help faculty work through these challenges. Visit them where they work. Work through specifics.

3) Don’t abandon the plan – adapt it.

• Show faculty that their experiences matter, and be responsive to issues and problems that arise during implementation.
• Listen to what’s working and not, and develop Change Plan 2.0.

Ongoing

Don’t limp across the implementation finish line – leap across it and celebrate the momentum.

• Tell your story! Capture the promising practices, interesting innovations, and early wins.
• Acknowledge the effort. Thank faculty for their flexibility and commitment. Tout their work to leadership!
• Reflect back on what’s been accomplished, illustrate how far you’ve come and where you’re headed next.
• Capture the real impact – gather the numbers, but also capture the personal stories of students. Students offer the most compelling information – gather testimonials and real-world advice from those experiencing the new systems you’ve put in place.

To recap:

Invest in resources up front – the time, travel, etc. to get faculty in on the ground floor.

Involvement of faculty should begin on day one, or as soon as you realize they aren’t authentically engaged.

Communication cannot be an afterthought, and cannot be done too much. Communicate both up and down the “food chain”.

Leadership must be a central part of the communication plan. Voice support for the changes and clear expectations of faculty, then rinse, and repeat!

Education of stakeholders is critical. This includes examples and illustrations of what the changes can or should look like in order to build a clear vision and shared buy-in.

Support must be prioritized and in place to help faculty address questions, problems, frustrations and backtracking. Keep moving!