1. Not just a tag line Jodieann Dawe Director, Research Development and Support Flinders University of South Australia

2. Flinders University – Quick Facts

7. 12th Global Ranking of Academic Subjects
Shanghai’s 2018 Global
12th Global Ranking of Academic Subjects
for Water Resources Water Resources

9. The Flinders University Change Journey

10. DRIVERS OF CHANGE
Unprecedented global and national challenges for Australian Universities
UNIVERSITIES’ DUAL ROLE: PUBLIC TEACHNG AND RESEARCH INSTITUTION VS COMMERCIAL BUSINESS ENTITY*
CHANGES TO GOVERNMENT POLICY , FUNDING MODELS AND REQUIREMENTS FOR REPORTING ON RESEARCH INVESTMENT
TECHNOLOGY IS CHANGING THE WAY IN WHICH UNIVERSITIES OPERATE
GLOBAL MARKETS FOR RESEARCH FUNDING: INCREASED OPPORTUNITY BUT INCREASED COMPEITION
CHANGES TO STUDENT FEE STRUCTURES and Government FUNDING MODELS CONSTANTLY SHIFTING REVENUE STREAMS
INCREASED COMPETITION IN TERTIARY SECTOR
Non-UNVERSITY HE PROVDERS
GLOBAL COMPETITION FOR OFFSHORE AND ONLINE TEACHING
THE SHIFTING ROLE OF THE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR SKILLING AUSTRALIA

11. DRIVERS OF CHANGE
“As a result of recent changes, universities in the UK and Australia must ‘self-disrupt’ in order to remain competitive.”
Ref: “Higher Education in the UK and Australia: A cross cultural discussion” Simon Lancaster, Nous Group, UK.

12. Vision Mission Changing lives and changing the world
To be internationally recognised as a world leader in research, an innovator in contemporary education and the source of Australia’s most enterprising graduates
Vision
Mission
Mission
Changing lives and changing the world

13. FOUR PILLARS FOR SUCCESS

14. But Change can be confronting and difficult
IMPLEMENTING CHANGE
To realise the 2025 Vision the Flinders’ Community realised we needed to undertake transformational change to:
Revitalise our organisational structures
Foster a culture of innovation and customer service
Achieve a more empowered and accountable work environment
Modernise our business systems and processes
Implement more agile and responsive decision making protocols
But Change can be confronting and difficult

15. A NEW ACADEMIC STRUCTURE
Single Tiered Structure:
14 Schools
6 Colleges
Faculties
Replacing Two- Tiered Structure:

17. RESTRUCTURING PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT
Optimising service delivery
Fostering a culture of innovation and customer service
Reducing system inefficiencies, duplication of effort and fragmentation of services
Providing greater consistency in research management and administration
Decreasing bureaucracy
Enable streamlining and integration of business systems and greater data sharing opportunities
Provide staff greater opportunities for professional development and cross skilling
The Professional Services Project focussed on:

18. MATRIX MODEL APPROACH
Functional Teams
Colleges and Portfolios

19. “The challenge is not so much to build a matrix structure as it is to build a matrix in the minds of our managers”
Ref: Matrix Management: Not a structure, a frame of Mind,
hbr.org/1990/07/matrix-management-not-a-structure-a-frame-of-mind

20. THE IMPACT ON RESEARCH SUPPORT
Improved customer engagement and service offerings
Focus was on providing end-to-end support for researchers
Embedded College staff with centralised subject matter experts
Very flat management structure – provided big challenges
Name changed to reflect change in business objectives
Broadened remit of the research office with new functions:
Research Development and Strategic Partnerships
Researcher Training and Development
Commercialisation

21. RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT STRUCTURE
Grants and Tenders
Research Contracts
Ethics and Compliance
Research Data Analytics and Reporting
Commercialisation
Internal Research Comms
Researcher Training and Development
College Research Support
SUBECT MATTER EXPERTS

22. MORE THAN AN ORG RESTRUCTURE
Challenges:
Ingrained ‘old’ culture
Change fatigue and grieving staff
Fear of the unknown work expectations
Lack of clarity regarding the matrix model, roles ad responsibilities
Lost corporate knowledge
Resistance to change
Communication within the RDS
Communication with our researchers and other professional staff
Culture change to focus on the customer
Changing the perception of the researches away from policeman or postbox value adding
Focus on how we provide end-to-end support for researchers

23. THE CHANGE APPROACH

24. IMPLEMENTING CHANGE Communicate; communicate; communicate
Key approach:
Communicate;
communicate;
communicate

25. IMPLEMENTING CHANGE
Established a new name – Research Development and Support
Defined the new identity – brand, logo, marketing collateral, tag line
Delivered RDS Roadshow
Developed and distributed new RDS Brochure
1:1 meeting with College Executives
Key senior business partner approach introduced

26. IMPLEMENTING CHANGE
Two planning days (Mar and Sept)
RDS Matters – Internal Newsletter
Implemented regular team meetings;
- RDS team meetings
Functional team
Cross functional (eg College support and Grants
Established the Strategic Leadership Team
Regular Professional Development for RDS (eg Design thinking and ARMS accred)
Re-implemented Performance Assessment and quarterly discussions
Provided opportunities for staff to provide constructive input and feedback

27. 12 MONTHS ON
Enhanced end to end service delivery through increased clarity of roles and responsibilities of RDS staff
Increased awareness by researchers of service and support offerings
Implementation of Research Activate; Researcher Induction and other Training and Development courses – >58 training courses to be held in 2019
Productive relationships with all portfolios involved in research support and services
Tweaked the RDS Org chart and line reporting in response to staff and customer feedback
Consolidated team approaches to provide a greater focus on the research customer
RDS team members present on College Research Committees
Learned from Service Review Forums/Surveys about customer needs and implementing new approaches

28. 12 MONTHS ON
Service Delivery Excellence
Operational Efficiency
Communicating Successfully
Developing
Our Innovative Team
Developed an RDS Annual Operating Plan for guidance about goals and objectives
Based on a balanced scorecard approach
A productive RDS team with a greater sense of purpose inproactively providing research services and support which are valued

29. WHATS NEXT? Reimaging the Research Ecosystem at Flinders University
Implementation of new tools including:
1. Research management system – ResearchNow (Pure by Elesevier)
2. ResearchNow – Ethics (Infonetica)
Process redesign for ethics; grants; contracts; data reporting ect
Refine the value proposition for service and support for the research community
Prepare for the next phase of continuous improvement……

31. Thankyou and Questions