The people have spoken

The votes are in, and there’s a clear favourite: the book I write should be about the future for professional services in higher education.

It's a start, anyway ...

Over 55% went for that option; nearly 40% for the option of organisational change in higher education; and 5% said I should write something else entirely.

A lot of people also highlighted – correctly – that there’s an overlap between the topics. Or at least a causality. If the future of higher education is one of change, then let’s get the organisational change right. Conversely, change is better when the reasons for it are correctly identified.

So perhaps there’s room for two books here. But one at a time seems like a good rule, so I’ll go with the will of the people.

I’ll be setting up a dedicated website for the new book, and a mailing list so that you can stay specifically in touch about that. (In due course there’ll probably be one of those sign-up widgets but in the meantime, if you’d like to receive weekly emails from me about the book, drop me a line: hugh @ hughjonesconsulting.co.uk …)

That means that this blog here will continue to focus on broad topics of interest. Who knows, maybe even managing organisational change in higher education might show its face from time to time.

I'm writing a book ...

I think it’s time to write a book. That sentence was easy to write; I expect it’ll get harder.

My first decision is the topic, and I’d like your help. I’ve got two possible subjects in mind, and it’d be great to hear which you think is the best.

The first topic is about the future for professional services in universities. We know that change is always a constant, but at the moment, with changes in HE policy and funding; changes in technology; and changes in society, it seems like there's a lot we don;t really have a handle on. So what do you need to know now that will help you over the next twenty years or so?

The second topic is about re-organisations in universities. Sometimes it can feel like the ink doesn’t dry on an organisation chart before it's changing again. So why do these happen? What can you do if you’re being re-organised? And if you have to lead a re-organisation, how do you make it work?

I’ve set up a (very) short survey, and I’d like to know which of these you think is the best. Or perhaps there’s another topic you’d rather see. If you’d like to hear more as I write, that’d be great too – please let me know.

You can take part in the survey here.

Please let colleagues know about the survey – the more voices, the better the final choice …

Thank you!