International Strategy for Higher Education Institutions
International Strategy for Higher Education Institutions
From wading through treacle to 'taking messy action' Posted on by Vicky Lewis
The twelve-part series of blogs I recently completed, exploring the international KPIs of UK universities, wasn’t supposed to be a blog series.
Here’s how it started.
Back in May 2024, I had a lull in consultancy projects. I’d stepped away from work for a month in April to sort out my late mum’s writings, letters and other mementos. And it took a while for new projects to start coming through again.
I decided to take the opportunity to get on with some research I’d been mulling over for a while. What started out as an analysis of the international KPIs in post-pandemic strategic plans turned into an exploration of UK universities’ international strategies and how success is measured at that, more detailed, level.
When I started out, I planned to turn this into a report for the sector (a follow up to my 2021 Global Strategies Report, but this time homing in on the specific topic of KPIs).
I did the analysis, worked out my report structure, and drafted a context-setting introduction (though a general election was called and the context seemed likely to change before I’d finished writing the report).
Then the consultancy work picked up again from June. I had less time and was struggling to focus on writing this new report alongside the consultancy.
I figured I just needed a bit more discipline so I created a new project plan. In this, I divided the report into bite-sized chunks, with the aim of setting aside enough time to write up one of these chunks a week.
I tried to control my (often frustrating and paralysing) tendency to try to write a perfect draft first time round.
I even wrote myself a reminder to:
Write each section as if it was a blog (keep it blog length)!
It still didn’t happen.
Having made no progress with it for several busy months during the second half of last year, I had almost resigned myself to the fact that my research might never see the light of day.
Recently, I came across this LinkedIn post by Jenny Jenkin about defying the paralysis of perfectionism and ‘taking messy action’, which perfectly describes what I eventually did!
I always allow myself a bit of thinking time in December or January to review the previous year and to set out my ambitions for the coming year.
This is when I decided to share at least some of my research via two or three blog posts. I feel more comfortable with thinking out loud in a blog format. There’s less expectation of a polished piece of prose. And you don’t have to come up with all the answers. There’s also (if you’re lucky) the huge benefit of insightful feedback from people who engage with the posts.
When I started planning out the content, I realised it could be a longer series than I’d originally thought, mapped onto different KPI themes, and topped and tailed with some more general content about the role of KPIs.
And, once I started writing, I found I was able to churn each one out quickly enough to fit it into my working week. And I discovered the momentum of producing and publishing one each week was actually quite energising.
A major contributor to the momentum was the positive engagement I got when I shared the blogs on LinkedIn. It makes such a difference to know that even a few people are reading them and finding them interesting. In fact, I now wonder why I didn’t plan it as a blog series from the outset.
Several kind people have suggested I should follow up on this international KPI series with a webinar (or webinar series), workshop(s), a book or report, conference sessions, or thought pieces for other outlets.
My comfort zone is writing – or a conference presentation. But I think it’s probably more useful to go with something interactive, where there’s an opportunity for participants to discuss and tease out innovative KPIs.
I’d love to hear from others what they think would be valuable. Who’s the target audience? Is it better to offer something institution-specific? Or to have participants from across the sector to cross-fertilise ideas? Should I start with a virtual event? If so, any advice on who might host this and how best to drum up participants? (I’d rather it wasn’t a solo endeavour!)
Any suggestions or feedback would be greatly appreciated.
In the meantime, I hope this blog has reminded other perfectionist procrastinators out there that they’re not alone, and that sometimes it helps to reframe what you’re aiming for.
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