Innovation Doesn’t Need to be Shrouded in Secrecy

March 12, 2017

Share this

By Jonathan Gagliardi


How do you bridge the realities facing your institution with the real need for a future vision? Such was the question posed by Rick Staisloff, principal of RPK Group, to a group of college and university presidents at ACE2017.

The answer isn’t easy, and it’s often a glaring omission of college and university innovation efforts. Without it, faculty and staff might view efforts at change with skepticism, and they aren’t necessarily wrong to do so.

When improperly used, the word innovation is often associated with the corporatization of higher education, or with disruption. Staff get concerned about their jobs. Faculty worry that administrators and bureaucrats are toying with core academic principles. It’s also perceived as a cost-cutting move. People dig in their heels, and things remain as they are to the detriment of the entire campus community.

Conversations about higher education innovation are too often oversimplified, as if it’s something that can happen anywhere, in any way, at the snap of a finger. But it can’t. Innovation is a messy business that’s innately contextual.

A major hiccup in efforts to innovate is that these efforts aren’t always completely communicated. Picture this: a president walks into a room of faculty talking about return on investment and efficiencies without connecting it to a shared vision for the future. Crickets chirp, but it could be worse. After all, Frankenstein was chased up to the windmill by the town folk with pitchforks and flaming torches.

It’s important to speak to resources—not just dollars—with a focus on the future. Discussing strategic investment, and sometimes, reinvestment, while making it clear that it will help preserve the core elements of your institution’s brand and identity . . . and maybe even grow them, sounds completely different. Having a little data to back it up also helps. Investing in innovation and optimizing what you do best aren’t mutually exclusive. They’re symbiotic, and help shift the conversation from cost-cutting to maximizing return on investment for those who depend so much on the value provided by higher education.

Innovation without intent may as well not happen. It has to be based on a future vision, buy-in, the right incentives, sound implementation, data and evidence, and a focus on student success. That’s the kind of innovation that, while incremental, holds vast potential for colleges and universities nationwide. By doing these things, many colleges and universities could find themselves in a much different—and better—place in the coming years.

Here’s to hoping that happens.


If you have any questions or comments about this blog post, please contact us.

Keep Reading

U.S. Capitol

Patent Troll Legislation Could Hinder University Research and Innovation

The ability of universities to continue generating important discoveries and innovations in areas such as health and technology, research that often leads to life-saving inventions such as new drugs or groundbreaking ways to cultivate arid soil in developing countries, may rest on the outcome of a legislative battle now in Congress.

April 28, 2014

Celebrating the Mavericks: Innovation and Higher Education

While higher education in the 21st century faces a number of challenges, there are a number of innovators changing the sector in a classic American way. Andrew Shean, chief academic officer at National University System Online, looks at five that are leading the way.

January 6, 2020
Close-up shot of four students at the Community College of Denver graduation ceremony.

A College Unbound: Cohorts, Educational Trauma, and Micromodels as Catalysts for Innovation

The highly nontraditional model of College Unbound—a unique institution designed for low-income adults who have started college but not finished—presented regional accreditors with a challenge. Louis Soares and Ursula Gross look at the tensions between innovation and accreditation that such institutions present—and how they can be overcome.

November 13, 2019