LSDA NI Director Trevor Carson launches 'Meeting the Communication Challenge During College Merger' with publication author and LSDA NI associate, Robert Conlon
The Learning and Skills Development Agency NI (LSDA NI) has launched a new booklet advising further education colleges throughout the UK on how to manage communications effectively during a college merger process.
‘Meeting the Communication Challenge During College Merger’ has been written by LSDA NI associate Robert Conlon, who used the Northern Ireland experience of the last two years to produce a communications best practice guideline.
The booklet clearly identifies the communications challenges which Northern Ireland’s Further Education colleges have faced since they merged from 16 to six in August 2007 and outlines a series of strategies designed to meet and overcome these challenges.
Launching the 28-page publication, LSDA NI director Trevor Carson said:
“Having an effective communications strategy throughout all staff levels is absolutely vital to ensuring a successful merger of any business and college mergers are no different. If this is not delivered in a college merger then it is the students who ultimately suffer.
“Northern Ireland’s Further Education colleges underwent one of the most fundamental developments in the sector’s history with the mergers two years ago. That required a major investment of resources in management and planning. The merger was successful and it is important that the lessons regarding the potential communications pitfalls involved are taken on board.
“What we at LSDA NI have done with this booklet is used the knowledge gained through our close work at management level with the regional colleges and other key stakeholders to reflect on the challenges faced and use the experience to form a suggested best practice guideline on how to deal with the challenges.
“Other UK colleges are facing mergers, and the contents of this booklet will be of assistance to them.”
The booklet is divided into six main challenges: the challenges of decision-making and structure, quality delivery and consistency, location and time, legacy; the challenge for leaders and the challenge of loss.
Author Robert Conlon commented:
“My motivation for producing this booklet was to use the Northern Ireland merger experience to set out a communications guideline which colleges throughout the UK can use to help facilitate successful mergers in the future. “Some of the themes running through the booklet include strategies on how to create alignment before a merger, how a college can continue doing what it does well, how to deal with existing cultures and practices and how best to communicate with new staff teams.
“I would like to pay thanks to all members of college staff, at every level, who very kindly co-operated with me on this project. They helped ensure I gained an in-depth understanding of the mechanics of the merger, equipping me with the knowledge needed to produce the guideline.”
To receive a hard copy of Meeting the Communication Challenge During College Merger, contact LSDA NI on 028 9044 7700 or visit www.lsdani.org.uk. To request the publication in an alternative format, contact information services on 08450 710800.
