Reports & Services

Surveys have the potential to positively impact an institution’s culture if action is taken based on the results. Taking no action can erode trust and lead to feelings of cynicism. For over fifteen years, our consultants have helped colleges and universities maximize the impact of the survey process. The Organizing for Action consultation is specifically designed to ensure your survey results lead to meaningful, actionable outcomes. We will highlight foundational strengths and high impact opportunities in your survey data, help you prioritize areas for improvement, provide best practice guidance on socializing the survey results, action planning, and engaging senior leaders and key stakeholders. You and your colleagues will leave this session with an outline and strategies to ensure your ability to take meaningful action on the data and reports in which you have invested. (60 minutes)

While some institutions have extensive capabilities in survey analysis, many do not have expertise with the ModernThink Higher Education Insight Survey© instrument and its underlying constructs. And, at some institutions, the objective perspective of a content expert from outside the institution is better positioned to navigate the internal politics. Given our knowledge of the survey instrument and our collective experience analyzing and summarizing survey data sets at hundreds of colleges and universities we can quickly and efficiently provide institutional leaders with a summary of their survey findings.

We will identify elements that emerge as cultural strengths and play critical roles in the day-to-day experience of your faculty and staff and the health of your institution’s culture. We will address the potential vulnerabilities and soft spots that, left unaddressed, might undermine your efforts to create the best employment experience possible, or worse, exacerbate human capital risk exposure. And, we will provide important context regarding national trends and best practices and provide relevant benchmarks so that you can better understand not just the strengths and opportunities of your culture, but also how it measures up against your peers. The Findings Presentation deck can be used as a resource for additional internal presentations.

Virtual meeting and presentation capabilities have created opportunities for enhanced flexibility and efficiency. Sometimes, however, there is no substitute for the benefit of being face-to-face, particularly when the ability to read the room and manage distinct personalities is critical to having meaningful conversations.

ModernThink Consultants are regularly engaged to support our clients onsite. Sometimes that’s to deliver Findings Presentations in-person to senior leadership teams, this can be particularly helpful in cases where the leadership is relatively new or has undergone transition or when there may be some concern that senior leaders might have some level of “data denial.” In other situations, clients find it helpful to have an objective, external expert deliver Findings Presentations to key stakeholder groups (e.g., Provost’s Council, Faculty Senate, Staff Council, Board of Trustees, Well-being Committees). Similarly, ModernThink Consultants are well-positioned to support largescale Open Forums and/or Town Hall meetings and potentially individual meetings with leaders who might need additional support.

Sometimes Senior Leaders can benefit from a more personalized approach. In some cases this takes the form of one-time, personalized Office Hour conversation, in others a more traditional approach to Executive Coaching is appropriate.

Office Hours – These virtual sixty-minute, one-on-one meetings support and prepare leaders to socialize their Division/College-specific data sets and prepare for action planning. Agenda items include orientation to survey best practices, Division/ College-specific data analysis and interpretation based on report suite they received, and survey feedback regarding their leadership influence.

Executive Coaching – At ModernThink we believe that as leaders grow, so do their institutions. ModernThink Coaches use a disciplined, proven process and work in partnership with key leaders to build the critical skills and competencies necessary to both increase effectiveness in a current role and to prepare for larger, more complex roles. The impact of coaching sessions is often increased by incorporating data from the ModernThink Higher Ed Insight Survey©. Drawing on a cadre of Coaches, we customize coaching engagements to address both individual and institutional goals.

The open-ended questions on the ModernThink Higher Education Insight Survey© are designed to help you better understand what your faculty and staff appreciate most about working at your institution and to solicit their input on how their employment experience could be even better. Whether you perform that analysis, or we assist, the insight, ideas, and suggestions “buried” within those comments merit “mining.” The comments analysis report is structured to directly correspond with the dimensions of the quantitative data, mapping the themes and patterns identified in open-ended comments with the structured dimensions used in the quantitative survey.

In lower trust environments, it’s often helpful to have a third party perform that analysis, particularly if there are concerns about anonymity and confidentiality. The quantitative data from the belief statements tell a story of the day-to-day experience of your faculty and staff. The Comments Analysis brings that story to life.

Our Executive Summary is just that…a succinct, narrative findings report for senior leaders. Typically, ranging between 3-5 pages long, this high-level summary provides senior leaders with what they “need to know.” We identify key findings, potential risk exposure, and relevant context as to how the results measure up against peers. This stand-alone summary is readily accessible, easily digestible, and ultimately, actionable. While it cannot replicate the benefits of a real-time, interactive Findings Presentation with a ModernThink Consultant, the Executive Summary can be an efficient option when senior leadership or the board requests a brief narrative report.

A survey provides information about what faculty and staff are thinking and feeling. Focus groups provide additional insight into the why underlying these perceptions. Our consultants are skilled in designing and facilitating focus group processes where participants feel comfortable sharing candid feedback. The final Focus Group Report includes a summary of themes and recommendations that can inform effective action. While focus groups are most impactful when conducted in-person, virtual options are available.

Decades of research have identified that a significant percentage of change initiatives fail to fully deliver hoped-for outcomes. These experiential Implementation Workshops provide leaders, managers, and internal champions with the concrete tools necessary to successfully identify both what actions to take and how to implement them.

Participants will leave each session with skills, tools and templates that can be immediately applied to their specific situation. Sessions are customizable and employ a high-impact delivery strategy that blends virtual and in-person sessions.

Customized topics available upon request.

Surveys have the potential to positively impact an institution’s culture if action is taken based on the results. Taking no action can erode trust and lead to feelings of cynicism and mistrust. We support action planning with both strategic and tactical offerings.

From Assessment to Action: Overview for Executive Leaders – This session equips executive teams, senior leaders, senior academic leaders, VPs, and Deans—along with key individuals supporting implementation—with the knowledge and tools to drive effective action planning. Grounded in an action planning roadmap, the session provides an in-depth review of the process, clarifies leadership roles in strategy, prioritization, resource allocation, and accountability, and identifies key success factors and potential barriers. Participants will also gain a preview of the ModernThink Action Planning Guide© format and structure, ensuring they are prepared to lead and support meaningful institutional improvement efforts.

From Assessment to Action: Overview for Internal Champions – Administering a survey is only the beginning, it is what happens next that matters. Leaders are most effective in using survey results to drive organizational change and improve performance when they are supported by well-prepared internal champions. We have designed the series to give HR Business Partners and other internal champions the information, skills, and tools they need to provide that support.
These sessions include a deep dive into the ModernThink Higher Education Insight Survey and address topics such as influence and collaboration, sources of resistance, approaches to data sharing as well as templates for action planning, goal setting, project management, measurement, and ownership. Sessions are customizable and employ a high-impact delivery strategy that blends virtual and in-person sessions.

Action Planning Workshop – This full-day, on-site session provides unit leaders who are responsible for developing and implementing an action plan, and their teams, with a road-tested action planning process. The ModernThink Action Planning Guide© and Workshop empower participants to turn aspirations into concrete achievements through rigorous data analysis, involving key stakeholders in systemic planning, disciplined execution and meaningful evaluation. The Action Planning Workshop provides the processes, tools and templates necessary to support this work. Teams will leave the session equipped to take effective data-informed action.