Sarah Holtan, PhD invites Darrell Bazzell, Senior VP and CFO at University of Texas at Austin, to discuss how universities can remain open and successful in the face of changing times. Darrell Bazzell is a higher education expert, having implemented cost share policies, technological tools, and training sessions to reduce research grant processing time. In this episode, they explore strategies for operational excellence in higher education, quick wins for larger changes and how to create a culture of continuous improvement.

Darrell's approach includes collecting data, making non-prejudicial conclusions, finding the resources needed for cultural change like human capital and technology, setting markers of progress and generating buy-in from all levels of an institution. Tune in as they dive deeper into their experience with university change management.

Episode Highlights

08:49 - In general, people tend to acknowledge when processes are not optimized, but they always think the problem is the person who touches the process before me or after me. It's not me. And so, this kind of breaks through all of that. For me, it's really starting out with, and disarming people, to help them understand that these processes can be better, and the problems aren't the people. It's the process.

13:57 - Metrics are incredibly important, again, particularly as you start moving forward to implement. You want to know what data is going to inform our success or not. And so, I try to measure at multiple levels. Of course, when you engage in process improvement, there are small process improvement steps and some more significant. You do want to measure those things.

24:19 - Culture change, of course, is really important. But culture change, again, at the end of the day is a function of having a very clear and focused sense of purpose in terms of what you're trying to accomplish.

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Sarah Holtan, PhD

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Darrell Bazzell

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