After recognising significant overlap across high-value stakeholders, specifically philanthropists, business and industry, and policy influencers, Newcastle University wanted to become clearer, more confident and consistent about how it engaged them.

Following an initial exploratory session with the University’s Executive Board, Director of Advancement Paul Tyack got back in touch to kick-start a programme of messaging, workshops and practical coaching to galvanise senior leaders around Newcastle’s impact in the region and in the world. From the outset the intention was not for a partnership only with Advancement, but with the Executive team, and with other functions at Newcastle, including Communications and Newcastle Innovations.

The brief
The brief came against a backdrop of increasing competition and resource constraint within Higher Education. Universities are under growing pressure to demonstrate their economic and social value to government, businesses, donors and the wider public.

“We needed to increase clarity and consistency in how we present ourselves to the world, how we engage with partners and, ultimately, how we achieve the greatest possible impact,” said Paul. “We already had a strong strategic foundation in ‘From Newcastle. For the World.’, but we wanted to sharpen the University’s messages for high-value audiences and equip senior colleagues to use them with confidence and authenticity.”

From institutional language to compelling stories
The programme combined the development of an internally co-created strategic message house with practical workshops for around 30 staff and senior leaders and 1:1 coaching with the Executive Board.

“Our work with Newcastle focused less on creating a new story, but refining and strengthening existing messaging, understanding what would resonate with Newcastle’s high value audiences, and giving leaders a simple framework and the confidence to make those stories their own.” says Nik Miller, Partner at More Partnership.

A More team of Nik Miller, Liz Reilly and Laura Phipps drew on Newcastle’s existing and emerging strategic thinking, helping to strengthen the alignment between the University’s ambitions and Fourth Generation University principles, while also responding to insights from a recent stakeholder perceptions audit. The emerging messaging model helped Newcastle translate an overarching strategic concept into the articulation of their impact, through a framework of straightforward messages, proof points and impact stories.

“A message can be strategically accurate but still fail to land,” said Dr Laura Phipps, Partner at More Partnership. “We kept coming back to the audience and asking what we want them to think, feel and do, and what human story would best help them get there.”

For Paul, the golden thread that ran across the whole project, was stories. He said: “What came through, and More’s guidance on this was really helpful, was the importance of storytelling. Rather than structures, models, visions, strategies… what really, really mattered was compelling, authentic storytelling.”

Building confidence at the top
The work deliberately engaged Newcastle’s Executive Board from the outset, creating opportunities for them to rehearse, challenge and personalise the narrative. In a familiarisation workshop with the Board, Newcastle’s three Faculty Pro-Vice-Chancellors used the framework to tell stories about the University’s impact – spanning its historic response to cholera, cancer drug development and contemporary dementia research.

“The moment that was most special to me in this whole project was when we were in the room with the Executive Board, really well coached by the team at More, really well planned, and our three faculty PVCs stood up and absolutely knocked our socks off with the stories they had to tell,” says Paul.

That exercise also surfaced the importance of Executive Board members feeling equipped to speak confidently about strengths outside their own academic areas. Through workshops and a programme of 1:1 coaching with Nik and Liz, senior leaders became equipped and confident to understand the University’s signature stories well enough to represent Newcastle as a whole.

Bringing the University together around its audiences
As the work progressed, messaging also became a catalyst for closer collaboration between teams responsible for Newcastle’s external relationships. Advancement, Newcastle Innovations, and Communications functions have different professional disciplines, but many of the stakeholders they were engaging had overlapping interests and motivations.

Working closely again with the senior leaders, the More team designed and facilitated a workshop across Advancement and Newcastle Innovations, to create space for colleagues to think about those relationships collectively rather than through separate organisational lenses.

“The Newcastle team wanted this to be one unified piece of work to build strong external partnerships, with a joint mission to strengthen relationships for the benefit of Newcastle’s reputation, research, students and communities. One of the most encouraging things has been seeing the work move beyond a communications exercise,” said Liz Reilly. “The shared stories and ways of working give colleagues a reason and mechanism to come together around the same audiences and ambitions. That is much more powerful than simply asking everyone to use the same words.”

Estelle Blanks, Director of Newcastle Innovations, added: “The joint workshop was really a professional highlight for me – as our teams explored at a strategic and operational level how we could collaborate even more effectively to achieve the best outcomes for our institution.”

The impact
The work is already showing up in how Newcastle’s leaders communicate, and has provided a platform for Newcastle’s Faculty PVCs to have more meaningful conversations about the connections between their respective areas. Senior leadership are taking genuine joy and pride in the institution’s achievements while speaking about Newcastle without getting lost in internal complexity or individual silos.

“This work started as a piece of ‘pre-season training’” outlines Paul, “but our work with More turned into something much deeper and more participatory. We’re building a shared institutional habit, telling stories about what Newcastle makes possible and inviting others to be part of what comes next. From this work, we want to build a portfolio of sector-leading partnerships that benefit Newcastle, our partners and above all, the communities we serve. More have been a dependable and thoughtful partner in taking us closer to that ambition.”

 

To find out more about the bespoke support we could provide your organisation, contact us on info@morepartnership.com or 01382 224730.