Generating bespoke value and impact evidence to inform a thought leadership approach to service engagement at The University of Sunderland

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to share how the maturing value and impact model at The University of Sunderland is enabling the author to generate evidence and articulate the insights. The author draws from that evidence to inform and underpin the strategic service planning, resourcing and reporting. Design/methodology/approach - The author will demonstrate how impactful articulation of these insights through data visualisation is enabling the author to employ thought leadership in the relationship management with stakeholders by increasing their understanding of the benefit of engagement with the service offers and demonstrating value for money and the value and impact of the role in achieving institutional objectives. The paper will give an overview of the key techniques of the model and will then demonstrate its practical applications using the following examples: how the model is underpinning the approaches to thought leadership in relationship management by enabling the author to effectively generate and articulate evidence to inform strategic faculty action plans; how the model has enabled the authors to develop a new graphical approach to annual reporting. By combining the variety of data sets generated by the model, the author is able to articulate the outputs and impacts of cross-service holistic service offers and clearly demonstrate how institutional strategic objectives are fulfilled. Findings - The author will discuss the key findings including: the importance of embedding the model at the heart of the service culture - both in terms of involving staff in data generation and of developing an evidencebased culture of service planning; the benefit of meaningful data, analysis and insights in helping to inform and underpin strategic conversations and relationship management; the transferability of the model across service settings; the agility of a snapshot approach in enabling the authors to evidence and inform current strategic service priorities