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Cass Business School Briefing
Using Theory of Change to challenge yourselves to get
the right strategy for your Union
Caroline Copeman, Principal Consultant at City University London’s Cass Centre for
Charity Effectiveness (CCE), along with Mo Wiltshire, Chief Executive of King’s College
London Students’ Union explore a recent initiative to apply Theory of Change to a
Students’ Union: sharing both the process and their learning.
We’ve had a rich and eventful experience of using Theory of Change to help develop a
strategy, and want to share our learning. This briefing will describe what we mean by
Theory of Change (ToC), explore our learning about why, how and when to use it, and
whom to involve, and then describe the timeline and process for the KCLSU strategy
development process.
Firstly some information about what it is:
What’s Theory of Change (ToC)?
It’s a tool to help you 1. Define the change you seek to bring about as a result of the
work you do as an organisation, and then 2. Use this understanding to define the causal
connections required to bring this change about. In essence you ask ‘what’s the problem
we exist to resolve?’, then ‘what will the changed word look like?’, then ‘what will it take’
to bring about the change we seek?’ (this is the Change bit of the ToC). As importantly,
when mapping the causal connections required to bring about the change, you define the
assumptions upon which you base your definitions – your beliefs about the world and
how things tick and hang together (that’s the Theory bit of the ToC – your theory as an
organisation about how things work, what’s right and what’s wrong).
An example from the work with KCLSU is:
The change KCLSU seeks to bring about is that:
Every member leaves King’s having fulfilled their potential, ready and able to shape
tomorrow’s world.
The theory (assumptions) that are woven through and underpin the delivery of
this vision of a changed world are that:
 Education is of value to society as well as to the individuals taking part in it
 Education is most fulfilling when it’s a social experience
 The more diverse the social experience the more valuable it will be
 Involvement in shaping an experience makes it more fulfilling
 There is a hierarchy of needs to be met
 Being accepted for who you are at College is a basic need
Once you have a definition of the change you exist to create, supported by a map of
what it will take to bring the change about, reinforced by a definition of your basic
assumptions about the world – you’ve got a perfect backdrop for your strategy. You’ve
defined why you exist, what you need to do, and probably who you need to do it with.
Because it’s rare for an organisation to build a ToC that they can deliver on their own:
you almost always have to join up with others because the task is so huge.
Some of our learning about why do it and when
In a moment we’ll talk about what we did, and how we did it. But first some learning,
especially learning about why to do it, and when:
ToC is in essence a tool for
creating a different kind of
strategic conversation – it helps
you ask different questions: so
much of strategy development
can involve ‘confirmation bias’
(we seek evidence to support
our beliefs and ignore other
messages) so any tool that
shakes you up and exposes your
thinking to challenge can be
helpful.
If you always ask the same
questions of the same people,
you’re likely to get the same
answers, and keep on doing the
same old things whether they’re
right or not!
ToC can affirm your current
strategy – it may also open up
new strategic avenues…
So:
Use ToC when you need to refresh and really review
your strategy from scratch
Use ToC when you want to shake yourself up and
challenge your assumptions, or make sure
everyone shares the same assumptions about
why you exist (to do what?)
Get the right people in the room – diversity of mindset
is really important – if you all think the same,
you won’t shake yourselves up and really
challenge yourselves; get different perspectives
and experiences in the room, including of course,
the student perspective
Be committed for quite a long conversation: don’t do
it if you need to move fast
Be committed to sharing with a wide audience as it’s a
powerful way of engaging people – don’t do it if
you’re not prepared for mass engagement
because you won’t get the return on investment
Use it to build mass support for a way forward, even if
it’s a difficult way forward – so developing a ToC
is as much about bringing clarity about what we
won’t be doing as it is about what we will be
When you’ve got your ToC you then start work on
your strategy – it isn’t a shortcut…
What we did: our timeline
March 2013
KCLSU decided to do a full strategic review – starting from scratch
with a (fairly) blank sheet of strategy paper
Summer 2013
Dry run with KCLSU, UCLU and Kent SU to test out the process of
using ToC as an approach, to see if it would work and meet KCLSU
needs
Definition workshop with the KCLSU board and departmental leads
Staff volunteers recruited to join the group working on The Big
Plan
September 2013
Big group session to build the ToC (lots of post its, lots of flip chart
paper, lots of coffee): What problem do we exist to solve? What
will it take to solve it?
October 2013
A smaller was set up group to digest and rationalise, and produce a
working draft to test out with members and staff
Over the page is the top of the KCLSU ToC: our ultimate aim and the five big
outcomes or strands of work that will need to be realised to bring this change
about:
Our change and our theory
being tested v 1 (Oct)
Every member leaves
King’s having fulfilled
their potential, ready
and able to shape
tomorrow’s world
Every member leaves
College feeling
connected to the
wider world and ready
and able to shape it
Every member is an
active shaper of their
College Experience
Every member feels
part of the London,
King’s (and Union?)
community
Every member has
access to a learning
environment they
need to fulfil their
academic potential
Every member is safe
and secure enough to
focus on making the
most of their College
Experience
November 2013
We tested the ideas with students and staff
December 2013
We started to build The Big Plan from the ToC – first steps were to
use a departmental lead and staff volunteer group to say:
 What do we do already?
 What else could we do?
 What could we leave to others to do?
 How will we decide what we should do (as opposed to
leave for others or just signpost? (our decision making
criteria)
Into
January 2014
We ended up being able to colour code our ToC map according to:
 What we should do (pale green)
 What we should lobby others to do (lilac)
 What we should signpost (blue)
 What we should leave to others (red)
A colour coded example of one of the five strands of the ToC
can be found over the page….
2.Every member has access to the learning environment they
need to fulfil their academic potential (Effective Learners)
2.2 Members understand what
their rights and responsibilities
are as a learner
Members are
clear on what the
teaching and
learning
experience will
be.
Members are
clear on their role
in the learning
experience
E.g. Members
are clear what to
do if they are
dissatisfied
All members
have the chance
to shape their
university
experience
2.1 College recognises the importance of teaching
and learning
There are
appropriate
Teaching and
Learning facilities
(physical and
virtual)
The College has
enough good
quality, trained
and valued
teachers
There is interaction between
disciplines and levels of study within
disciplines
There is social
interaction
between
disciplines and
within disciplines
levels of study
Teaching and
learning is
continually
shaped and
improved based
on member
feedback
There is
academic
interaction
between
disciplines and
levels of study
within disciplines
January 2014
Now that we were clear about what we needed to do to bring the
change about (including what we would do ourselves, lobby others
to do, signpost, and importantly STOP doing – because it made no
contribution for us to do it), we could then start to build the detail
of the Big plan. We brought more analysis into the picture:
PESTLE, College strategy, financials, usage etc.
February 2014
The board and departmental leads met to bring the whole thing
together and resolve the three big outstanding questions, which for
KCLSU were:
 Do we run commercial services to fund work that
achieves our change or as part of achieving the change
itself?
 How can we improve or think differently about how we
engage members in decision-making?
 How far do we invest in our ethics and for example
become a Living Wage employer?
The three big questions were not new to KCLSU – and we knew they needed to be
answered even before we started ToC process. However, they were three of a number of
other questions that were bubbling along, and going through the process of developing
the ToC helped us answer all bar these three. Some refer to the ToC tool as a logic
model – (i.e. if you believe A needs to happen then it follows you will do B), and we
certainly found this to be the case as it helped us to logically answer the majority of the
questions we had and populate the bulk of our strategic plan. We informally called this
the ‘the no-brainer’ part. As an example, ensuring students basic needs are met is the
foundation of our work, but our mapping showed big gaps in areas we need to deliver on
or more actively signpost to. It was therefore logical that we needed to recruit an
additional caseworker to increase capacity, develop how we delivered our pre-arrival
information on rights and responsibilities, and invest in our ability to signpost to others
working in the area.
These three ‘big outstanding questions’ that were left were ones where we can see the
answer would impact profoundly on the rest of the organisation, but our logic pointed us
in a number of different directions. It therefore became clear that these were the issues
that needed in-depth discussion and deliberation with the Board and management team.
Overall, a ToC does not write a strategy itself, but it does provide a tool for checking
back on what you are here to achieve as a Union and a test to apply to future
opportunities when they arise. It allowed us to think bigger and to think through all the
ways in which changes need to be achieved – from cultural attitudes, programme design,
partnership relationships and deciding when actually it is best left to others to deliver the
change needed to deliver. It definitely gave us confidence as an organisation that our
direction is the right one for our members, but it will take time (and some faith) before
we will see how far the theory translates into the reality of a more joined up, impactful
organisation.
And this is where we ended up in July 2014:
And more can be found on the Big Plan here.
We would be fascinated to hear your thoughts about our ideas to improve strategy
development, so do get in touch: [email protected] or @CassCCE