Supporting Goldsmiths University Through Strategic Change, PMO and Statutory Planning Delivery

The Challenge

Like many higher education institutions, Goldsmiths’ change agenda sits at the intersection of academic governance, board-level sign-off and statutory reporting obligations, including HESA returns. That meant timelines and approvals could move quickly, and the specialists supporting the work needed to be comfortable operating in that environment.

Key considerations included:

• How could delivery continue when priorities and approvals could pause without warning?
• Where could scarce transformation and PMO capability be found at short notice?
• How could candidates stay engaged through stop-start governance cycles?

Our Brief

Goldsmiths needed a partner who could supply specialist capability at pace, without compromising on quality, and who understood that requirements might shift more than once before a role was filled:

• Provide high-impact transformation and PMO capability: change, process design, project delivery and strategic planning / statutory-return expertise.
• Maintain momentum and quality in a market where these profiles are scarce.
• Stay close to evolving requirements as governance and stakeholder priorities shifted.

Our Approach

Our approach centred on five things:

• Built close working relationships with senior stakeholders in the PMO / strategic projects function and adjacent teams.
• Ran a structured search and shortlist process focused on proven delivery in regulated, stakeholder-heavy environments.
• Managed stop-start recruitment and timeline changes with care, keeping candidates engaged while requirements and approvals evolved.
• Stayed close through governance pauses in November 2025 and March-April 2026, ready to reassess the moment stakeholders were back.
• Covered adjacent disciplines from a single relationship, rather than running separate searches for each specialism.

Our consultants identified a key insight along the way: in a governance-heavy environment, the hardest part of transformation hiring often isn’t finding capability, it’s keeping it warm. Staying close through the pauses, rather than stepping back between instructions, meant Goldsmiths could move fast the moment approvals came back.

In a stop-start environment, continuity is often the difference between a stalled search and a ready shortlist.

Key Takeaway

Goldsmiths’ transformation and PMO needs sit inside a complex, governance-heavy environment where priorities and approvals can shift quickly. Practicus’s role has been as much about staying close through the pauses as it has about the placements themselves, keeping candidates warm and requirements current so delivery can resume the moment governance allows.

Across planning, change, process and delivery, that continuity has meant Goldsmiths hasn’t had to restart a search from scratch each time priorities moved.

Results

• Strategic planning / statutory-return (HESA) support delivered via two interim engagements, July-November 2025.
• Organisational change capability delivered through two fixed-term People & Organisational Change Manager engagements, March-October 2024.
• Process design and project delivery supported through interim Business Process Designer and Project Manager (SET) placements.
• Continuity maintained through governance pauses in November 2025 and March-April 2026, without losing candidate engagement.
• A repeatable track record now in place, ready to be called on as the next phase of change is approved.