I am sure that everyone at our school knows enough to verbalize the importance of the students, our Mission and to be customer focused. Actions, however, do speak louder than words. There are times when you get the feeling from some staff that this would be a great job if it were not for thoses pesky students! Or, I don't have time to talk to the student, I'm busy doing my job!
I think we should set an Organizational Goal that continually refocuses us on Attention = Retention. Clearly there are some specific things we can do that will make that slogan more than just words.
I tell my folks that every student can succeed if we are all good enough Models, Mentors and Monitors.
Your school sounds a lot like mine. If we only had better students all of our problems would be solved. My goal is to change that attitude to We can help everyone succeed.
Don
Just keep in mind how important Attention=Retention is. Sometimes when the whole organization is focused on accredidation, the students end up getting less attention. We always keep that goal in mind.
Currently our institution is working towards regional accredidation. In order to achieve this goal the entire institution is working together towards one mission.
I truly appreciate your comments Donald. You are absolutely right on target with this. When everyone understands the roles of the staff and faculty, it is easier to support each other and have a stronger effect on the students.
I feel that our organization would most benefit from a company wide goal of learning a little bit about each others job responsibilities and how they work hand-in-hand. It has always been easy for an instructor to blame a poor student on the admissions representative and the placement officer to blame the instructor for not better preparing the student in job search. If we can take the time to understand the functional responsibilities of each staff member, we can realize that sometimes the blame sits behind our desk or stands in front of the classroom.
Thanks Paul. What a great way to look at it. I love the idea of all of you working together to graduate students with the students.
I think the goal that had the largest impact at our istitution was to stop referring to our student base as "they" and "them". It is important to include the staff and faculty in all of the ways that we try to push our students. Now we use words like "us" and "we".
I definitely understand your situation with hiring and retaining the proper staff to achieve your goals. It is necessary but difficult at times. It is nice that you are providing some training workshops to help your staff build on opportunities. It can make all the difference.
Thank you Rafael for your great input. It sounds like your organization is on the right track. Working as a team to create a learning environment will certainly help your students be successful!
We recently opened a new campus and are going through the growing stages of working very hard to recruit, retain, and keep growing as a school in this new community. Our organizational goal of Team Work and creating a Learning Environment have been very clear and helpful in achieving our main goal and mission.
The Team Work goal has helped create a really supportive and cooperative environment where everyone is responsible for helping students, answering the phones, help each other inter and intra-departments, and everyone being responsible for the overall functioning, performance, and effectiveness of our services.
At the same time, we offer many trainings and workshops for faculty and employees to promote a clear shared vision, as well as an ongoing learning environment.
When the organizational goal is clear, everyone is in the same frequency.
Absolutely Andrea. You've got it! Everyone needs to work toward a common goal and that should be the student success.
I think a goal we have been working very hard with is the "it is not my job mentality." We have really pushed to help all of our schools understand that the students are our jobs. It does not matter who they first approach becuase we all have the responsibility to help them reach their goals. This has played a large role in some team building between departments and more understanding of the role each department plays to student success. Once all of our schools achieve this way of thinking, our customer service improves and the overall environment of the school is positive and geared toward the student. After all, that is why we are all here.
Mr. Dagger,
Thank you for the great example of a football team. A football team usually has a first string line up, second string, practicing team, etc., but not everyone gets to play in the "big game". But every single person on the team is essential. If it weren't for the practice team, the first string wouldn't be able to play as well. It's just another example of how important every member on the team is and how important a common purpose/vision is.
One of the goals I have been working with at our institution is to have a motto, "One voice, one vision." The importance of having everyone from the receptionist, to the director is of high priority. To build relationships with students, it is imperative that everyone is on the same page. I look at this as if we are a football team. We have jobs and we have plays. Each football team has a language to communicate to eachother. The coach is the coach for a reason. This is the same for having a director. The quaterback is in charge of all the quarterback responsibilities. This is the same for a particular group such as admissions, or financial aid. If everyone does their assisgned job to the best of their ability, we have produced a win-win situation. Everyone will will.
This approach will achieve better retention rates.
