Strategies for Open Communication
What strategies could be executed in order to ensure the FAO is part of the decision-making processes that affect financial aid administration and compliance?
A few things to make sure that the FAO is involved in the decision making processes is to implement weekly leadership meetings at the campus level. Typically each department head should be covering topics/issues that is happening within their departments and communicate the expectations of their senior/executive level management. Being up to date on what is going on in each department is helpful because it should help motivate where our focus needs to be within each department which, in turn, will help ensure compliance and the best customer service. From here, having weekly meetings with your FA team is beneficial in communicating any upcoming changes that were discussed in those leadership meetings. This will give the whole team an opportunity to develop and strategize new procedures for those changes and develop a sense of pride/ownership in what they do every day. Meeting with your team is vital so that we can discuss issues, ideas and where additional training might be needed so that everyone is on the same page when it comes to setting policies and procedures.
Romina ,
Yes. We just want to make sure that others see their roles as important and not a nuisance.
Warren Hoffman
Warren,
Bringing the FAO to meetings monthly for a quick update with the rest of the management team can help a lot to ensure everyone is up-to-date with financial aid regulations and how other departments are impacted from the occurring changes. Communicating effectively with other departments builds up teamwork and it lowers the chances of overall errors.
Thank you,
Romina
Janet,
Once again, you are right, it is important to get other offices involved in compliance. Depending on the school, once a month may be too much for everyone's schedules. Quarterly or at least semi annually would be sufficient once things are underway and hopefully running smoothly.
Warren Hoffman
I believe monthly meetings with the other departments would be a good start for our school which is pretty small. We need to make them aware of their responsibility in compliance and ask for their assistance. Most staff believe it is the responsibility of the Financial Aid Director.
One of the strategies could be weekly meeting with all the departments to discuss any issues
Daisy,
If that works for your school GREAT!
Warren Hoffman
I understand, but in our institution we meet every Monday for an hour or an hour and half and we discuss new policies and regulations; goals, budgets, etc.
Mayra,
While quarterly meetings should be enough for existing issues, the FA Director should often remind other Directors to keep FA in the loop when there are policy changes and new regulations. This will help insure that the FA Office is not blindsided during and audit or review.
Warren Hoffman
Daisy,
Weekly meeting may be a little too much for other departments that have so much else on their plates. I would consider quarterly meeting with an appointed compliance team composed of someone from each office as sufficient.
Warren Hoffman
It is important for all departments to keep in communication about any changes that may affect the school. New regulation, as well as being in compliance needs to be monitored frequently. This will help the intuition have a stable structure and the school will run smoothly.
Weekly meetings where all the departments discuss new institutional policies, new federal regulations that will involve every department, discuss challenges and new delivery methods. The more involved all the departments are in discussions and campus decision making processes, the more effective the administration of financial aid and the compliance of the regulations that involve all the departments will be.
Catalina ,
If the President is aware of your efforts with your peer directors and some common ground can be found (for example, with the strategic plan) it will help highlight the importance of how financial aid administration can be used for the greater good to assist the school in meeting their objectives. The Financial Aid Administrator has to possess some sales and marketing skills in order to get noticed but in the good way! It is imperative to know what the President's key goals are and find a way to be a part of their success. The awareness is key as you point out so well.
Cindy Kohlman
The best strategy is making your campus president aware of your processes and what department effects it. Be apart or request to be apart of management and or academic meetings to ensure everyone is aware the FA demands and needs and how other departments can be a part to help in the process.
Ileana,
All great ideas to ensure that staff members keep the communication lines open. Advance planning and time for implementation are also important as staff appreciate when things are not dropped on them the last minute. So often, I have witnessed the quietest staff member offering the best solution to a problem when they are just afforded the opportunity to comment and be heard! Staff meetings are so valuable for this purpose and so many others.
Cindy Kohlman
Maria,
Meetings and training are key ingredients to keeping everyone informed, especially in the financial aid field where things can change very quickly. These strategies will work best if timing is taken into consideration, if the managers can bring some fun into the mix and if the information can be made pertinent to everyone's job responsibilities. Staff also need to understand the reasons why it is so important to keep the communication lines open, in order to best serve students and protect the school that employs them.
Cindy Kohlman
Sergio,
Both strategies that you suggest work very well to achieve open communication and dialogue between departments. Otherwise, each department will work within their own silo and customer service to the student will suffer, in addition to putting the institution at risk for audit exceptions. It just doesn't make sense that any staff member would ever be in favor of this model, however, unfortunately these infrastructures do still exist in academia today. Training, can serve many purposes, like team building, some down time to have fun and reward those that take the time to organize and develop the programming. I know it can be a challenge to engage all types of personalities, but utilizing different methods and forums will help.
Cindy Kohlman
If the FAO is no included in any decision-making meeting, the FAO must request the Institution's President to be included and explain why it is very important and how the FAO can help the Institution to effective administer student funds and reaching its goals while staying in compliance with DOE regulations. Weekly meetings where all Offices are invited are a very good idea to keep all the Institution's members up to date on projects and make any adjustment if necessary.
In order to understand the DOE regulations there should be cross departmental meetings weekly to keep up to date with the new regulations. In addition it would be great to have different departments cross train so they could have a better understanding of compliance issues.
