Looking back on 2011… who would’ve thought?????

I’m sure there will be a million or more posts over the next couple of days of folks like looking back at the past year…  I wouldn’t usually submit a post like that, but given so much has changed for me (at least professionally) over the past 15 months, I think it is a worthy message.

Since I left a job that I loved about 15 months ago, I have fallen into another I actually love more and that is more fulfilling personally and professionally.  I’ve found my long-term avenue for making a difference in the world.  And while I am writing about it, I should probably give credit where it is due.  So, thanks is inserted here for Bob Wummer.  Bob is a professional consultant and executive coach that has helped me understand, accept and articulate who I am as a professional and individual.

Over the course of last fall and the early winter of 2011, I began putting together some concepts and gauging my interest levels in a long-term position, little did I realize that I was, in fact, putting together the strategy for developing a new business for myself.  By late spring, I had the nuts and bolts of the plan in place and with the support of several other great colleagues and mentors, I rolled out Fourth Dimension Partners, LLC., a strategic consulting practice for higher education.  A special thanks goes here to Steve McClatchy, Brian Niles, Brian Carlson, Cheryl Kauvar, Chris Dockal and John Mulder.  While most of these folks haven’t even met, together, they helped me compile the thoughts, approaches and strategy to put this business together.

And finally, this summer (it was in mid-July on a cool afternoon on our back patio while our daughter and I was napping) my wife and I agreed it was time to begin putting the work into a full-time effort.  On July 25, it all came to fruition.

Not even a year ago would I have known that this would happen, yet I can’t describe the level of satisfaction I am finding in this process, the company’s and my growth and the professional release that has been growing and building internally.  I get great pleasure helping other schools accomplish the success they are looking for – in whatever way we determine together to get them there.

Now, keeping things real, the business would also not have been possible without a great opportunity that supplemented the revenue during the first few months of building the practice.  Thanks to Mark Lubragge, I got some great advice that helped me join the team of T.O. Epps and Associates in what turned out to be one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had.  I was able to achieve a goal I had in college, appearing routinely on live TV.  It wasn’t in the way I had fashioned in my mind when I was 22, but the goal was achieved, and I look forward to returning to QVC again hopefully on July 25, 2012.

What a positive year 2011 turned out to be.  It wouldn’t have been possible without the folks I mentioned above, but most especially without the love, patience and support of my wife, Andrea.  Together, we are looking for the best year to come together.  So, to 2012, let’s celebrate!

Parking For Faculty Only

I was visiting a college campus recently, and I read a sign I see at every college and university I’ve ever visited.  For the first time, though, this sign glared out at me.  Maybe it was because it was posted everywhere I turned.

As a first time visitor to the campus, this most certainly left an impression on me.  I am not writing this post, however, as a debate on parking designations on campus, rather as an analogy on our own interpretation of the service we deliver.

Can you think of a time you visited a campus when someone from the respective institution didn’t mention the care and commitment they give students; the service they are so proud of?  While parking lot designations on a campus certainly don’t represent how well (or how poor) an institution services its community members, it is a symbol, I believe, of their approach to where they, as a whole institution, place the value on those they serve.  As you ponder the quality of service  you provide your students, look for the signs around you (pun intended).

How often are you telling a student what they cannot do?  How often are you re-directing a student to another office or department?  That doesn’t mean you aren’t helping the student in front of you (or on the phone), appropriately escorting or directing them where they need to be, but rather a sign of the root cause: students aren’t able to easily identify where they need to go in the first place.

I think there are times when administrators study lower than expected satisfaction assessment results and struggle to put their finger on the issue.  That’s because student’s can’t put their finger on it either.  They just know something isn’t right; that they are too often frustrated with the “system”.

To find that answer, we need to read the signs in front of our faces.

By the way, when was the last time you went to a restaurant, mall or other consumer-based business and saw signs directing customers to the furthest parking spaces from that business?

Increase Marketing ROI by Improving Customer/Client Satisfaction

I’ve often been asked, “what is the top thing I can do to market my program?”  And the answer is very basic:  improve your customer/client satisfaction.  The number one source of new clients should be referrals.

Your best customers are the ones that LOVE your business.  Do you know who they are?  Are you collecting information that tells you who they are?  And it doesn’t need to be scientific data you’re collecting.  There are numerous simple tactics to identify who these individuals are – and here is ONE reason to invest time into social media.

There have been many gimmicks over the years to try to increase referrals – the easiest being gifts, cash or gift cards.  I am here to tell you – that is a BAD idea.  Your best referrals come from clients who are truly dedicated to you; believe in the power of your brand with all of the their heart.

You need to identify these individuals, find out what it is you are doing to make them feel that way, and then determine how to replicate it more often.  If it is because of the efforts of a single team member, you need to find a way to mimic those efforts.

The biggest mistake I’ve seen year after year from colleagues and competitors is to over-think the issue and try to establish elaborate, over-arching plans to address satisfaction.  You can get valuable results without the time and money spent on those plans.  Start small, evaluate and then take the next step.  Larger plans take longer, are more likely to fail and generally are less likely to be completed.

The best victories are often small victories.

Transitions

In college, I learned a lot about transitions – the changes college students encounter between the time they first enroll and when they graduate.

I had not, until recently, considered much about transitions beyond those encountered in that phase of life.  That’s probably because I hadn’t encountered as tough a transition as I recently did when I changed jobs.  Externally, many of my friends and colleagues felt that I was making a career change, but in reality, it wasn’t all that different.

When I got married, I didn’t have any preconceived notions about what married life would really be like.  It was the same as I became a parent for the first time. 

But as a successful professional, I understand who I am and the competencies I bring  as a leader.  My mistake was coming in to a position with the idea that I could simply parlay my success and instantly apply what I know and what I do with a company in a similar industry, and learn a few things along the way.

The challenges were much greater than expected.  And while I have become much more comfortable in the new role, I still have a long way to go before I can truly make the significant impact I had in my last position.

If I could offer one piece of advice it would be this:  Transitions start and end with relationships.  Don’t push too hard to move too fast trying to have impact.  Instead, get to know your colleagues, their roles and their strengths and weaknesses.  Learn how together you can begin to complement each other as a better team. 

Success will follow, but you must give it time.

Returning from Sabbatical

So, it has been a long while since I last posted. Obviously, there would be a lot that happens in such a span, but most importantly is the professional change I’ve encountered. My last few posts were about preparing for and enduring change. Little did I know at the time, how much change I would be encountering.

This fall, I decided to leave higher education and take a position in the business sector. It has been a very positive move for me. That isn’t to say that the transition between jobs has been easy; that is a different post in itself.

As a leader, you have to understand your competencies and strengths, and as author Marcus Buckingham would argue, focus your efforts on improving those strengths rather than on the weaknesses.

So after some time I looked at my competencies and determined what I needed most to grow was to move on. In November, I took a position with New Horizons Computer Learning Center, focusing on the marketing and strategy initiatives for the company.

So going forward, you can expect to see the next several posts providing an inside look into the changes I have and continue to experience as I navigate into this new profession. I’ll share my experience so that my friends that read as well as some of the students we work with at New Horizons can begin to gain some perspective as they too begin to transition into new careers.

Continuing Positive Change

I wrote earlier this summer about a plan to implement significant change to support the growing and changing needs of our supporters – our students. A coupling of several uncontrollable factors and rapid growth led to less than superior service for many of our students.

This week, a new staff member joins our team to help continue efforts to build enrollment and provide direct service to students enrolled at the main campus. In addition, this new staff member’s predecessor has been promoted to a new position we created that will support the oversight of service to students. In the past this had been a responsibility I shared with one assistant director. As the problems increase in complexity as well as quantity, we needed a single individual to oversee the resolution of issues between the multiple departments that hold the answers to our students problems. It also provides support to our staff at remote sites that cannot as easily respond to these issues remotely.

Internally, the staff discussed our options for many weeks before coming to the finalized plan that we began slowly, but intentionally implementing in August. Once our new staff member is trained, we will be able to finalize the implementation.

This process requires a lot of self-reflection with an open mind. It is imperative that you acknowledge weaknesses in the structure as well as individual performance to ensure that the response and plan being implemented has the best opportunity for long-term success. I would also suggest that the process cannot be fully developed prior to implementation. We identified new responsibilities for five positions, each varying in the amount of change. Two of our department’s top three positions, however, had significant changes in the roles they both provide to support the department. Prior to implementation, those changes were only 80-90% complete. We continue to develop the remaining pieces as we see where the smaller responsibilities best fit within the new structure.

Reactions

I read an article from Big Think earlier today and followed it with another reader’s comments. The article was about the Wikileaks, and the author’s viewpoint basically stated his reasons why those leaking the information should be punished. The first commenter responded with praise for those that are helping leak the information, but supported it with, what I believe to be outlandish statements.

I’m neither an outspoken supporter, nor opponent of our efforts in the war. I do see a need to proactively protect our nation from attacks, but also believe this is costing us a terrible amount of money with no end in sight.

But with this particular topic, I tend to support keeping the information classified and believe those leaking the information do not have the high-level access to the necessary types of information to make a proper decision, and therefore are not in a position, morally, much less legally, to determine on their own if it should be published.

My point is that finding the true resolution to this dilemma is difficult as it is with any highly charged topic. Few people have enough information to more appropriately determine the true risk of leaking these documents, and those who do have it are “on the inside,” and most likely not in a position to be objective. To find a truly objective party to determine the risk of the leaks, means opening the vault of classified information to a third party, and that is something I’ve not seen the government willing to do very often.

To read my response, click here.

“I’m an Android.”

About a decade or so ago, it somehow became “cool” to be anti-Microsoft. And about five or so years ago, Apple had a very successful campaign about that. The entire campaign portrayed Microsoft/Windows as a rigid, inflexible, geeky, bug/error-laden system.

What I’m seeing more recently, though, is the potential for Google to take the same type of campaign, and use it against Apple. With the recent problems about the new iPhone being widely reported, then disputed, then acknowledged by Apple, and more and more programmers complaining about their new app’s being rejected from the i-product marketplace (whatever its technical name is), it seems that Apple is becoming everything they portrayed Microsoft as being.

The difference with that campaign is that Microsoft then, and now, maintains a very large marketshare for its operating systems. For Apple, things are different. All of the new smart phone devices are rapidly taking market share from the iPhone. As the growth in this market continues, Apple will be facing more threats, and Google’s Android-based phones may have an opportunity to take more advantage of this.

I’ve never owned an iPhone, but I did buy an iPod. I did so, however, because I didn’t feel as though I had other, more advantageous options. Unless something significant changes, I don’t foresee me ever buying an iPhone – thus, “I’m and Andriod.”

PS – Thanks to Frank Wilder for discussing this with me last week. It helped inspire the thought for this post.

Is the summer over?

Our department’s transition has continued over the past several weeks, and the details of this project can be overwhelming at times. The summer, while not one of my personally favorite seasons, is a season that challenges your focus. It always seems to be over before you’ve realized it began. So if you’re not aware of your surroundings, and ready to tackle the priorities and challenges facing you, you will fall behind. In our small world of higher education, the fall is the worst season to enter when you are behind.

We are very near the point of announcing a new position opening in our department for the fall term. This position will be central to our ability to expand our outreach and service to current students. We’ve also re-designed two other positions in the department, spent countless hours not only reviewing everything we do within the department to ensure nothing is left out or unassigned, but also to the training needed for individuals taking on new tasks.

In addition to that, we have also been preparing for an additional 125 new adult students enrolling with us over the next three months. This will help us continue to challenge the strength of the new organization – a challenge I expect us to overcome.

Finally, I will add a word about an incredibly important event we are preparing for in October. Last year our department hosted the inaugural Community College Partner Conference. This event was designed to help further the dialogue and partnerships we routinely have with many of our community colleges. These partnerships have always been an essential factor in our students’ abilities to seamlessly transfer into the ADP, and this event is our attempt at furthering those opportunities.
The ADP is an incredibly rigorous program for adult students, and without the preparation our partners have provided so many of our students, we could not celebrate the success we do each year.

This year’s conference is Tuesday, October 19, 2010. I look forward to welcoming many of our friends and colleagues to campus for a day of collaboration and learning. Next to our commencement activities, this is one of the most rewarding days of the year.

One of our greatest assets

As I enter a new year (our fiscal year runs June 1 – May 31), I am already working on an important goal – taking advantage of one of our greatest assets – TIME.  We have a finite amount of it, with what seems to be an infinite amount of tasks to accomplish.  As we look at our achievements each year, I am increasingly astonished at what our staff produces.  More work is completed with no additional staff and increasingly complex obstacles.  So I am taking on a challenge to simplify matters. 

If we continue to hone our focus on fewer goals that all better align the most important needs for our program and students to flourish, we will produce more value, and thus results.  This will allow us the opportunity to spend more time on each goal, increasing the level and impact of our success.

This post will be my first to chronicle my efforts over the coming year.