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?
