FAQs Higher Education

1. You have consulted for 15 years to multiple industries. Why do you like consulting to educational organizations?
2. What are the key challenges that higher educational organizations face today?
3. What should we do to overcome these challenges?
4. Is education different? Do educational organizations face challenges that other businesses and industries do not?
5. Our college seems to be stuck in a rut - our administrators don't do anything different, and faculty and employees seem to be bored with the same old routines. How can we become more creative and innovative?
6. How can we improve faculty and employee morale?
7. How can we reduce or eliminate waste and inefficiency?
8. How can we do a better job attracting and retaining faculty?
9. Our President tells us that we should develop a strategic plan, but most of us think it is a waste of time. What do you think?
10. Administration seems to issue edicts which make no sense to those of us who work in the classrooms. It seems as if the strategies they have developed do not match their actions.
11. How can we better communicate with our stakeholder groups?
12. What can we do to develop more and better leaders?
13. In the next 10 years, public funding for educational institutions may be reduced up to 20% which will place a significant burden on students' tuition costs. What can we do?

Q. You have consulted for 15 years to multiple industries. Why do you like consulting to educational organizations?
A. II teach courses at several universities, and am inspired by the impact I can make on my students. Therefore, when I began consulting to educational organizations, I felt a connection on a deeper level than I previously had felt when consulting in other industries.

I come from a long line of educators, and am excited by the opportunities available to me to make valuable contributions to improving education. I believe that this critical sector needs significant change if we are to evolve in a positive direction as a country. Having consulted in a variety of industries, I bring fresh perspectives and new ideas to a sector that needs change. Finally, I am excited by the potential to help millions of people become what they want to be in their lives.

Q. What are the key challenges that higher educational organizations face today?
A. Higher education is at a crossroads. In numerous conversations with higher education executives, they relate to me their most significant challenges are in the areas of funding, alignment of people and processes, leadership and succession planning, governance, and doing more with less.

Public colleges and universities are facing funding challenges like they have never faced before.  For instance, the schools in the California State University system currently receives 70% of their funding from the state, 20% from student tuition, and 10% from grants and other outside sources.  However, in the next 10 years those funding levels will change significantly; Cal State schools are expected to receive only 50% funding from the state which will require them to make up the difference between raising tuition and outside sources.

Leadership and succession planning are other areas of concern for higher education. As is the case in many other industries, at least 25% of all senior executives will be retiring in the next 5-10 years which will create a void in experienced leadership. Compounding this is the problem that most universities and colleges do not have any leadership development or succession planning processes in place to overcome this projected shortfall. Significant leadership development and building of leadership capacity must be accomplished now to ensure a smooth transition.

Efficient use of resources and alignment of people and processes are two additional areas of concern. With the projected shortfall of funding, institutions must learn to do more with less as businesses have learned over the last 10 years.  However, because of the consensus-based decision-making processes typically utilized by institutions of higher learning and their archaic business model, implementing necessary changes frequently takes significantly longer time than in business (if they can be made it all). This puts a strain on the already limited resources which are available. Something must be done to change the culture to make it more effective both now and in the future.

Q. What should we do to overcome these challenges?
A. There are several things we can do!

• Develop a culture of accountability so that intuitions functions more like businesses.
• Do away with the tenure model, but stress long term growth and employment loyalty instead of short term accomplishments and lifetime employment.
• Institute programs for succession planning and develop new leaders prepared to be the next generation of leadership.
• Develop strong educational and business strategies, then align processes, people, and performance with those strategies.
• Build a culture of innovation.
• Develop alternative funding sources through partnerships with businesses and other potential funding sources.
• Create articulation agreements with school districts and community colleges to ensure a strong, ongoing pool of well-qualified students. 
• Provide relevant educational tracks for students. Not everyone needs to or should go into business.
• Pay faculty living wages, and rely less on the adjunct model.

Q. Is education different? Do educational organizations face challenges that other businesses and industries do not?
A. Although their mission and purpose may be different from other sectors, in the final analysis, schools and school districts face challenges similar to those in industry: no strategic plan... no shared vision... low employee morale... poor leadership... high employee attrition... poor implementation of programs... ineffective communications... ineffective processes... ineffective or not enough resources... and poor performance.

We should also be aware that educational organizations function similar to "businesses"; they are made up of people organized to do work; require funding to operate and create a "product" (in this case, an educated young person prepared for success in the future); and have "customers" for that "product" (society, parents, political entities, and businesses).  

Their "business processes" are related to how they teach their students, and their "manufacturing plants" are their schools. 

Like any industry, there is specialized knowledge required; but for the most part, the leadership and organizational principles that are applicable to other sectors are equally applicable to institutions of higher learning.

Q. Our college seems to be stuck in a rut - our administrators don't do anything different, and faculty and employees seem to be bored with the same old routines. How can we become more creative and innovative?
A. If you want to become better innovators, then you must focus on the three keys to innovation:

• The generators (the personal qualities that foster innovation)
• The cycles (the phases an idea goes through to become an innovation)
• The context (the internal forces that enable or hinder innovation).

Once you understand these three key elements, you will be able to determine what you are doing well and what you can improve - and then you will be able to leverage your strengths to improve the areas which need improving.


Q. How can we improve faculty and employee morale?
A. I have always believed that "People support what they help create." Therefore, to improve faculty and employee morale you should:

• Involve faculty and employees in your decision-making and implementation processes.
• Improve communications with ALL key stakeholder groups. Communication is not just talking, it is both talking AND listening - God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason! Ensure communications are two-way by listening to other people's opinions, and then implement those ideas when they make sense.
• Remove the "adminis-trivia" and needless bureaucracy that prevent people from focusing on what they love to do - teach!  

If you do those three things, faculty and employee morale will improve, and your job will become much easier.

Q. How can we reduce or eliminate waste and inefficiency?
A. A more useful question might be, "Are you getting the 'best bang for your bucks?' "

Budgeting is the "affirmation" of an organization's strategic plan, and should be the final step in a strategic planning process prior to starting the implementation phase. 

Therefore, if you want to significantly reduce or abolish waste and inefficiency, structure your budget to fund only those strategic initiatives that you have identified as your top five priorities - and eliminate the rest.

Q. How can we do a better job attracting and retaining faculty?
A.  There have been a number of studies on faculty retention which found that pay isn't nearly as important an issue as are the teaching and learning environments. The key ways to retain high performing faculty are:

• Improve the quality of relationships among staff.
• Remove the needless adminis-trivia and bureaucracy that inhibit faculty from doing AND enjoying their jobs.
• Give faculty the opportunity to participate in decision-making.

Q. Our President tells us that we should develop a strategic plan, but most of us think it is a waste of time. What do you think?
A. Emerson once said, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there."  If you want to visit New York City on vacation, you certainly would not attempt the trip without first figuring out how to get there (plane, train, car, etc.), learing about the city and what you want to do when you are there, booking a hotel., etc.!

Strategic plans are an organization's travel plans, and become the basis for its shared vision and implementation strategies. Without such a plan, you are flying blind.

Perhaps your president is pushing for a strategic plan without having first developed a vision - with university-wide participation - about the direction your institution should take. This is a good opportunity for faculty, administration, and other stakeholders to engage in discussions about that vision.

That is a necessary step in developing a shared vision which is critical to successful implementation.
 

Q. Administration seems to issue edicts which make no sense to those of us who work in the classrooms. It seems as if the strategies they have developed do not match their actions.
A. Have you ever been to one of your children's high school band concerts? How does the level of their playing compare to that of a professional symphony orchestra?

For an organization to perform in an outstanding manner, its strategies, people, and processes must be working in concert.  We all want our organizations to be as good as - say - the New York Philharmonic; but without an overall alignment of its administrative and instructional strategies with its business and people processes, and funding, institutions will operate on par with a high school band whose members had just picked up an instrument for the first time.

Once you align your strategies, processes, and people, you will be amazed at the results!


Q. How can we better communicate with our stakeholder groups?
A. Communications takes both talking AND listening. A better question is do you know how to listen?

Socrates said that when you are talking you're not communicating.  Try listening more to your key stakeholder groups, and your communications will be far more effective.

Remember the adage - people support what they help create. It truly works.

Q. What can we do to develop more and better leaders?
A.  This is a significant challenge facing higher educational organizations.  In the next 5-10 years, nearly 40% of senior administrators will be retiring which, because there is no viable leadership training or succession planning, will result in a significant leadership vacuum. 

The best institutions have active succession planning which includes both leadership training and formal mentor programs.  Faculty members are identified early and groomed for leadership positions through work on university committees, and many institutions have revised their annual evaluation to include evaluating employees in the area of leadership.

Still, this is not enough. Pogo said, "we have met the enemy and he is us." Getting the culture to accept leaders from within their ranks is important. This can be done by including key stakeholders on search committees, and giving them an active say in who is ultimately hired.

Q. In the next 10 years, public funding for educational institutions may be reduced up to 20% which will place a significant burden on students' tuition costs. What can we do?
A. This is a critical issue facing ,many public universities.  For instance, in California administrators expect that public funding will be reduced from 70% to 50% in the next 5 years. How do they expect to meet that shortfall?  Through raising tuition, a highly controversial solution, and by entering into public private partnerships with individuals and businesses.

Public-private partnerships can be very "profitable" for both universities and local businesses. On one hand, universities get an injection of new ideas and will better understand the needs of their constituencies, i.e. businesses, and will be able to raise cash which they will need to support their operations. On the other hand, businesses can both have a ready supply of quality graduates to support their hiring needs, as well as have direct input on requisite educational programs which will educate their future employees.  This is a win-win for both parties.