Strengthening the Arms. Legs and Organs of the Collegiate Body

Orwell’s proposition ten in Animal Farm with Snowball’s amendment, “All animals are created equal – but some are more equal than others” is alive and well today. Probably right at your campus!

As a customer service consultant, I have found the following to be rules of behavior at most every college and university.

The people who do the most primary customer service contact work

• get the least amount of training at the school
• get the lowest pay although great responsibility
• need the most resources to do their work often get the fewest resources
• as well as the least adequate, often oldest equipment.
• are key to the institution’s success get the least recognition for their work,
• are the ones who also receive the smallest amount of concern for their happiness.

They also have a primary responsibility for customer service, enrollment and retention. They are often the ones who have first contact with students as well as the most recurring interactions outside of the classroom. They are also the people who serve everyone else at the institution and therefore are among the most important people at the school.

We are talking about the staff. The people who come to the college every day, greet and meet students, take care of their primary needs from registration and billing to eating and sleeping. The people who solve or cause student happiness and/or distress. The people who can make or break an institution’s enrollment and retention numbers. The people whose love or hate of their jobs will make your job a delight or living hell.

Staff at colleges are in a arduous role. They are among the hardest working people at the college and, except for adjunct faculty, the lowest paid. Faculty have numerous rights, privileges and perks that should make them feel valued, but too often make too many them act imperious to the staff. Faculty and some administrators can see the college and the staff as if they were there for them. Since so many administrators come from the faculty, they too often have not learned how to work well with staff.

And yet, the staff are most often overlooked or simply taken for granted at colleges and universities. Granted, it may be true that the faculty are “the heart of the college” as I have been told many times. But without the arms, legs and vital organs of the staff, the heart is a dead, lifeless piece of offal within the body of the school.

Overworked, underpaid and under-recognized staff have always been those who do the work to make others’ lives easier. The are the front line service providers to students as well. They are also the ones who keep the institution moving. Try a couple days without them and see what happens. Not a pretty sight. They end up doing the same essential work day after day for which they gain little status or real recognition. That can easily become tedious and unrewarding.

A depressed staff leads inevitably to weak, apathetic, even poor customer service. Yet, most colleges do little to either formally or informally recognize and show staff members that they are valued as individuals and professionals. Certainly some colleges have a program to “recognize” a staff member or two for contributions over many years. Maybe a special parking space for a week or a plaque at pre-graduation ceremonies. but these do not address the day-to-day feelings of inequality in recognition, perks and pay that lead to staff malaise.

Customer service audits I have done for colleges found that a great many customer service issues have their have roots in staff malaise. People who feel unappreciated, over worked and on the periphery of an organization do not feel a part of it. It has been found that staff do feel frustrated, unrecognized and discouraged that their hard work goes unacknowledged while others who they feel do far less, claim the glory and recognition.

Colleges need to establish a partner relationship with staff, their significant internal customers. One of the critical aspects of establishing a partnership relationship is including everyone on the team in the flow of information. In academia this is extremely important since the coin of the realm is information. Generally, staff are not included in the information flow and are thus left outside of the partnership. They are not seen in their singularly important role with students. In most every case, staff members who answer telephones, greet people at desks, man the registration and bursars windows, etc. are the real point of contact between student and college. Yet, they are so often the last to know about changes in college policies, curricula, and other information that affects their interactions with students.

Okay, how to get staff in the loop. Start with involving them on college committees – and not as secretaries. Staff often know the college better than anyone else. Their work touches every aspect, every form, and every policy, just about everything at the college. They have a massive amount of real information and advice to bring to the table. For example, at one college, it was taking so long to register a student that many were simply walking out the door. When I called higher level administrators together, they suggested they would study it and get back. In other words, they did not have an answer.

So I assembled a group of staff people who worked in the enrollment/registration process. Within an hour we had identified poorly written and redundant forms and activities, forms and instructions, unnecessary information being requested, poor staff assignment practices that slowed things down and conflicting rules and directives. We had also decided what we needed to keep, what could go and rewrote directions. The time and frustration of the registration process was cut by 34% starting the next day. Staff began to feel as if they really were a part of the college with something to contribute. Customer service also improved overnight.

Simple lesson. Staff are people with extreme value and ability.

They need to be recognized for what they do – and do well.

Class Distinctions on Campus Hurt Morale and Customer Service

After a teleconference on customer service I gave today, an email question came in from one of the participants. It dealt with an important issue of class distinctions in universities, colleges and schools that hurts morale and retention. The issue is an extension of George Orwell’s description of colleges as an animal farm. As stated by Dean Snowball.

All members of an academic community are created equal, only some are more equal than others, and I’m not just talking about faculty here

Here is the question:

One of my co-workers would like to know what you think of a school policy that requires some staff personnel to log in their hours each day, while other co-workers (considered professional staff, mainly because they have earned a college degree) are not required to keep weekly time sheets. It is a matter that many consider unfair and somewhat demeaning.

And here is my response:

I believe that is a mistake on a number of counts. First, it hurts any possible sense of a team throughout the institution. Having two or three classes of people in a college makes a statement that the institution has a sense of a class system. Sort of like Orwell – All animals are created equal but some are more equal than others” A tiered structure like this has to have harmful effects on at least some of the people at the college. And that will in turn harm the levels of service to students and the internal community as well. I am willing to bet that this procedure also has a negative effect on employee and student retention.

The system also says that some people are more trustworthy than others. Those who do not have to punch in are by inference more honest than those we make punch in. We believe the non-punchers will not cheat on their time sheets. There is no evidence that this is true at all by the way.

It also separates “professionals” from “non-professionals”. Nothing is more destructive than demeaning the contributions of the staff who fall into the non-professional designation. Everyone is a professional and has value and a purpose within their work area and concentration and should be so recognized. Those who do not act in a professional manner, no matter what the title, role or salary, need to be replaced.

The systems are usually put into place because of management problems. Usually supervisors cannot manage and be responsible for their staff and their time reporting. Some are afraid to direct people to show up on time and work their hours. They are concerned that if they have to reprimand or direct someone to remedy their behavior, they will either not be liked or a bad worker will rebel, maybe even quit. They simply do not know or want to do the hard part of the job which is to direct and manage the staff. Breaks the “family” feeling after all. Need to train them to realize that they will be a family either way – just a dysfunctional family at some level, as are all families. And dysfunctional is not so bad after all. Just the norm.

Bottom line. Install a team and instill a drive to do good work by appropriate leadership and customer service to employees. Again recall that customer service does not mean pandering. It means treating people with dignity, honesty and when needed, clear, firm yet humane correction. If people are cheating on their time, correct them. If they cannot be corrected, that is an issue of integrity and honesty so start progressive discipline and have them move on rather than harm the entire internal community which in turn has a negative effect on retention and population. That would serve the community better than a caste system.

Hope that is not too blunt but it is what I know and feel. If I can help out again, just let me know.

Customer Service and Fund Raising

I just had the pleasure of attending a conference put on the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education where I was invited to present a talk on customer service and retention. It was a great conference by the way. Well organized, well run, great fun and solid learning! Great conference and one heck of a lot less stuffy than many. Thanks CCAE.

The folks are advancement professionals so as I thought about what to say in my presentation, I realized something very important. Yet so darn obvious. Here it is.

STUDENTS WHO DROP OUT OF YOUR SCHOOL, NEVER BECOME ALUMNI!

Thus schools lose on all three ends of the potential continuum when students drop out. Students lose their chance at a better life from the education they would get at your school. Tuition revenue is lost. Potential donations are lost. That makes the advancement peoples’ job that much harder. Fewer alumni; fewer donation sources. And considering that a major role of presidents today is raising money and alumni are a major source of donations, attrition adds to the job.

By the way, a university or college can use alumni giving percentage as a metric to gauge their customer service. People give to organizations like colleges that they like and make them feel good. The “liking” aspect is directly linked to how the college treated the alumni when students. If the school fulfilled the three ROI’s (financial, emotional and affective), there is a higher likelihood that he or she will donate as an alum. If the school made the experience feel like a four to six year root canal, odds are extremely high alumni will not donate. So, one way you can gauge how well you serve students and make their experience a positive one looking at the percentage of alumni giving.

These alumni participation metrics can be even more precise indicators if they can be linked back to specific majors, work areas, events, etc. If a particular work area has a very low internal give, that is a spot that needs greater attention and increased customer service to increase morale and engagement with the institution. If students graduating from a particular major have a lower participation rate then other majors, that could be an indicator of a service problem in that area. Of course, if it is a major like art or philosophy, you will need to factor in the potentially lower discretionary money of these graduates. Less income; less money to give to the school.

The metric also works for employees and how they feel they are served by the university. You can evaluate the morale of and service to the internal community by the percentage of internal participation in a university’s fund raising effort. The lower the percentage, the lower the morale and feeling of positive engagement levels. And considering that most schools have a less than optimal internal give rate and an increasing employee turnover rate….. Well, let’s just say that there is room to improve.

But again, all these alumni metrics matter not if students do not graduate. And employees who quit generally do not wish to donate either.

The Butterfly Effect from Customer Service

The customer service posting on Hillel explained a central aspect of customer service delivery in academia. This is how I have interpreted Hillel for our purposes of relating well to one another. BTW, it works well outside of the campus too!!

“Do unto others as you would have them do

to your son, your daughter,

your mother or your father.”

This axiom can have major positive effects. Certainly on retention and enrollment but also on individuals, whole families and even the world. For those of us who went into education with the hope of changing the world and the lives of people for the better, customer service can be a major factor in meeting or mission It is what I see as the “butterfly effect” of customer service.

The butterfly effect suggest that the simple, slight flapping of delicate butterfly wings can change the course of history. The wings will create an almost unnoticeable but actual change in the air that can effects on the condition of the atmosphere which in turn can lead to a series of events that could lead to major change in weather like the creation of a tornado. So from simple, almost imperceptible actions, events, deeds or words, lives can change.

While consulting at Beckfield College in Florence KY a most perfect example of this theory occurred. Beckfield is a four-year career college with five programs that has a culture of believing in its students. The staff and faculty really provide levels of personal service that are outstanding.

A mother came to the College to meet with an admission’s representative She brought her daughter with her because she could not get, or maybe afford, a babysitter. The mother and daughter sat with the representative and talked about the Beckfield program and how it could change her life. The representative spent all the time the mother wanted and very personably and carefully explained the program, financial aid and how she believes the mother could succeed.. Every question was answered fully and with compassion. The mother it seemed needed a major change in her life but was somewhat unsure of herself. She would be the first in her family to go to college.

She met other people at Beckfield who all took the time to help her and respond to any concerns from paying for school to what if she needed extra help having been out of school for quite a while. By the time she had finished meeting with the admission’s representative, she had her answers and believed in herself again. She thanked the rep, completed an application and she and her daughter who had been sitting patiently and hearing everything, started to leave the building.

As they got to the end of the hall, the little girl turned around and ran back into the admission’s rep’s office. She ran into the office and stopped. She then reached into her hair where she took out a barrette and handed it to the admission’s rep. A small token but a huge one too.

The butterfly effect! The admission’s rep had followed Hillel and created what some might see as a small change in the air but it was a major shift for the world. Yes, the mother will likely attend Beckfield and she will probably graduate. Her daughter will also see college as a good place, somewhere she will go and Beckfield by the way will have first consideration I believe.

The mother’s family will change, for the better. If she goes into nursing, other families will also be changed and helped. The daughter will attend college. Her family will be better for it. And her children and so on. The good will spread geometrically and affect the future of the world itself. Maybe it could seem in small ways but as the mother and daughter touch others and they touch others and they… Well, you see the progression.

Oh by the way, the barrette the daughter gave the admission’s rep. It was a little butterfly.

Greater Classroom and Teaching Fulfillment/Pleasure

Increased customer service also yields greater faculty fulfillment and enjoyment in the classroom. Certainly a much sought after prize. There is a direct correlation between customer service and the resulting student/faculty engagement that leads to willingness to learn (WTL). This correlation also controls instructional satisfaction for faculty and leads directly to improvements in morale and appreciation of both students and the institution itself. If students are willing to, even wanting to learn, it makes the teaching job that much easier and more enjoyable. Keep in mind that people do not want to disappoint those they like and respect. They will work with faculty so they can succeed in teaching more. If the faculty treat them with good customer and service equity as a start.

Willingness to learn and willingness to engage are extremely important now what with the ever growing number of adjuncts. Adjuncts are not necessarily that attached to a school that lets him/her know they are expendable and not highly valued (low pay, no benefits and a constantlty uncertain future can do that). The school does not really create an engagement for adjuncts so it must come from the classroom itself. SEE If the students are not that engaged with the adjunct, there will be a rift that interferes with student learning, attachment to the class and the school and that leads to inmcreased attrition.

Schools should spend time teaching teachers to teach from a true customer service base. Easy grades do not make faculty well liked but caring, egnaged faculty do.

Principle 13 applies here.

13. Do not cheapen the product and call it customer service.

No pandering.

Easy Grades are Not Customer Service - Never Ever!

Limited or easy readings, assignments or tests are not customer service and students know it. As Baskin Robbins says "Anyone Can Make A Cheaper Product" but I add, that does not mean that customers will really like it better, Chocolate chip ice cream with one chip is not choclate chip no matter how cheap it is. And an A is not an A if nothing is really learned. It is merely pandering anfd cheating the customer. Teaching did not take place and the customer did not get what he or she paid for. Remember always that the final aspect of customer service value is if the customer gets what he or she is paying for. If the service is great at a restaurant and the food is not good, a waiter will not bring you back finally.
 

Students may not refuse an easy course or a higher grade than deserved but they do not respect it, the teacher, the class or the school. And if it is a course they believe they will need in their career, watch out. They in fact feel their education is being cheapened and will look elsewhere since their education means their future and career. The latest CIRP/HERI report out of UCLA shows that the trend toward seeing college as a way to a good career and personal wealth continues to grow in importance. It has always been a major motivational factor for attending and graduating college by the way. Even we administrators and faculty took courses we did not want to take, even hated, as a vocational necessity. We took them because we were in school to be come a teacher for example so we could then believe that college should be for something other than getting a job, for be coming something............(We from the boomers generation really thought the same but we had been trained to couch our material goals in a veneer of wanting to learn and grow as an individual. Just as any of the millionaire hippy capitalists who started in a head shop.)

Creating happier teachers and students can be accomplished fairly easily with just a bit of understanding of the value of customer service and some training in simple and academically appropriate techniques such as give a name get a name as discussed above and elsewhere in this blog..