Get Your Students Hired
David,
Very well said. I think you have captured in your organization the key elements and balance that promote ongoing high performance and sustainable growth. If you haven't already you should consider presenting at CCA or other forums about this topic. Many folks struggle with creating the culture you have at your campus and it sounds like you are doing some things tha could really benefit other directors.
Nice work.
So far as the ultimate balancing act is concerned.... It is always a tightrope that we walk however, as accreditation teams have visited us they all have said they wish they worked here. The students are happy and prosperous and the employees are fully engaged in working with the students.
We use the rules and regulations as our boundries over which we cannot cross. Aside from those things I encourage full exploration of alternative ways of approaching things. To give you an idea of how effective such things can be we have gone from an attrition rate of 28% 18 months ago to a 4% attrition rate currently. Our students love it here.
One last comment on the benefits of the culture that accrediting and regulatory bodies have liked is we have zero employee turnover. Our employees are able to bring their entire selves to work and in doing that they find satisfaction. I think the key there has been showing them the boundries and making certain they understand where those boundries are and why they are there. Aside from those rules our people are free to explore and experiment. It seems to be working incredibly well.
David,
I think that you are right on target. Creating an organizational culture that rewards innovation and creativity can make a huge difference in organizational performance as you have seen with the attitudinal change in your campus. I think the innovative process needs to be coupled with clear role definitions and accountabilities as well.
How do you balance the consistent application of policies and procedures required from regulatory bodies like the Department of Education and the accrediting bodies (rules that must be adhered to) with an innovative and creative environment that focuses staff on continuous improvement and service to students?
In my opinion the chief characteristic of a creative workplace is the lack of a fear of failure. During my career I have found that by removing fear from the creative process people have achieved more that they ever believed they could. Fear of failure is stifling and it causes people to pause in their creative process to consider the ramifications of exploring new ways and ideas.
When I first arrived at my campus the culture was one of rules and rules for rules and there was Zero creativity. We have labored to introduce a new way of approaching work. Based on the FISH philosophy we began to encorporate play into our day to day activities. We became customer focused, took responsibility for our own attitudes and worked to "make each others day and our students day". Since the relaxing of the strict rules and initiating the FISH culture our school has doubled in size.