You know that you are in the heart of the most critical period of the recruitment cycle. Over the next few weeks roughly 60% of your prospect pool will make an emotional commitment to either your college or another. You have already invested months (or years) working toward building the best possible incoming class of 2015 freshmen and, if you are like most admission professionals, you have steep enrollment goals to achieve.
Now, ask yourself this: Is my team primed for success?
If you answered with a resounding “YES,” you are probably in the company of only 5% of admission professionals that reported that they “were not at all concerned” about making their class for 2015. According to its September 2014 Higher Education Outlook Survey, KPMG reported that 85% of higher education leaders are either “very” or “somewhat” concerned about maintaining enrollment levels—a 14% increase from the 2013 report.
Here are things that any institution can begin doing tomorrow to improve the functioning and production of the admissions department: Identify the strengths of each and every member of the department, fully align their tasks with those strengths, and lead them with an understanding of how someone with their strengths is most productive.
All too often enrollment and admission managers wait too long to act on this. There is no reason you have to wait. When generals are in the heat of battle, or football coaches in the third quarter, they take stock of who the players are and put them in a position which will most benefit the team.
While this may sound simple in concept, it requires a radical change in thinking on the part of many organizations. They work more on trying to fix a department member’s weaknesses than maximizing their strengths.
When we work with enrollment management departments we use a similar model to enhance productivity. You would be amazed at the results achieved when people are allowed to discover and play to their strong suits. Gallup Press published a pair of books on this topic called Strengths-Based Leadership and Strengths Finder 2.0. I highly recommend them. The information and guidance can be put to immediate use.
In our Interactive Training Workshops for admission counselors, we see team members revitalized by the commitment that their leadership has made by investing in their future with professional development. At this point in the recruiting cycle our clients often see the training as a way to inject some sanity and organization at a time that is fraught with varying degrees of chaos and pressure.
Now, when you need your team to be performing at the highest possible level, is the ideal time to energize and organize them with a focused training program.
Consider this: the admissions department is responsible for the bulk of a college’s annual revenue. For state supported colleges, the percentage of total revenue generated through tuition may be well over 60%. For privates, it’s often 80% or more. Investing in the people who are responsible for generating interest among prospective students, managing the “sales” process and “closing the sale” offers the greatest possible return on investment.
We see it work every day: Hire the right people, put them in roles that let their strengths shine through, and give them the proper training and tools so they can populate the institution with students who will be successful and committed to the institution long after graduation.
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Bob Longmire is President of Longmire and Company, Inc. He is a recognized expert on the topic of how prospective students and parents form their college selection decisions – and how colleges can use that knowledge to grow and control their enrollment. He can be reached at (913) 492-1265, ext 709 or at blongmire@longmire-co.com.
