LEADERSHIP & CULTURE

Time To Get Better

Elise Awwad, President and CEO of DeVry University, wrote a Forbes article about the future of higher education. She says higher education is at a crossroads and that leaders must innovate to keep pace with rapid technological advances and evolving student demographics.

🏁 All Facts! But the truth is, most leaders already know it’s time to get better. What they may not know is how to find the “TIME” to get better.

🦁 Leadership Lessons »

It’s challenging to focus on tomorrow when yesterday’s emergencies take ALL your time today. Fortunately, there are simple and proven strategies to help leaders find the time to work on what’s most important.

One great strategy is to use the time-proven Stephen Covey’s 4 Quadrants.

• Quadrant 1: Urgent and important: These tasks require immediate attention and have significant consequences. Too much work here can cause anxiety, stress, and lead to burnout!
• Quadrant 2: Not urgent but important: These proactive tasks contribute to long-term success and growth. Working here makes a positive long-term difference.
• Quadrant 3: Urgent but not important: These tasks often involve interruptions, distractions, unnecessary meetings, and unimportant phone calls or emails. Work here can “feel” satisfying as you’ll cross items off your to-do list. The problem is that this work is often short-term focused and lacks strategic direction.
• Quadrant 4: Not urgent and not important: These tasks are essentially time-wasters, such as excessive time on things that don’t matter, revisiting closed items, social media, and mindless web browsing. Spending time here results in procrastination and failing to deliver on important work and projects.

 🎯 Cabinet Conversation »

• How will my leadership team and I “manage” Quadrant 1 activities?
• How will my leadership team and I “dedicate time” to strategic Quadrant 2 activities?
• How will my leadership team and I “quickly check the box” on Quadrant 3 activities?
• How will my leadership team and I “eliminate” Quadrant 4 activities?

PRESENTED BY LEAD YOUR STORY

Breaking the Helplessness Cycle In Education

There are any number of seemingly insurmountable challenges that leaders in higher education face. One of them is turnover.

• Turnover challenges: compensation disparities, workload and stress, limited career advancement opportunities, uncertain funding and job security, generational differences at work, lack of communication, culture, and the list goes on.

As a result, tenure for leadership has steadily declined in higher-ed —with president tenure at an all-time low of 5.9, down from 8.5 in 2006.

So what’s the fix: sorry to say there isn’t “A” fix. But there is something leadership can do to combat turnover and make progress on any number of insurmountable challenges.

When You Can’t Win!

The first thing to do instead of throwing your hands up and being a “Dude Down” or “Damsel in Distress” is to stand up and ask —what you can do with what you have to make a measurable impact.

It bears repeating: stand up and ask —what you can do, with what you have, to make a measurable impact.

Any other leadership response fosters a culture of learned helplessness where issues stand taller than the people and the mission they are on. The result is an institution paralyzed in taking even the most straightforward action.

And it’s easy to see why. Because if everything is too hard to overcome, then why try? If we can’t possibly succeed, then why show up?

Too many of our institutions are full of good people who hit brick walls and, over time, gave up. And instead of moving on, they’d stayed in the welcoming arms of a culture of learned helplessness.

But there is a cure, so let’s keep things simple and gameplay a turnover challenge using the CURED Framework.

1. Collect Data: Collect data to understand the current situation, such as VP average tenure = 4.5 years.
2. Understand the Challenge: Interview past and present VPs to understand WHY they left, don’t assume, ask.
3. Refine Goals: Set a clear, measurable target for improvement, such as increasing VP tenure by 20% to 5.4 years.
4. Establish Actions: Develop a straightforward action plan outlining specific steps leadership can take to make a positive impact (tip: keep it simple).
5. Deploy and Adapt: Implement the plan, monitor key performance indicators (KPIs), and make necessary adjustments based on new data and outcomes.

And here’s the crazy part: if you applied the CURED Framework, do you doubt your leadership team could move the needle on tenure by 10-20%? How about that other BIG issue you’ve been grappling with?

🪞If you can’t see making progress with a simple strategic solution, perhaps you’re exhibiting symptoms of learned helplessness yourself. We’ve all been there.

The good news is that learned helplessness can be CURED almost overnight. Like mildew on the wall wiped clean with bleach. But the caveat is the cure is NOT culture.

So, to make sure the mildew doesn’t grow back, we encourage leaders to do three key things when applying the CURE.

1. Leadership must continually demonstrate to the team that they can influence change (think » agency, empowerment)
2. Leadership must explicitly contextualize success (don’t leave it to chance; confirm what excellence looks like). For example, improving tenure by 20% (a full year) is a major win.
3. Leadership must create a culture that measures from the gain, not the gap. For example, did you lose another VP (gap), or did you learn how to keep a VP for another full year (gain)?
   
   By measuring against the “gain,” you can help your team see the win and build toward the next milestone (e.g., keeping VPs 1.5 years longer)

 🎯 Cabinet Conversation »

• What challenges have my leadership team and I developed “learned helplessness”?
• How can we use the CURED framework to have an impact?
• What leadership actions can we take to turn the cure into culture?

P.S. ~ People don’t mind challenges. However, they do loathe feeling helpless.

And in case you’re wondering: See a clip from one of my favorite childhood movies —The Wiz, featuring Michael Jackson.

FINANCE & OPERATIONS

Budget Headlines

Colleges nationwide are making program and job cuts—rising operating costs and enrollment challenges force institutions to reevaluate academic offerings. From UNC Greensboro’s elimination of 20 programs to the University of Toledo’s suspension of 48, the trend spans the Midwest to the coasts. These cuts reflect a broader need for fiscal sustainability amid a shifting higher education landscape.

Could per-student tax alleviate budget challenges? The University of Delaware and Newark are both experiencing budget challenges, leading to a debate about their financial relationship. Newark is considering a per-student tax on the university to offset a revenue gap, encountering opposition from students and administrators. While some experts view this tax as a middle-ground solution, others suggest exploring voluntary payments. The city aims to find new revenue sources to support its infrastructure amidst budget shortfalls and increasing property taxes.

US colleges face unprecedented budget cuts, threatening the essence of higher education. Declining enrollments and the cessation of federal COVID-19 funding, US colleges are enacting severe austerity measures. With a stark decrease in state investment over the years, institutions are forced into mass layoffs, program eliminations, and even campus closures.

Pell Grant program faces a $95 billion crisis. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget warns of a significant funding gap threatening the Pell Grant program. Without intervention, this cornerstone of federal student aid could encounter a shortfall of up to $95 billion over the next decade. Solutions may involve tough choices: increasing federal contributions, reducing benefits, or tightening eligibility.

Student workers face uncertainty as budget cuts loom. Student workers are on edge with the college grappling with a financial crisis. Despite a lack of clarity on how student employment will be directly impacted, the restructuring and potential program eliminations hint at a precarious future for on-campus jobs.