ATTENTION SCHOOL OWNERS: IMPROVE EFFICIENCY OF YOUR SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION USING LEAN PRINCIPLES!

School business has become very challenging today in Nigeria. Though, one can hardly see any street without a school in the cities, majority of these schools are running on losses year in and year out. This, along with inadequate funding, poor infrastructure, low teacher quality, are key challenges school owners are facing today.

More worrisome is the fact that the financial conditions of parents have worsened due to the economic hardship in the country; amidst Nigeria’s rising inflation, school fees and related costs have surged dramatically, many parents are not able to keep up, schools these days now witness massive student and staff attrition!

Schools need to continually find ways to rebalance capacity to match demand and eliminate unnecessary operating cost in order to maintain or increase profitability. However, trying to do this may do more harm than good if poorly thought out, and without careful analysis and understanding of the drivers of cost, the outcomes can be hit and miss or at best yield some small savings. It might lead to poor service levels, inattention to parents and students priorities and poor execution thereby leading to eroded loyalty, market share and brand perception.

In response to these challenges, one prominent improvement method used globally is LEAN as it promises enhanced quality, capacity, and safety, while containing costs.

WHAT IS LEAN?

Lean is employing minimum resources to realize maximum output and provide customers with exactly what they want (Value) without accumulating unnecessary inventory. It is simply doing more with less

The objective of Lean is to incorporate less effort, less inventory, less response time, and less space in order to become highly responsive to actual Customer Demand and to produce high Quality Product/Service in the most timely, efficient and economical manner possible!

In order to appreciate how lean works, we need to have a clear understanding of Customer and Value.

CUSTOMERS:

In a school system, your Customers are your Pupils, their Parents/ Guardians and your Personnel (employees like teachers, admin, security staff etc.)

The pupils and parents are referred to as External Customers because they are the ones that provide payment for our services. The Parents pay the school for educating their children and instilling a lifelong passion for learning; The students are the critical source for feedback on results.

The school’s personnel are regarded as Internal Customers. They individuals or departments within an organization who rely on the support and services of other parts of the same organization to do their job effectively. Their requirements need to be satisfied in order for them to deliver value to the external customers.

 VALUE:

The customer's perception of the worth of your product or service. It is the customer’s overall assessment of the usefulness of a product based on perceptions of what is received and what is paid or given.

To truly understand value from the standpoint of your customers (Parents, Pupils and Personnel), the school management need to have regular, meaningful conversations with them in a structured way in an environment that they will feel completely free to share their true feelings, perceptions and their concerns which are often unstated.

Below are some of the areas that schools must consider as they try to understand value:

-        Safety: physical safety, and emotional safety of the pupils. This includes safe facilities, emergency protocols, bullying and violence prevention, health and hygiene, supportive relationships, mental health support and inclusive environment

 -        Quality of Learning:  This includes effective teaching with skilled teachers, innovative methods, feedback and assessment. Providing engaging curriculum with relevant content, balanced subjects. Use or modern resources and technologies that facilitate learning and exploration

-        Student Engagement: with active learning, motivation in a safe and supportive atmosphere. The more students are interested and engaged in what they are learning, the more they learn. Student support services, extracurricular activities, and career readiness programs should be prioritized

 -        Convenience: This includes opening and closing times, and the extra services and policy modifications that the school offers to provide flexibility for the parents make it easier for parents.

 -        Cost / school Fees: school fees are a critical element to parents. There must be sensitivity, realism, flexibility and consideration on school tuition, related charges and levies

To be continued...HOW LEAN WORKS

-        abiodun adetula