Managing a Successful University: Checklist for the Brave!

Introduction: In today’s competitive educational landscape, creating and sustaining a successful university requires more than academic excellence. It demands a laser-focused approach to managing operational efficiency, driving growth, and fostering a culture of urgency and success. Without a clear sense of urgency, institutions risk falling into complacency, losing the edge needed to thrive in a fast-changing world.

1. Cultivating a Culture of Urgency and Success At the heart of any thriving university is a sense of purpose, urgency, and institutional mission. This urgency isn’t about rushing or adding stress; it’s about acting with intention and knowing that every step taken contributes to success. Universities must build an environment where effective communication, swift decision-making, and clear goals drive progress.

Mr. President of our fictional university understood this well. He knew the dangers of a slow-moving culture, where decisions drift and opportunities are missed. To combat this, he set clear 90-day goals for his team, with firm expectations and accountability measures. This created a fire under the staff—without this urgency, they’d be left behind in a competitive landscape.

2. Human Resources: Empowering World-Class Talent with Urgency The university’s staff is its most valuable asset, and hiring the right people requires urgency and precision. A robust organizational structure with well-defined roles, career tracks, and clear expectations creates a productive, forward-moving team. The focus should be on creating a customer service-oriented culture, where employees are empowered to act swiftly and decisively.

Mr. President also recognized the importance of celebrating wins, both big and small. By maintaining regular check-ins and celebrating milestones, the institution fostered an environment where progress was not only expected but rewarded. Career development plans and world-class hiring were integral to the university’s success, as was ensuring accountability at every level.

3. Enrollment and Retention: The Engine of Growth A sense of urgency is critical when it comes to enrollment and retention strategies. Increasing enrollment by 15% in online and adult learning sectors is achievable with streamlined, tech-driven processes that cut through inefficiency. Simplified applications, flexible enrollment options, and a unified enrollment app ensure that students can engage with the institution without feeling overwhelmed by bureaucracy.

For Mr. President, urgency also meant implementing swift follow-ups and immediate responses. For instance, he enforced a two-hour call-back policy for enrollment counselors, a measure designed to show prospective students that the university values their time and interest. By acting quickly and decisively, the university positioned itself as an institution that understands the importance of efficiency and service.

4. Marketing and Branding: Crafting a Centralized, Urgent Message A consistent, unified message across all marketing channels is essential for any successful university. Urgency must also be embedded in the institution’s communications—whether it’s addressing prospective students, alumni, or corporate partners, the university must act swiftly to engage its audience. By creating an elevator pitch for all staff and centralizing messaging, the institution can communicate its unique differentiators clearly and with focus.

Mr. President’s university, much like Jack Welch’s approach to business, adopted the mentality that underperformance and slow decision-making are unacceptable. Welch famously fired the bottom-performing 5% of employees every month, understanding that consistent progress requires accountability at all levels. This same level of rigor was applied to the university. By embracing urgency in branding, the university was able to stay ahead of its competitors, ensuring that every piece of communication—whether an enrollment message or an alumni outreach—carried a clear and compelling call to action.

5. Operational Excellence: Streamlining Systems with Purpose Institutional growth relies on operational efficiency and the urgent implementation of streamlined processes. From adopting unified tracking systems like Zendesk to improving communication between departments, universities must ensure that every part of the institution operates with clarity and purpose. Mr. President pushed for greater use of technology to automate administrative tasks, enabling faculty and staff to focus on high-value work. This allowed the university to reduce costs while improving the student experience—without sacrificing quality.

Urgency in operations also meant ensuring transparency. By giving every department access to baseline numbers and dashboards that track key metrics like retention and revenue, the university fostered a culture of responsibility and accountability. This urgency wasn’t about creating pressure but about creating clarity and alignment across the institution.

6. Academic Excellence and Innovation: Acting with Urgency to Adapt A successful university must continuously innovate in its academic offerings, and this requires a sense of urgency. Offering stackable certificates, free preparatory courses for reading and writing, and creative program delivery (like hybrid and virtual cohorts) ensures that the institution adapts to student needs. Innovation is most effective when executed swiftly—waiting too long to implement changes can leave a university behind.

Mr. President’s approach also embraced AI to improve academic processes, reducing the administrative burden on professors so they could focus on their students. The introduction of AI allowed the university to reimagine its operations, creating a leaner, more efficient institution that prioritized student outcomes and cost savings. Urgency here meant not just responding to the current needs but anticipating future trends and acting on them immediately.

7. Urgency in Well-Being: Balancing Health and Productivity Mr. President knew that urgency wasn’t just about doing things faster—it was about doing them better. He encouraged his staff to embrace healthier habits, knowing that personal well-being and productivity go hand-in-hand. By switching to standing desks, encouraging regular movement, and promoting a balanced lifestyle, he ensured that the sense of urgency permeated not only the work culture but also the personal health of the team.

Living with urgency also meant ensuring that faculty and staff were energized and focused, ready to meet challenges head-on. This balance between health and productivity was a key component of the university’s transformation.

University Management Checklist

Big Picture Themes

• Efficiency, Urgency, and Focus: Cultivate a high-efficiency, purpose-driven culture.
• Hybrid Learning: Expand hybrid education models to increase flexibility and accessibility.
• One University Vision: Ensure consistent policies and communications across the entire institution.

Institutional Development

• Culture of Success and Mission: Align institutional culture with the mission through:Effective communicationLegacy-building effortsCustomer service orientation for all operational departments
• Proper Expectations: Set clear expectations for both employees and students.
• University Differentiators: Identify and communicate the unique value propositions of the institution.
• Facilities Utilization: Optimize campus use, including extended hours and facility-related marketing efforts.
• Community Partnerships: Develop partnerships with businesses and community organizations.
• Operational Integration: Ensure that all initiatives are communicated clearly and integrated across departments.

Human Resources

• Organizational Structure: Review and update the organizational chart, including key roles like CTO, COO, and CHR.
• Employee Training and Development: Provide training for managers, develop an employee handbook, and standardize onboarding.
• Job Descriptions and Pay Scale: Review and clarify job descriptions and pay structures.
• Performance Reviews and Accountability: Implement performance reviews with clear accountability at the individual, department, and school levels.
• Hiring and Career Tracks: Implement a strategic hiring plan and develop career tracks to retain top talent.
• Celebrate Wins: Hold regular recognition events to celebrate milestones and successes.

Enrollment Management

• Enrollment Growth: Target a 15% increase in online and adult enrollment.
• Streamline Processes: Map and optimize key enrollment interfaces to reduce friction.
• Sales Training: Ensure robust training for enrollment counselors on referrals and conversion strategies.
• Unified Enrollment: Simplify the enrollment process with a unified application that doesn’t overwhelm students.
• Compensation and Performance Tracking: Align compensation plans with enrollment goals and create dashboards to track activity.

Marketing

• Centralized Messaging: Standardize and centralize branding across all communications.
• Pricing Strategies: Review pricing models to ensure competitiveness.
• Lead Tracking and Conversion: Optimize lead generation and conversion tracking.
• Digital Marketing and SEO: Maximize digital tools like Marketo and improve search engine rankings.
• Target Markets and Partnerships: Expand into new geographical areas and build relationships with churches, businesses, and affinity groups.
• Web Updates: Ensure the website is up-to-date, user-friendly, and reflects the university’s brand and mission.

Finance

• Budgeting and Forecasting: Review budget processes, set expense targets, and forecast revenue for the next 1-3 years.
• Revenue Opportunities: Explore additional revenue sources such as international partnerships.
• Contracts and Outsourcing: Ensure efficient contract management and evaluate outsourcing options.
• Waterfall and Retention Rates: Monitor retention rates and apply accurate forecasting models.

Academics and Student Services

• Advising Consistency: Ensure advisors follow consistent protocols across all student services.
• Course Review and Scheduling: Conduct regular course reviews and streamline scheduling processes.
• Class Size Optimization: Monitor and adjust class sizes to maximize efficiency, particularly in online and adult programs.
• Career Services: Build career services that cater to adult learners and create clear career paths.
• Hybrid Learning Models: Expand hybrid and virtual learning models to offer more flexible education options.
• Certificates and Degree Stacking: Offer stackable certificates and unbundled degrees to meet diverse student needs.
• Tutoring and Student Support: Strengthen tutoring services and clearly communicate expectations for student success.
• Office Hours and Faculty Engagement: Ensure sufficient faculty office hours and engagement with students.

Information Technology

• System Integration: Ensure seamless communication and integration between different systems (LMS, CRM, etc.).
• User Interface Improvements: Streamline the user interface for both staff and students.
• Zendesk Ticketing System: Implement a unified ticketing system to improve issue tracking.
• Student Help Desk: Provide comprehensive student tech support to resolve issues efficiently.
• Call Routing and Warm Transfers: Enhance customer service with optimized call routing and warm transfers.
• IT Policies and Training: Regularly update IT policies and ensure ongoing system training for all staff.

"Piece of Cake!" - Michael K. Clifford