Staffing and Enrollment: Wheel of Misfortune

But we can stop the cycle - SCS announces an exciting partnership and new offerings

People, it’s all about the people right now.

And while thoughtful management, informed by intentional communications strategy - what I think of as “being a human, intentionally” - is always on my mind, this post is about meeting the challenge of literally not enough people and too much work in many schools right now.

At many schools, administrators are still covering a wide variety of needs since the first year of the pandemic. People left, positions haven’t been filled and competent people are stretched thin.

Or there may be enough staff, but an awful lot of them may be new, both to your school and in some cases to the workforce in general. And that still means experienced admins are filling gaps or spending time training newbies rather than doing their core jobs.

And there may be enough students, but their needs have shifted, changed and grown, impacted by the pandemic and our ever-increasing 24/7 connected society in terms of learning loss and mental health. 

And then there are the (many) cases where there are just not enough students and the most vulnerable schools are being hit hard.

So then maybe a school can’t afford to fill faculty and staff vacancies. But the kids who are in schools are needier than ever.

And even when a school can make a decision to invest in admissions and development staff to boost revenue - there aren’t enough candidates to fill the pool.

And finally, I’ve said it before but it bears repeating - not enough schools are taking their communications office seriously to be a driver for transformational change, not just in recruitment or fundraising, but in driving a more connected, informed, cohesive culture that rallies around the same authentic stories.

So people are left in their silos, isolated, frustrated, exhausted, but still passionate about the mission and serving kids even as they get more complicated to serve. Passionate still but sad and frustrated and wondering if it’s worth it.

How do we get off this wheel of misfortune?

There are many reasons to hope if schools can get clear, get real and make and execute on practical plans to move the needle. It won’t happen overnight but things will start to head in the right direction.

(Good) Data is King

School leadership needs to get a handle on their admissions data, in every way, including clarity on your discount and your net tuition revenue. Are you collecting data so it’s good and helpful “real” data? What is counted as an “inquiry”? What is counted as an “application”? What are meaningful trends in the past five years? Did the pandemic really impact your enrollment in a sustainably positive way or was it an artificial bump?

There is so much information at your fingertips if you are looking at real data rather than the rosiest picture possible. You will discover many opportunities to strategically move the needle in the right direction. And don’t forget to identify positive trends as well and think about how to amplify them. 

Reconsidering who is a “mission-matched” student

Whatever your specific mission - we’re here to educate kids. As much as we may rail against it, times have changed and in general, kids have more needs and your school’s cultural picture of “who you serve” may be a dinosaur. Or you’re taking kids already that you are hoping you can serve but have some doubts and because a specific kid is wonderful in so many ways and everyone really wants to make it work, so here you are.  Could you both better accommodate current students and increase who you can set up for success with some relatively small investments in the health center or the learning center or, in the case of boarding schools, residential life? Or are there even no-cost program adjustments like adjusting requirements that might be a needed steam release valve for all students?

Treating employees as valued professionals on their own individual career journeys

Are you implementing that fabulous evaluation system outlined in your handbook or in reality, is it too cumbersome and time consuming to function? Are your employees getting regular, helpful feedback and are you engaging them in questions about the ways they see to make their department or area more efficient, more collaborative, more helpful to the school - or do they generally just hear when something goes wrong? 

Is there a thoughtful professional development program for all departments, not just teaching faculty? Is there a thoughtful professional development program for faculty? Is there a clear, simple and widely understood process to access professional development funds and are funds distributed in a way that supports employees of all ages, stages and identities with a wide range of career development needs and the needs of the school?

Sure, parties and community are great. I spent twenty years at Walnut Hill because it was an amazing community where I made many enduring friendships. But honestly, friendships are mobile and professionally, I could have moved on. I stayed because it was an entrepreneurial environment where my efforts were recognized and I kept finding new, exciting challenges. 

Employee recruiting as a year-round mindset

Throughout my career, I received congratulations on how good I was at hiring top talent. A lot of that has to do with the general outlook of “being a human, intentionally” in the hiring process and my general good natured curiosity in learning about other people. When I was head of school, multiple candidates would leave their interview with me and say, “that was the most candid conversation I’ve ever had with a head.” But we can’t rely on an administrator’s temperament to attract talented employees.

We need to start thinking about talent acquisition as both a mindset and a skill. Anyone who is a manager at your school should be thinking about developing a network, thinking about the people who resonate with them in their travels, keeping in touch, even just through Linkedin. It’s not about “poaching” or being self-interested - it’s about thinking about the kind of people you want as professional collaborators and maybe even work with one day. And it’s about going to those recruiting events even when you don’t have openings and meeting with people to spread the word about what your school’s about and why it’s such a fulfilling place to work. Which leads me to…

Communications is Magic

Simple but transformative: What’s the story you’re telling? How are you intentionally capturing the values at your school? Is everyone aligned, in the student recruitment process, and in the networking/talent acquisitions process? It’s not about being an army of automatons and everyone will have their own examples that bring the story alive, but if one applying family is hearing about wizards and another is hearing about transformers - that is a major problem.

In response to these needs, Stony Creek Strategy has developed two specific “Immediate Impact” strategy services targeted at supporting schools in their enrollment and faculty/staff recruitment and retention challenges.

These programs can be done on a remote basis or include a campus visit. Once a start date is established, deliverables can arrive within two weeks.

Faculty and Staff Recruitment and Retention: Building a compelling talent brand.

In partnership with Caravan Brand Partners, a deeply experienced firm that also values relationships as central in mission-driven organizations.

There’s no question that the school workforce was hit hard by the pandemic. The old (often passive)  recruitment efforts —dusting off the job description and posting it in the usual places— are no longer enough. We can help you build a compelling, differentiating talent acquisition and retention brand This includes assessing your current recruitment and candidate management practices, crafting the unique story of how your community provides exceptional career (and life!) opportunities; and gathering feedback to inform how your evaluation and professional development offerings can better meet current career development needs. By the end of the process, you will have a clear talent acquisition and retention strategy and a customized talent brand toolkit with training on how to best use it.

Stony Creek Strategy is also offering:

Enrollment Management + Communications: Building a Productive Partnership

We realize that for many schools, a central challenge relates to sustainable enrollment. We can bring specific insight from our backgrounds and experience into how admissions and communications operations can shift to better meet the moment as well as supporting longer term opportunities for curricular evolution and program offerings. By the end of the process you will have clearly identified specific opportunities for growth at all points in the admissions funnel and concrete steps to move an enhanced admissions/communications collaboration forward.

For more information, contact Julie at jfaulstich@stonycreekstrategy.com.

It’s a summer of Talking Out of School and it’s a summer of Stony Creek Strategy! More partnership announcements, more programs to come. Maybe even a summer of a few Stony Creek Diary entries. Stay tuned, every Friday until Labor Day.

Happy Fourth to all you Americans - tiny American flags for everyone!

Julie