An e-zine snapshot of fun, fast, flexible and measurable ideas to ignite profit and learning in higher education

In this issue:

The Energize Success e-zine is published monthly by L+EARN.  If you would like to add someone to our mailing list, or would like additional information about our products and services, please contact Leah Colville at lcolville@lplusearn.com

© L+EARN, Russell Martin & Associates, 2007

This month we will focus on Leadership, and in particular Headquarter Leadership. 

Today's leaders must manage unprecedented rates of change and growth in a radically new and extraordinarily complex environment. L+EARN and it's sister company, Russell Martin & Associates (RMA), have been in the business of providing leadership training, development and coaching to Career Colleges and Fortune 1000 companies for 20+ years.  L+EARN offers strong leadership training for all levels of your school with methods and means for assessing leadership strengths and weaknesses.

"Leadership is a process of transformation, taking what is and making it what it can be. "

The Top 10 Secrets to Improved Admissions

Lou Russell, President/CEO of L+EARN and Russell Martin & Associates

As my company has consulted with career colleges about how to improve their admission numbers, a few critical success factors always show up.  Over the next ten months, we will drill down into each of these success factors.  This month we focus on leadership.

# 1 Headquarter Leadership

Whether you’re part of a single school or part of a large system of schools, leadership will make or break your admissions success.  Let’s start with determining what a leader's job is. 

A leader takes the best person and matches them to the right task at the right time.  Leaders are about growing the ‘line’ so that the company is successful.  In admissions this translates into doing everything possible to make sure that the admissions rep is successful. 

Many executives mistake "making up procedures" to dump on schools with "leadership".  Staying at headquarters and guessing from your previous experiences how to fix the admissions process in a school is ineffective at best and completely insulting at worst.  Many admissions leaders were successful reps in their day, but the student, programs and schools have drastically changed since then.  The leaders from the very top all the way through must be in the schools as much as possible talking with the reps.   

Building a partnership with the people who meet the potential students is critical to improving admissions.   Do not confuse this partnership with a democracy – the executive leadership will still be required to make some tough decisions that will not be popular, but they will know all the facts when making them.   As my friend Steve Weber says, “You’ll know you are doing leadership if it is hard.”  To be continued next month:  #2 School Leadership.

What Leaders Think

Speaking of leadership, DDI (Development Dimentions International) did a recent survey titled “Leaders in Transition”.  Here’s what they discovered about leaders today:

Check out Lou Russell’s leadership books:  IT Leadership Alchemy and Leadership Training , as well as the ASTD Infoline on Leadership .

Leadership Nuggets of Truth

In our public IT Leadership Academy, our students documented these lessons learned (email Leah at lcolville@lplusearn.com for the complete list):

·        If it is hard, it’s worth doing.

·        Leading is hard. It requires courage.

·        Learn to lead by choosing opportunities to lead.

·        We are ALL born leaders.

·        Lead by clearing your plate.

·        Negatives can be positives.

·        Leaders feel scared and excited.

·        It’s OK if everyone doesn’t like you.

·        Talk to peers, use their idea to help them look good.

·        Each new opportunity requires a new skill set.

Seven Ways to Build Trust as a Leader

Here are seven actions from brilliant Kevin Eikenberry (www.kevineikenberry.com) that you need to “get” in order to earn higher and higher levels of trust:

1.      Get feedback. Learn more about how much people trust you and where your trust is weakest.

2.      Get clear that you are responsible.Justifications, rationalizations and blame won’t change how

       much you are trusted, only your behavior will.

3.      Get over yourself.If you want to be more trusted, you need to be more focused on the needs of

       others.

4.      Get it done (on time). When you tell people you will do something, you need to do it.

5.      Get them help.  As a leader in particular, people recognize that you might have expertise,

       resources, budget or other ways to help them; so, help them! 

6.      Get consistent. In words and in actions, be consistent.

7.      Get to trusting them (first).Become more trusting and you will begin to build your

       trustworthiness.

L+EARN has many ways to help grow your leaders:  Leadership Training, Web 360 Assessments, Leadership Coaching and Leadership Retreats, just to name a few.  For more info, contact Leah Colville at lcolville@lplusearn.com

Growing Customer Service

Does everyone at your school follow the same customer service standards?  Critical customer moments-of-truth occur when any of your staff come in contact with a student.  Here are things to emphasize:

2007 Incoming Freshmen

Each year the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts together a list to try to give faculty a sense of the mindset of this year’s incoming freshmen.  Here are some of this year’s highlights and a link to review the complete list. "Beloit, Wis. -- When they welcome the class of 2011 in the coming weeks, American colleges and universities will be saying hello to the generation born as the Cold War was ending. For them, a Russia with multiple political parties and a China with multiple business enterprises seems quite normal. They’ve grown up in a time of triumphant capitalism, where it’s common for stadiums to be named after corporations and where product placements have always been yet another clever way for companies to sell their wares. ·        What Berlin Wall? ·        They never “rolled down” a car window. ·        They may confuse the Keating Five with a rock group. ·        They have grown up with bottled water. ·        Nelson Mandela has always been free and a force in South Africa. ·        Pete Rose has never played baseball. ·        Russia has always had a multi-party political system. ·        Wal-Mart has always been a larger retailer than Sears and has always employed more workers        than GM. ·        U2 has always been more than a spy plan. ·        They will encounter roughly equal numbers of female and male professors in the classroom. ·        They never saw Johnny Carson live on television. ·        The World Wide Web has been an online tool since they were born (mostly 1989)." Find the complete list at http://www.beloit.edu/~pubaff/mindset/2011.php

LEARNinar Schedule

Attracting and Retaining High School Students

October 17, 2007 2:00 PM -  4:00 PM ET                                                          

Career Services

November 1, 2007 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM ET

“We overreacted,” said James P. Mazgajewski, superintendent of the Cheektowaga- Sloan School District. “The bent became preparing kids for college — period. It’s nice for him to be exposed to it, but it isn’t necessary for a mechanic to quote Shakespeare while he’s fixing my car.”

Mind Bender Contest

This months contest is a Mind Bender.  The first 5 people who guess the right answer will win a $25 Starbucks gift card and Lou Russell’s ASTD Infoline on Leadership. Please send your answers to Leah at lcolville@lplusearn.com

A college director has figured out that statistically 1½ Admissions Reps can start 1½ students in 1½ days of sales activity. How many reps does the college director need to produce twelve starts in six days?