Morale?

11/18/11 Morale?

A number of years ago, our college president said in response to a question about morale following a cut of 20 employees that morale is the responsibility of the individual. Hmm… My immediate thought in that emotional moment was that he was crazy and wrong. But, after some reflection, I think that what he was getting at is that we must all choose how we react to emotional and distressing situations; that we are responsible for our own emotions and reactions. Clearly we are. We will have change. We will have very stressful days. But, we don’t have the luxury of sulking in a corner with our pouty lip sticking out. We have customers and students to serve. We must put on a positive face so we can give them a positive experience. The good news is that, even with the occasional difficult and stressful days and a few tough customers or interpersonal relationships, this is a wonderful place to work. We believe in supporting each other and many of us have connected as friends as well as coworkers. I think this comes through with our customers and students as well. Or, maybe it doesn't need to. What they see is that it is a nice place to do business and meet their educational needs. I hope your morale gets a bit of a boost just knowing that our many stakeholders think this is a really great institution/company to be connected to and served by. They've chosen us and YOU are one of the reasons they have! I am thankful for you!

Tax Time

4/8/13 Tax Time!

As citizens and public servants of this nation, April 15 is a vital day for us. It’s a day about responsibility; our individual responsibility to pay our taxes as we are liable to do so, our corporate responsibility as public educators to manage the tax moneys we receive, and one in which our lawmakers must always be aware of their own responsibilities as stewards of the public trust and funds. We are all important cogs in many wheels. As educators and career advisors, we are bolstering each of these aspects of American society. We can be fiscally responsible with the funds we have received to operate our office. We promote an educated citizenry in which people with higher levels of education are much more likely to be an active influence on policymaking locally and nationally. And, we are helping our students and alumni acquire the tools they need to maximize their skills to become gainfully employed; thus taxpaying citizens. We make a difference for our individual students and alumni as well as for the very operation of our nation. Uncle Sam says, “Thank You!”

Our Brand of Customer Service

10/24/11 Our Brand of Customer Service

Many highly successful companies have been recognized for their amazing customer service and satisfaction. But, we are NOT, nor will we ever be, Disney, Pikes Place Fish Market or Southwest Airlines. We aren’t a hotel or a government agency. We aren’t the same as a local university down the road or the next town’s community college. We will only ever be Delta College. We have a flavor and a mission and a customer base all our own. The customer service we provide is best when we realize that we are serving OUR unique customers in OUR unique environment and working to meet THEIR unique needs and uniquely exceed THEIR expectations. Jerry Fritz said, “You’ll never have a product or price advantage again. They can be easily duplicated, but a strong customer service culture can’t be copied.” I agree. Our product isn’t that different from what is offered by other colleges and universities. If it were, our classes wouldn’t transfer. We can look to the kinds of service philosophies those above companies have and choose portions to emulate, but we can never graft them into our culture. The good news is that our institutional culture is one that drives good customer service. We will mold that culture incrementally as a group by our collective actions. So, let’s push daily with an unlimited drive to empower students and community members to develop and meet their educational and career goals. And, let’s provide services that meet only the highest bar for planning and quality. Already, other groups are attempting to copy our models. We know, though, that they will never achieve what we do in the ways we do- because they aren’t Delta College.

Serving Satisfaction

10/10/11 Serving Satisfaction     

We have chosen a career where we serve others. We work in a serving capacity. Our activities and programming at Delta College provide a unique opportunity to so greatly affect people on a daily basis. We are passing to others the benefits we have received that have propelled us to this point. We are paying it forward, and we believe that society benefits as a whole because those we are helping will pay it forward too. Consider this quote from Clarence E. Hodges, “I have been the recipient of love and service, therefore I can love and serve. There is great satisfaction in service to others, in seeing people and their conditions change.” We are changing lives and changing the world!

Not Feeling Well but Assured

3/25/13 Not Feeling Well but Assured

In the same breath that I might encourage a staff member that I value their work and appreciate their dedication, I might also remind them that anyone of us could be hit by a truck on any given day. Ouch! Why would I go there? Well, it is an important consideration with the undertaking of any process, task, program and new policy. Someone else should know how to access the information for any project we work on. We should always write directions for those who will come after us… because they WILL come after us. Everyone is replaceable, but we should work to ensure smooth transitions and operations in the times when we have to replace the work done by someone due to a happy event like retirement or a FMLA for birth or, in the tough situation of, an illness or injury. As always, we have a number of major events coming up. Let’s make sure that we have our “bases covered” with a tidy file that anyone could grab to pick up where someone else left off. We might need to stammer a little and muddle through, but we must provide great service and quality programming. So, if you aren’t feeling well, you can rest assured that we will muster on! 

The Luck O’ The…Intentional?

3/11/13 The Luck O’ The…Intentional?

St. Patrick’s Day is coming. It’s a time when we might think about the concept of Luck… and maybe whether it might “come our way.” Over the last few years, our office has been remarkably successful in providing outstanding service to our students and community partners, and we have maximized our resources in the face of diminishing budgets and the number of staff. Have we just been lucky? Maybe, right? But what is luck anyway? In past quips, I have repeated a great definition of success as the confluence of preparation and opportunity. Is luck (fate/kismet/destiny/providence/instant karma) in the opportunity? Maybe. But, don’t we make our own opportunities, too, when we keep our heads up and make our brains aware of them. And, when has anyone ever been successful when they couldn't capitalize on an opportunity because they weren't prepared? We can NEVER get so lost in the crises of the moment that we cease to plan and prepare and be ready for an opportunity. We must intentionally set aside a portion of our time and attention to the consideration of new opportunities and to the creation of an environment that allows them to incubate. As Ernest Hemingway said, we must never stop doing what we do and being the best we can be because sometimes we will have “good luck” and become “better than we can” be. Let’s be intentionally lucky. 

Service from a Distance

2/25/13 Service from a Distance

Increasingly, we conduct business with and provide services to our students in online  environments. We utilize the obvious email and web-site help forums but also social media and now Skype. For those of us who have been working in face-to-face student service and customer service jobs for a long time may find these virtual communications mediums a little uncomfortable. But this is the reality of the expectations of our digital native customers. We are used to “connecting” with our students in-person. We know and see the benefits of that personal connection. Yet, students don’t always feel the need to connect interpersonally with a human. Frequently they just want their needs met and have a built-in expectation that we would provide just as excellent and comprehensive service online as we do in-person. This, then, leaves us with (at least) two challenges… Provide outstanding service online and be cognizant of the consideration that many of our F2F customers might not be comfortable interacting in online environments. Are we meeting that challenge and exceeding those expectations?