Joe LeCluyse
Joe is passionate about helping institutions improve student success and attain strategic goals with a holistic approach.
Latest posts by Joe LeCluyse (see all)
- Is Business As Usual Good Enough (for Student Success)? - July 13, 2015
In my career I have worked with a number of institutions that spent many hours in committee meetings, staff meetings or having one-on-one discussions searching for answers to improve retention and completion rates and the school’s overall student success approach. I’ve been a part of great thought-provoking discussions where many ideas were generated. In the end, more often than not, life went on “business as usual.” But why? What happened to the ideas and energy and drive to make a difference? The most common response I’ve heard is: “we just don’t have the time or the resources.” In fact this is such a common statement that I’ve come to a dismaying conclusion: sticking with business as usual is human nature and most often the outcome, despite the best intentions to make a real difference.
But then I worked with a College president who shifted the paradigm when he declared “we are going to create a new business as usual.” Under his leadership and the leadership of the institution, we created a culture and environment that put student success at the forefront for the college and all employees. We witnessed retention rates increase and we heard from students’ first-hand how they experienced this environment and the impact these efforts attributed to the culture.
How did we achieve this? There was so single ‘silver bullet’, no magical formula. The single, differentiating element was leadership that valued student success efforts across the institution.
Shaking up Business as Usual for Student Success
An institution can change its “business as usual” in small, incremental, and targeted ways that, as it catches on, also begins to build and grow in unexpected ways. Two examples of small, incremental and targeted changes that I have witnessed to have a real impact on student success are:
- Staff development programs that help all staff understand how they can and do impact student success; and
- Student mentoring or peer programs that form connections for students.
These are not ground-breaking ideas nor are they outside of the capability of any College or University to implement – but they require the right leadership to be in place to drive institutional commitment to carrying them out.
When an institution adopts a new ‘business as usual’ in their approach to student success, the institution adopts what I call a ‘holistic view.’ Holistic Student Success takes into account how campus culture, leadership and student learning and engagement methods come together to form an ‘environment’ that can contribute to (or detract from) student success.
Holistic Student Success is achieved when statements like these can be asserted…
…Every staff member can articulate their role in student success.
…Students can name at least one staff member they believe cares about their success at the institution.
…Students have a clear and accurate assessment of their standing in each of their current courses.
…Students have developed and can access their goal plan.
There are some steps every College and University can take to make changes, to define a new business as usual, and to create a Holistic Student Success environment. It starts with looking at several interconnected dimensions of student success across the institution: leadership, culture, student learning practices, and student engagement practices. In each of these areas, the reality is that not only faculty and staff, but even the students have their normal way of doing things. That “normal way” results in the current outcomes. By beginning to explore a new way of approaching what is done on a daily basis for all students, you also begin to explore ways to impact those outcomes, both in big strategic ways and in small, but dynamic steps that can both create a ‘new normal.’
Does your institution need a new ‘business as usual’ to advance student success? We can help you examine the current way of doing things and develop an action plan to achieve a ‘new normal.’ Join us for the Holistic Student Success Institute to create the student-success oriented culture your institution needs to thrive.
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