The premise of education is improvement. Pursuing an education is about acquiring new skills, expanding knowledge, professional development, and refining critical thinking abilities. The pursuit of growth and the continuous improvement process is central to the educational experience.
These improvement efforts and philosophies also drive any great higher education institution (HEI). The author James Clear describes continuous improvement as the process of aiming to improve by 1% every day. It’s a small ask but the cumulative effects can be significant further down the line.
A higher ed organization should integrate the concept of continuous improvement into every aspect of its workings. In this article, we’ll explain why this is crucial and how HEIs can build continuous improvement strategies and weave them into their organizational culture.
Why continuous improvement is crucial for HEIs
Institutions need to design and implement strategies that will result in small but regular improvements to initiatives across their entire structure, from the student experience to faculty member workflows up to the decision-making process. A culture of continuous improvement is great for HEIs for a number of reasons.
Prioritizes student success
Institutions with a culture of continuous improvement prioritize the student learning experience and look for ways to improve teaching methods, curriculum design, and student support services. Doing this increases student engagement, builds higher retention rates, and improves graduation rates. Student needs change with the times and an institution that is constantly learning and improving is less likely to miss these changes.
Encourages professional development among faculty
A culture of continuous improvement empowers faculty and staff members, too. It pushes them to enhance their teaching practices and increase their research productivity. This culture prioritizes and encourages professional development. Workshops, conferences, and mentorship programs support faculty team members in staying up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices.
Additionally, a culture of professional development encourages faculty to engage in scholarly activities, such as publishing research papers and presenting at conferences. This helps elevate the institution’s reputation and attract talented researchers at the same time.
Achieves operational efficiency
Continuous improvement can streamline operations for administrative staff, freeing up time for more strategic tasks. For example, by automating routine tasks like student enrollment or financial aid processing, staff can focus on providing personalized support and addressing complex student needs.
Ensures you adhere to regulatory standards
Continuous improvement is crucial for HEIs to maintain compliance with federal and state regulations in the American system. Federal funding often comes with specific requirements and standards that institutions must adhere to. Additionally, state accreditation bodies impose standards related to academic programs, faculty qualifications, and institutional resources.
The Higher Education Act (HEA) places requirements on institutions related to financial aid, student privacy, and institutional accountability. Continuously monitoring and improving processes ensures HEIs remain compliant with these regulations and avoids potential penalties. Additionally, regular reviews and updates to policies and procedures can help institutions stay ahead of evolving regulatory requirements and minimize the risk of non-compliance.
Boosts brand reputation
The survival of an HEI rests on its ability to attract students and stay ahead of the competition. A culture of continuous improvement helps build a reputation as a school students want to attend, not just because of the learning opportunities you offer but also because of networking opportunities, the campus culture, your values, prestige, and much more.
A good reputation also makes it a lot easier to attract donors and funding. Whether your donations are coming from your alumni network, stakeholder partnerships, or private donors, you need to show that your organization isn’t stagnant but is constantly aiming higher.
4 continuous improvement best practices to consider
When we talk about culture change, we are talking about every aspect of an organization’s workings. This is why creating an environment that embraces continuous improvement is an exercise that affects everyone — and should involve everyone. Here are 4 key best practices to get you started:
1. Start with your vision and mission
A great place to start before developing your continuous improvement initiatives is to review your vision and mission statements. These outline your institution’s purpose and aspirations. You’ll probably find that continuous improvement language is already present.
For example, your mission statement probably emphasizes student success. If this is important to you, you might focus on improving your institutional effectiveness when it comes to graduation or job placement rates. Or, if your vision is to be a leading research institution, you could prioritize initiatives that support faculty research, such as providing more research funding or creating new research centers.
2. Involve relevant stakeholders throughout the process
One of the biggest challenges for any strategist, regardless of their field, is striking that fine balance of involving your stakeholders. You want and need all the relevant individuals to be a part of strategic planning and execution, but you need to avoid getting bogged down on unnecessarily lengthy discussions.
One could argue that there is no place trickier to do this than in academia. Many of these stakeholders are academics — people who constantly question anything and everything. They are the wiggles to our strategic plan’s straight lines and grids. This type of thinking can be great for your strategy and is crucial to building a culture of continuous improvement. But the strategy leader needs to ensure that these people are involved from the start rather than after the strategy is implemented. This avoids wasted time further down the line when questions could arise about the strategy’s fundamental premises.
3. Leadership
Strong leadership is essential for driving continuous improvement. Leaders must create a culture of valuing, encouraging, and celebrating improvement.
There are a few ways to do this:
- Visionary leadership: Leaders should articulate a clear vision for the institution and inspire others to embrace continuous improvement. Set ambitious goals and communicate a compelling vision to motivate both staff and students to strive for excellence.
- Empowering employees: Leaders should empower employees at all levels to contribute to the improvement process. Provide training, resources, and opportunities for professional development. Additionally, leaders should encourage open communication and feedback, fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation.
- Recognizing and rewarding success: Recognizing and rewarding employees for their contributions to improvement efforts is crucial. This can be done through public recognition, bonuses, or other incentives.
- Leading by example: Leaders should model the behaviors they expect from others. Conduct and demonstrate a personal commitment to continuous improvement and inspire teams to adopt a similar mindset.
4. Prioritizing data accuracy and integrity
Just saying you’re improving is not enough. You need to know exactly how much your institution is improving (or not) and what needs to be done to keep moving forward. Any good HEI needs to prioritize accuracy and truth through data collection and analytics. Track metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to gain valuable insights into performance and identify areas for improvement.
Some key metrics to consider include:
- Student success metrics: Graduation rates, retention rates, and time to degree
- Faculty performance: Faculty productivity, publication rates, and student evaluations
- Operational efficiency: Administrative costs, energy consumption, and facility utilization
- Financial performance: Tuition revenue, endowment growth, and fundraising success
HEIs accomplish more with AchieveIt
At AchieveIt, we have the privilege of working with some of the best higher education institutions in the country. They use AchieveIt’s strategic planning and execution capabilities to streamline workflows, push for accountability, collect and analyze data, and build a culture of high-quality execution across the board.
If you’d like to find out how AchieveIt can help your institution do all of this, get in touch with us now and try our demo.
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