Category Professional Life

Did you 👀 catch your co-worker in the act of doing something for the first time?

Jourdan Hathaway Leave a comment

💭 For junior workers, maybe it was something like leading their first cross-functional meeting, deploying their first campaign, doing their first code push, or even just participating in a brainstorm.

📊 For mid-level, maybe it was their first performance analysis presentation, a new GTM plan, leading their first sales call, or the first time they oversaw a business optimization rollout.

📗 For senior management, maybe is was the delivery of their first investment case, or a business performance update with suggested action plan, or delivering a talent assessment for #reskilling, or leading their first session in an offsite retreat.

📝 As you rise in your career, eventually all of these things become routine. On your list of to-do’s they’re completely unremarkable to you. It becomes second nature, maybe even monotonous sometimes.

😫 But, can you go back to your younger self, and remember what those nerves were like when you had to do these things for the very first time? You wanted so badly to do a great job. Maybe you were anxious and unsure of yourself. Perhaps you had imposture syndrome galore (I sure did).

Your unremarkable monotony is someone else’s courageous brave moment. Help someone grow.

🧗‍♂️ So, if you noticed your co-worker doing something for the first time – their courageous brave moment – show ‘em some support. Before you deliver pointers for how to improve (which you should do), first let them know you’re proud of them for achieving that milestone. Let them know that you are here to help them workshop their delivery and provide your own experiences (good bad otherwise) for how you got better. Help them put in their reps, trouble shoot, and up their game. Call it out when they’ve nailed it. Celebrate with them. Help someone grow. It will fill your bucket.

YOU have to own your own professional development

☝ I also strongly believe YOU have to own your own professional development. If you are the one who is doing some of these things for the first time #upskilling , take a course/workshop/class/something and also reach out and genuinely ask for support. Chances are there’s someone in your corner who is a champion. Leverage it. It’s a two-way street so when you use their advice, let them know that you got value from it. Make observations about their routine delivery that you aspire to and let the person know it’s what you’re working towards. This is how you build strategic relationships.

If you’ve made it this far – Like. Comment. Or Repost.

Business Development & Getting Through to a New CMO – Reflections

Jourdan Hathaway Leave a comment

LinkedIn is an incredible place – I’ll share some thoughts to help harness it and some tips to avoid 🛑.

You can listen to the full episode on Josh Braun’s Inside Selling podcast here.

After recently announcing my new 🔥 role as General Assembly‘s new Chief Marketing Officer (which I’m absolutely 💕 loving BTW), I started receiving hundreds of LinkedIn messages like this: “Hi, I saw yesterday you joined GA as the new CMO. Congrats. Can I schedule a demo of our product next week so our team can tell you what we do for marketers?” One person asked what my💰budget was (yikes 😱). Definitely an important❓question during the sales cycle, but not an opening one of a ❄ cold outreach the day someone gets hired. On the other hand, there were so many thoughtful outreaches filled with great info, industry insights, support, and a genuine desire to build relationships. What a treasure trove of opportunity!

The First 90 Days Vs. The Long Game

I wanted to share some insight into what the first 9️⃣ 0️⃣ days typically 👀 looks like for a new CMO. LinkedIn is an incredible place so I’ll share some thoughts to help you harness it.

I’ll be back to reveal some of the 📨 outreaches I found very valuable 😁 that did or will lead to 📞 meetings, 🤝 connections, and yes…even… ✔ sales (at some point, just not day 1). PS – So many of you of you are 🏋crushing it out there! I’m so appreciative of the connections, learning, networking, and support that LinkedIn creates.

Before I do that, here’s what on my mind:

The first few days, weeks, and even months 📆 are not typically when a new CMO is ready to take a cold call for a demo of a product that may or may not solve a problem that may or may not be there that may or may not be prioritized this year. Instead, they are:

  • Working their way through the list of activities below (keep reading, it’s at the end)
  • Getting acclimated to the business
  • Understanding their CEO’s vision
  • Learning about the needs of their customers
  • Building great internal relationships (the key to success for any org)
  • Forging meaningful connections with existing partners

Natural Synergies, Existing Relationships, and Critical Priorities Take Precedence

For all your Sales Farmers out there, there’s some good news because a newbie is probably going to look to an existing relationship to see if they can solve a particular gap in the early days (don’t come in too hot on day 1). They are also going to look for natural synergies across the existing landscape to find quick wins. They are likely walking into their team having a laundry list of in-flight critical projects and will want to get dialed in to the expertise of their teams and getting those efforts across the goal line.

Documenting Capability Gaps and Solidifying Solution Requirements Before a Demo is Best

Long before anyone is ready for a product demo, a few things need to be true: business and marketing goals need to be created, a strategic plan crystalized, a set of real problems/blockers identified, collective agreement on prioritization established, and for the spots where a new product/service is needed – a set of business and functional requirements created cross-departmentally should be solidified.

First 90 Days Activities: Consider How To Tailor Your Outreach With This in Mind

If you are about to reach out to a new CMO in LinkedIn, here’s what they are likely focused on – consider how you can tailor your outreach knowing this is what’s on their plate:

  • Meeting Stakeholders & Building Relationships at Every Level
  • Learning the Operating Models
  • Understanding The 1-3 year Business Vision, and FY Priorities
  • Diving into Financials & Revenue Drivers
  • Digesting Documentation Galore
  • Scoping Out the Competitive Landscape
  • Obsessing Over Customer Insights
  • Learning The Other Departments (winning as a business means there’s strong connectivity, trust, and reciprocal value generation between departments)
  • Marketing Performance Audit
  • Budget Reviews and Reporting Familiarization
  • Technology Stack Review and Training
  • Goal Setting & Strategic Planning
  • Team Alignment, Empowerment & Having Some Fun (ask me about our recent pet photo contest)
  • Campaign Launches Review
  • Performance Metrics Digestion
  • Establishing Feedback Loops and Figuring Out How To Best Navigate The Org –(i.e, who to go to for things and how to quickly build reciprocal, productive relationships at every level)
  • Vendor Assessments Including End User Assessments (is the thing doing the thing intended?)

Keep At It – Eventually Luck & Intentionality Lead to Something

LinkedIn, mentorships, networking, conferences, or any conduits of building relationships may yield the connections needed for two people to swap their expertise down the road. You’ll never know when the timing lines up, but I find it’s typically a worthwhile pursuit with the right approach.

84 Common Questions Prospective Students Ask Before Applying to a Degree Program

Jourdan Hathaway Leave a comment

During the research and decision-making phase of the enrollment journey, there are 84 recurring questions that are asked – here they are, organized into 10 categories

Over the years, our enrollment team has had millions of appointments and consultative interactives with prospective students (caveat: largely talking adult learners and online programs here). During the research and decision-making phase of program selection, there are common questions that routinely come up. Before students submit their applications, here’s some of the info they are gathering. For convenience, they are organized into 10 main categories. This is not every question ever asked – just the most common ones. While some of these may seem very basic, perhaps you love a tidy organized list of customer insights as I do. From there, it can fuel marketing, student engagement, internal training, and tech-enabled content delivery at scale.

What to do with this list?

  • Know Thy Product – make sure everyone supporting students can easily answer questions like this. When I first started, we had physical binders with this stuff. I think I even owned Whiteout when I wanted to update tuition. How barbaric! 81 questions x 800+ program offerings are ~65K Q&As to maintain. Thank goodness for content databases, cross-functional wikis, data governance teams/systems, and digital training courses. (PS – bonus points to any hoarders out there who post a picture of a binder they still have).
  • Utilize in Marketing – you don’t want a 7-year-old post on Reddit to be the only place a prospective student can find out if work experience is required for the degree they are interested in. Take stock of your marketing and lead nurturing assets to make sure you have the most up-to-date information. Depending on your lead-to-contact and contact-to-appointment rates, we can assume there’s a significant portion of your prospective student pipeline who you won’t end up directly engaging with so make sure there are plenty of ways for self-service info gathering.
  • Student Engagement and Tech-Enabled Content Delivery at Scale – by now, we’re all connecting with students through chatbots, live chats, messenger, emails, texts, and yes – definitely still the phone. For accuracy and consistency, it’s helpful when people and systems can all access the same info. This is where a marketing automation team will focus on the importance of highly functioning bi-directional syncs of content databases to email/SMS/chat tools or why diry data is a success poison. Punchline – there are a ton of ways to scale content delivery.
  • AI – I was scared to post this article without using the letters AI. Can I just leave a blank paragraph on this topic for now?

Enough already, just give me the tidy organized list! Got it, here it is:

Admissions

1.    Do you provide credits for work experience? 

2.    Do you provide visa sponsorship?

3.    Is there a GMAT/GRE entrance exam?

4.    Is work experience required?

5.    What are the admissions requirements?

6.    What are the start dates throughout the year?

7.    What type of transfer credits do you accept? 

8.    I’m a seasoned professional, do you offer a way to leverage my experience like Advanced Standing?

Application Process

9.    Do I need all pieces of my application before applying?

10. Do you have an application fee waiver?

11. How do I apply for the program? (Application step-by-step walkthrough)

12. What is the application review process?

13. How long does the application process usually take?

14. How quickly will my file be reviewed?

15. Is there an application extension?

16. Is there provisional acceptance?

17. What’s the application deadline? 

18. Who should I ask for letters of recommendation?

19. How many letters of recommendation are needed?

20. What is a statement of purpose?

21. What is the difference between an official and unofficial transcript?

Coursework and Faculty

22. Am I able to take any courses on campus even though I am applying as an online student?

23. Are classes synchronous or asynchronous? 

24. Are there live virtual sessions with my professors?

25. Are there proctored exams?

26. Can I take just one or two of the classes without pursuing a full degree or certificate?

27. How is the online program different than the campus version? 

28. How many classes are taken at a time?

29. How many total credit hours are needed?

30. Is there a particular order in which I must take classes?

31. What are the courses of the program? 

32. What are the ways I am able to interact with faculty members?

33. What days are assignments normally due?

34. What technology and apps will I need? 

35. Who teaches the courses? 

Experience

36. Can you take breaks throughout the program?

37. How do you work with the military during deployments overseas?

38. How many students am I in class with?

39. Is the program mostly full-time faculty or adjuncts?

40. Is this a cohort?

41. May I speak with a current student?

42. What does a typical week as an online student look like?

43. What type of faculty and student interaction is there in an online program? 

44. What type of networking opportunities are there? 

45. What is the online learning experience like?

Tuition and Fees

46. Am I able to defer payment if being reimbursed through my employer?

47. Are there scholarships for this program?

48. Are there any other fees associated with my program other than tuition?

49. Can I receive a discount on my tuition if I pay for the entire year?

50. Is there a monthly payment plan for tuition?

51. How do I apply for a student loan?

52. If my program will be employer-sponsored, what is the payment process? 

53. What are my funding options? 

54. What is the cost per credit? 

55. What is the difference between FAFSA and Sallie Mae loans?

56. What is the total anticipated tuition? 

57. What tuition benefits are offered to active military and veterans?

Graduation

58. I’m an online student, can I walk in graduation?

59. What specifically will be on my diploma?

Program and School Info

60. Are you a yellow ribbon school?

61. Can I do a blended/hybrid program (campus & online)?

62. Do I have to pick a concentration?

63. What is the physical address of the main campus?

64. How long has the University been offering this degree or certificate online?

65. Is there a full-time option or part-time only?

66. How fast can I complete the program? (Least amount of time)

67. Is the online degree the same curriculum as the on-campus degree?

68. How long do I have to complete the program? (Longest amount of time)

69. Is there a residency component?

70. Is this program accredited?

71. Which degrees and certificates can be taken online?

72. Are clinical waivers available?

Career Outlook

73. What is the career outlook for graduates of this program?

74. Does this degree prepare me to become licensed in ….?

75. What type of job can I pursue with this degree?

76. I’m going back to school so I can advance at my current job, will this program teach me how to…?

Student Resources

77. Is there a {virtual} open house?

78. Do you provide any training on the learning management tool / LMS?

79. Do you offer job placement?

80. What resources does the school provide for students with disabilities?

81. Will I have technical support?

Time Management

82. Can working professionals with families really do this?

83. How much time will I have to devote to the program on a weekly basis?

84. Any tips on how to manage my time?

————

This list of questions is simply sharing what’s on the minds of prospective students pre-application from the millions of real-world interactions we’ve had. Education does not guarantee outcomes including but not limited to employment or future earnings potential. Admissions standards and decisions, faculty and course instruction, tuition and fee rates, financial assistance, credit transferability, academic criteria for licensure, and the curriculum are the responsibility of the Institution.

If you are interested in more insights about online learners, check out Wiley University Services 2023 Voice of the Online Learner.

My DiSC Workplace Profile – Di

Jourdan Hathaway

DiSCÂŽ is a personal assessment tool used by more than one million people every year to help improve teamwork, communication, and productivity in the workplace. Leaders become more naturally effective when they understand the dispositions and preferred working styles of not just themself, but also those they work with. With over 40 years of research-backed assessment expertise, it helps creates a common language and self-awareness. Here’s me – I have a Di style and it’s pretty spot on.

Higher Education in Transition: Some of the Challenges of Scaling Career-Connected Learning

Jourdan Hathaway 1 Comment

Pre-Read Caveats

Higher education is very politically polarized right now and is in the news daily – from the ROI of a degree and the loan debt crisis to job readiness and equity/accessibility. Enrollments have been trending down for more than a decade and there are loads of systemic challenges being discussed. The below content doesn’t discuss any of that. Below is a summary of the content that was gathered when a few higher ed folks got together for a casual and informal discussion specifically on career-connected education and some of the obstacles universities (and B2B partners) cite when thinking about shorter, job-relevant programming for today’s workforce needs. It’s not exhaustive by any means, just some of the themes that higher ed professionals face in this topical domain. Yes, it’s totally biased to a few points – it was a focused conversation. It’s worth sharing because it’s important to bring people together who are working to solve similar problems – so here goes…..

Universities and Career-Connected Education

It’s certainly not suitable for everyone, nor is it the only path, but the traditional path of a college degree remains a vital and important option for career mobility – at least for the foreseeable future. Degrees provide a foundation of knowledge and cognitive abilities, forming a comprehensive perspective that equips learners to navigate diverse challenges in their professional journey. Degrees remain an essential component of career progression and personal development. That said, many in the higher ed industry are also deeply aware of (and focused on) the widening skills gap in our labor markets and are looking for ways to close the chasm for tighter career-connected learning. It’s a complex and multi-faceted issue, but there’s an exciting proliferation of interest and actions happening in the market today.  

Competing in the Upskilling Marketplace

In the face of rising competition in the upskilling marketplace, some universities struggle to maintain their relevance (actually more than “some”, it’s “many”). The higher education sector finds itself vying against various entities – from certification bodies, industry associations, or professional associations to learning providers like Google and LinkedIn Learning. In some cases, work experience or industry credentials are seen as more valuable to an employer to demonstrate a particular set of competencies and skills. For learners looking for the total package, universities must carve out their unique value propositions, they have hundreds of years of expertise with bachelor’s, master’s, and terminal degree programs. Today, there are additional expectations to:

  • Further embed specialized credentials from industry-specific organizations
  • Accelerate frameworks (and scalable AI solutions) that allow the curriculum to be more aligned with skills-based programming (at the industry level and even down to the specific employer level) – this isn’t just about hard skills; soft skills mapping is critical too
  • Give adequate and fair credit for military or prior work experience such that it appropriately maps to specific job requirements

Universities and Career-Connected Education

This is a sweeping generalization from decades of working in higher-ed, obviously, not all institutions face the same challenges, but there are common themes that show up on this topic. When discussing career-connected education with universities, they generally express enthusiasm for job-relevant programming. However, obstacles tend to be operational and practical. Universities grapple with aligning curriculum to career pathways and developing alternative pathways for students for whom a traditional four-year degree is not an option. These challenges are really exacerbated for universities when it comes to alternate pathways – meaning non-degree learning products (to be clear, there are a lot of institutions and companies doing fantastic work in this space). Moreover, industries don’t always clearly define the micro-skills needed for specific jobs, making it challenging for educators to create relevant skill-based programs. There is no standardized system for recognizing acquired job skills. Degrees and diplomas still hold sway due to their standardization, whereas certs/badges for specific micro-skills are less recognized, although this is rapidly changing.

AI will no doubt solve these things, but it’s not been adopted and scaled yet in a way that institutions and employers have equally forged to mutual understanding and satisfaction (yes at some point, this will be embarrassingly outdated). Today, curriculum-to-job-skills translation mapping (and vice versa) still requires some type of oversight and taxonomizing from a human SME who can translate and bridge gaps – and figure out where to prioritize opportunities. It can be a slow-moving slog with the amount of stakeholders involved.

Economic Challenges for Universities

Universities play a pivotal role in providing upskilling opportunities. However, they are often stymied by the economics of running these programs and connecting them to learners and employers. Competitive learning products can be expensive to develop and sustain if not carefully executed. At the end of the day, they must have reasonable unit economics. Rightfully so, the market demands a low price point for short-form learning products. The business model must make sense after you consider development and maintenance expenses along with the cost of student acquisition (e.g., marketing costs). Universities on their own are often unable to cost-effectively compete in a direct-to-consumer market; this is where employer partnerships and strategic B2B relationships become so important. Of course, there are indeed institutions that do have sustainable organic learner traffic at scale, great D2C e-commerce experiences for non-degree upskilling products, and mutually productive skills-focused employer arrangements – but many more that do not, and they and their partners are grappling with ways to win in this space.

Upskilling and Degree Requirements

Upskilling and credentialing continue to be pressing topics in today’s labor market. There are many complex obstacles to solve for both employers and educational institutions. For the upskilling paradigm to succeed, hiring requirements need an overhaul. Many employers still rely heavily on traditional bachelor’s degree requirements, even when the candidate may hold significant military experience, work experience, or alternate job skills credentials. The sirens are going off though as we’re already starting to see employers and states dropping the bachelor’s degree as a job requirement. Perhaps it’s not an either-or resolution – the world is evolving where there are different paths to prove competency and job readiness.

The Need for Lifelong Learning

The rapidly evolving professional landscape necessitates continuous learning, even after obtaining a job. Lifelong learning products are indispensable in catering to these emerging needs. Such educational resources, which may include online courses, workshops, certificates, apprenticeships, or badges to name a few, allow individuals to enhance their skillsets and remain competitive in a changing job market. They offer the flexibility to accommodate personal and professional commitments while pursuing further education.

Technology advancements, particularly in areas like AI, are not just disrupting jobs but also creating new ones. These emerging roles often require niche skills and a deep understanding of the technology, which can be gained through targeted learning programs. However, in other cases, qualifying for these new jobs might demand a full degree to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the field. Again, not an either-or; careers should be underpinned through optionality. Proving candidates have the knowledge, skills, and abilities for a given position will be key.

Degrees and Upskilling: Embracing Optionality

In the face of this evolution in job requirements, a three-pronged approach that values degrees, continuous upskilling, and non-degree alternate pathways can all serve a purpose. Degrees lay the groundwork for a large segment of the population, providing broad knowledge and critical thinking skills (granted, we still need degrees to provide actual employment). Simultaneously, lifelong learning products offer a means to stay updated with industry changes, acquire new skills, and prepare for the jobs of the future. Just as vital are non-degree alternate pathways for job readiness. Together, these different pathways can equip learners with the capabilities and optionality needed to thrive in a dynamic professional environment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, while there is growing recognition of the importance of upskilling and the provision of alternative education pathways, several obstacles remain, including ingrained hiring practices, the economics of delivering shorter-term, lower-cost programs, competition, and the lack of standardized micro-skill credentials. To address these challenges, a multi-pronged approach involving educational institutions, employers, and policymakers is necessary. This approach could involve a review of hiring requirements, an overhaul of educational program structures and pricing models, and the development of standardized systems for recognizing micro-skills.

Using a Marketing Automation Platform to Activate on Customer Insights While Delivering The Right Experience

Jourdan Hathaway 1 Comment

After scores of customer insight research and data analysis across our business last year, our organization spent a great deal of time and energy to understand what questions and content fuel our customer’s journey at each phase of decision-making. For context, our customer is a prospective or current student pursing an advanced education (typically online) at one of our partner universities.

82 Questions – And That’s Just the Beginning!

We have millions of communication touch points with students each year. An analysis showed that there’s roughly 82 common questions being asked before a decision is made to submit a university application. Our next question: How do we best deliver the answers? Enter the solution of one of the leading Marketing Automation Platforms. I’m not going to focus on the specific platform or technical integration in this post, my intent is just to highlight a few facets of the high-level strategy.

Marketing Automation and the Customer Experience

We built our business through a highly consultative personalized approach that predominantly happened over the phone. These 1:1 student conversations let us deeply understand the motivators, roadblocks and overall student journey in a powerful way (and they still do today). But, anyone answer a call from an unknown number lately? Anyone routinely spending 45 minutes on the phone to make a buying decision? These are the changing higher-ed market conditions we need to contend with. Phone appointments were historically the format by which the answers to those common questions typically got answered. So how to do you retain more than a decade worth of customer insight but uproot the delivery methods both internally and for your customer?

We shifted to an approach that empowers the customer to communicate in the method that best meets his/her needs. The Marketing Automation Platform provides a consistent, customizable, trackable, testable and scalable tech-enabled experience with a high degree of governance and analytics.

Automated email and SMS campaigns communicate important info instead of waiting until there’s a phone appointment (proper audience segmentation is key to ensuring the right stuff is being shared at the right time). Centralized and automated delivery of content provides a critical assist to the work streams of enrollment services (AKA your sales team). This doesn’t mean phone is dead; we have many students who still want to connect in that way, along with automated chat bots, live chats, messenger, emails and texts – or some combination of any/all of these during their journey.

Success is More Than Functioning API Calls

This is what makes tech adoption so multi-faceted. Functional integration of the marketing tech stack is one thing – and it’s a big thing – but successful implementation that drives toward your business objectives is so much more than functioning relational tables and API calls. It’s re-imagining your business processes with clear vision. It’s deep, meaningful collaboration with stakeholders, it’s training, it’s an investment, it’s resourcing, it’s change management – and it’s a powerful revenue-driving initiative when done right.

The Bottom Line

To state the obvious, I’ll say that marketing automation (in general) is intended to be a revenue driver and it was certainly a piece of our decision. Here’s one example, we had an audience segment that took up more than 20% of employee time – yet the ROI of this particular audience segment was less than .02%. YIKES! We moved this to an automated campaign and the ROI is the same with a tiny fraction of the time – and we get some bonus insights to boot (like an automated loss analysis survey).

So, what do you do with that 20% of time reclaimed? Focus it on higher converting audiences and activities that are more satisfying. The same group of talented employees are now re-deployed on a more fruitful set of priorities.

The Strategy in a Nutshell

In our case, the strategy behind using a Marketing Automation Platform was to help students receive relevant, real-time, consistent, decision-driving digital experiences – delivered through an ecosystem that’s efficiently managed. Also, its aim is to mitigate manual, repetitive, un-scalable and unfruitful tasks so our talented teams could instead focus on the good stuff.

Literally Judging Employee Innovation

Jourdan Hathaway Leave a comment

Screen Shot 2017-07-05 at 12.30.33 PM.pngObviously, innovation is really important; we all know that. I’m fortunate to work at a company that not only values it as a core principle, but has also built a really legit employee program around it.

The Gist

The Innovation Challenge allows folks to creatively solve an existing problem or to expand into new opportunities. Bonus – it’s a great way to increase an employee’s visibility in the company. It goes something like this:

  • Form your team
  • Develop your idea
  • Submit your proposal
  • Pitch the panel
  • If selected, watch your idea happen (for real)

2017-06-07 09.31.53.jpgThis year I was lucky enough to be on the judging panel. ‘Lucky’ because I got to detach from meetings, emails, and memos (awesome) to watch employees at every level, from across the globe, share their ideas to enhance or grow the business that we all work for (super awesome).

Brave Moments at Work

Beyond the ideas themselves, was getting to watch people bravely walk into a room, some of whom have never done a presentation – let alone to executives, who used the platform to make their place of employment better. That takes guts and pride of ownership. For those of us who present on a daily basis, you can forget how nerve wrecking it can be. It was a great reminder that if you are talking about something you truly care about, the ‘presenting’ piece basically takes care of itself. The passion and innate subject matter knowledge shines through.

Challenge To Myself: Get Out and Listen More

2017-06-07 09.50.19.jpg

I’ve been climbing the career ladder so to speak since kindergarten. Making it to senior leadership has been incredibly rewarding and challenging; but if I’m being totally honest, it can also feel a bit isolating. That’s why I really appreciated being a judge this year. It afforded me the unencumbered time to listen to colleagues at every level around the business. Of course the business is better for it, but so am I personally. I listened, I learned, I pondered, I got energized, and I got inspired.

WCET Webcast: Strategic Portfolio Development Maximizing Course Offerings While Lowering Costs

Jourdan Hathaway Leave a comment

WCET Webcast Recap from Thursday, April 20, 2017

Strategic Portfolio Development (SPD) is a forward-thinking program planning approach that helps institutions position themselves to more efficiently operate in today’s market while preparing for tomorrow’s. It identifies the most strategic and scalable market-centric digital program anchors, concentrations and certificates to create a series of “suites” that build off of each other, interconnecting current and future content and program areas.

Benefits of the Strategic Portfolio Development Approach

The modular nature of this approach provides schools the ability to attract a larger section of the market to their digital offerings, maximize their use of resources, quickly increase their number of market interesting programs offered and ultimately grow a more robust and long-lasting digital presence.

Screen Shot 2017-06-27 at 9.48.56 AM

Panel Speakers

How SPD Works:

SPD involves analyzing trends in the market and understanding where the educational gaps and opportunities exist, not just to identify students, but also to help students prepare for jobs. By doing this, institutions can build efficient, flexible, and relevant online curriculums.

Connect with Wiley Education Services to learn more.

SPD helps institutions:

  • Maximize the courses they offer.
  • Quickly address changes in the market, without having to redesign an entire program.
  • Bridge outcomes with workforce expectations.
  • Identify employment needs/gaps to offer programs that will provide students with strong employment opportunities after graduation.
  • Make program planning and development more efficient.
  • Increase enrollments as students often prefer programs that allow them to focus on a specific, market relevant, specialization.

Strategic Portfolio Development – A Marketer’s Point of View

The approach of Strategic Portfolio Development influences marketing in two main ways:

  1. First, is the University’s value story in the market place
  2. Second, is the economic benefit to the marketing budget

Let’s start with unpacking how a University builds its value story. We have things like history, mission and credentials – these are long established macro-level brand ingredients. The value story is further made by factors that are rapidly evolving – program differentiation, outcomes, and the online environment itself.

The Intersection of Institutional Competency and Today’s Student Journey.

So where does Strategic Portfolio Development come in to this? In effect, it helps the school become a center of excellence in a set of scalable disciplines, which in turn, helps build competitive differentiation. While SPD has great internal benefits for the school, it’s also a student-centric approach. I like to say that it’s the intersection of institutional competency and today’s student journey. When an institution can market a depth of experience that gives students meaningful choices, the value story further grows in the marketplace.

At Wiley, our strategic marketing direction starts with a solid understanding of the product portfolio and the markets it can serve. We’re immersing ourselves in the university brand and looking to understand the in-depth details of the programs. A competitive analysis is paired with this information to provide perspective on the landscape. It gives us a feel for where to position the program, department, or university at large, that allows for market differentiation. As much as I’ve used the word market differentiation, it’s most meaningful if that is arrived at from the student’s perspective. Gone are the days of using course catalog descriptions to sufficiently describe the program. Gone are the days of the online modality being unique. Students want to know the outcomes and the ROI. If there’s a set of related choices that can better speak to the nuanced need of a chosen career path, it helps build confidence.

Impacts the Efficiency and Scale of Budget

Let’s move on to the way Strategic Portfolio Development impacts the efficiency and scale of budget.

At The Onset of Research, Not Every Student Knows Exactly Which Degree to Pursue

Sometimes there’s an assumption that every graduate student knows exactly which program they want to pursue. The reality is, many of the initial searches higher up in the funnel are very broad. Students start looking for program comparisons. This often leads to uncovering a specialization, or even a different program, that the student didn’t know existed. I’ll give you an example. I was recently looking at search index that compared the terms ‘accounting masters’, ‘accounting MBA’ and ‘business masters’. On average, there’s 76% more searches for the broad term ‘business masters’ than searches for an ‘accounting masters’. And, ‘accounting master’s has 147% more searches than typing in ‘accounting MBA’. {for all you data scientists, I know you can slice the data in infinite ways and there’s conversion impacts at every level – this stat is to help get a broad point across}.

Now let’s imagine that the school could compete with any of these phrases. That’s exactly what happens with SPD if there’s a program suite that can be co-marketed today. Even if it’s messy internally because the programs come out of different colleges, there is real strength in marketing relevant choices together. Instead of building many one-off marketing assets that support a single program, you can consolidate. The speed to market is quicker because you can add a tangential option to an existing set of assets and marketing campaigns rather than start from scratch. From a paid media perspective, digital marketing efforts can be initially targeted to a larger audience which can result in a lower cost-per-inquiry.

See a Real Example of SPD in Action

Check out the WCET Webinar to see how this plays out in Scranton’s real world portfolio example. In the marketing section, we talk about how to market at the individual program level while bringing down costs in aggregate by marketing the suite at large. Market demand then dictates how inquiries shake out by program.

At Wiley, we underpin this strategy with sophisticated media technology that allows performance targeting and conversion modeling – but that’s a webinar for a different day.

Proudly Announcing That I’m a Recipient of Wiley’s Global Pacesetter Award

Jourdan Hathaway Leave a comment

What’s a Pacesetter?

Wiley’s Pacesetter Awards program honors colleagues who have made significant contributions to Wiley’s success. They are issued semi-annually on a fiscal year basis at the individual and team level. I’m so excited to share that I’m one of two recipients at the individual level.

 Winners are chosen for achieving one or more of the following criteria:

  • Significant impact on Wiley’s financial results and/or strategic goals
  • Identification of opportunities that result in acquisitions, partnerships, joint ventures or alliances
  • Significant cost savings/expense reduction
  • Resolution of critical problems and obstacles to achieving goals; responsiveness to unforeseen circumstances
  • Outstanding technological innovation that increases revenue and/or reduces cost
  • Outstanding creative effort
  • Extraordinary level of intra-company service through demonstration of professional capability, strong interpersonal relations, cooperation and helpfulness
  • Extraordinary level of external customer service and leveraging of sales through customer relationships
  • Significant improvements in products, processes and workflow, or quality orientation (should result in increased revenue or reduced costs)
  • Other achievements or results involving specific objectives, projects, activities or tasks which significantly advance progress towards department, business or company goals

So what are my thoughts on all this?

Reflections From an Overachiever

High performers need their tenacious drive and skill to be cultivated, nurtured and course-corrected to reach their maximum potential. Coming to Wiley Education Services has provided that in so many ways. I am surrounded by incredibly talented folks from whom I am learning so much from. It’s been a foundation for growth and a catalyst for mentorship upstream, down and peer-to-peer.

Since day 1, I have felt empowered and championed for across the entire organization – which has in turn cemented my commitment to our collective success. The standard for performance is high, but what I find so compelling is the intangible dedication to professional development. It goes beyond formal reviews; it unfolds every single day organically by the culture (for those who seek it). This seems like a good stopping point to plug this quote:

“We need to stop telling [women], “Get a mentor and you will excel.” Instead, we need to tell them, “Excel and you will get a mentor.”
― Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

I am also acutely aware that there is no story to tell without the efforts of my entire team. Whether they’ve helped me develop our strategic direction, or activated upon it with passion and commitment, the results are indicative of our collective strength.

Are you in a leadership role?

If yes, then I encourage you to truly invest in the talent around you. I am the byproduct of so many people investing in my academics, career and character over the years – and there’s been a lot of course correction needed along the way.  Those hallway conversations, random phone calls, late night skype sessions, impromptu brainstorms, 1:1 meetings and informal mentoring make a really big impact on folks.

Are you the spouse or partner of a woman in leadership?

I know it feels like I’m doling out some sort of Oscar speech. Believe me, I’m not taking myself too seriously here. It’s just that the recognition has given me some time to reflect on my path. This is where I have to give thanks to my #1 supporter – my husband Cam.

“When it comes time to settle down, find someone who wants an equal partner. Someone who thinks women should be smart, opinionated and ambitious. Someone who values fairness and expects or, even better, wants to do his share in the home. These men exist and, trust me, over time, nothing is sexier.”
― Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

Building the Building™ – A Construction Simulation Demonstration Program

Jourdan Hathaway Leave a comment

Online learning has secured its place as a leading knowledge-transfer vehicle. During my tenure owning business operations and client success at Intellavia, I led quite a few e-learning projects. They ranged from financial association credentialing courses to hospitality courses for travel agents to adequately sell and role play to construction fundamentals.

This post refers to an interesting project aimed at young students. I was heavily involved in every aspect of the coursework and then developed the PR surrounding its launch. Here’s an excerpt…..

Commercial construction veterans Timothy H. Bernardi and Jose D. Amaya selected the orlando-based multimedia experts at Intellavia to create a unique construction simulation e-learning platform.

BUILDING THE BUILDING is a web-based, interactive education program teaching the fundamentals of commercial construction project management to a middle school thru high school audience. Using a rich multimedia environment and a challenging Construction Simulation Experience, students are introduced to commercial construction – learning the language of the trade and gaining an understanding about the day to day challenges that come with the management of a commercial construction project.

To bring the concept to life, the BUILDING THE BUILDING (BTB) team turned to Intellavia, a company with a proven track record in developing software programs that combine target-appropriate graphic design with high functioning usability. Though important with all digital communication initiatives, e-learning programs (in particular) require a well thought out user experience. BTB owners Timothy H. Bernardi and Jose D. Amaya conveyed their real-world wealth of process driven knowledge to Intellavia to create a multi-media knowledge transfer that would resonate with youngsters, teachers and the construction industry as a whole.

“Our goal was to create a young person’s guide to commercial construction project management, ” commented Timothy H. Bernardi, a BTB partner. “The cornerstone of the Building the Building program is its academic credibility.”

Jose D. Amaya continued, “The program’s content has drawn from our professional experience in commercial construction. We’ve just completed the demo and are now engaging Intellavia to build out additional portions of the program.”

The simulation demo is complete and the phase 2 academic portion is in progress. Once the full program is deployed, students will receive a comprehensive evaluation of their performance.

Building the Building – An Introduction to Commercial Construction Project Management ™ Copyright 2011. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction of this demo by any means without the consent of Timothy H. Bernardi is prohibited. Contact timothybernardi@buildingthebuilding.com. Please Note: This edition of Building the Building – An Introduction to Commercial Construction Project Management™ has been published for demonstration purposes only.

Developing a web-based submission for The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet Recognition ProgramÂŽ

Jourdan Hathaway Leave a comment

Executive Summary

The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) officially granted Florida Hospital for Children Magnet Recognition status, as part of its Magnet Recognition ProgramÂŽ, which honors hospitals for excellence in nursing. The Magnet designation makes the Walt Disney Pavilion the only hospital in Central Florida to receive this prestigious recognition. Moreover, only seven percent of the nation’s hospitals have earned this distinction. The Magnet Recognition Program honors the outstanding contributions of patient care clinicians as demonstrated through excellence achieved in leadership, clinical practice, innovations and positive outcomes. In addition to the Magnet recognition, Florida Hospital for Children was also cited for exemplary status in six areas, including community and educational partnerships, and analysis and tracking of nurse satisfaction.

The Challenge

In previous years, the 700+ pages of the documented submission were compiled and delivered in hard copy format. For efficiency, the hospital wanted to streamline the delivery process without sacrificing quality or the incredible amount of hard work that goes into preparing the tangible documents and meticulous compilation of corresponding resources.

The Solution

Intellavia was contracted as the technology partner that developed the electronic version of the Magnet submission to the ACNN. Intellavia quickly understood the magnitude of the project and worked closely with the Magnet Leadership Team to ensure all technical requirements were met. This included developing a highly-organized content delivery system with an index that followed all guidelines – along with a one-click PDF export for printing. There were over 700 pages of text and nearly 500 corresponding resources and digital assets.

Results

Intellavia leveraged the proven techniques and philosophy of User-Centered Design (UCD) to create effective web-based business solution. At the heart of this, and every project, was ensuring usability goals were met – a critical undertaking with the organization of 700+ pages of content. Ultimately, Intellavia created a highly searchable, user-intuitive, secure and protected website to deliver materials validating the outstanding contributions of patient care clinicians at Florida Hospital for Children.

Multimedia Links