1. Sharing “Small Wins”:
A Fictional Case Study
Suzanne Sannwald
Ashford University
Instructional Leadership
EDU 658
Dr. John Johnson
September 2, 2013
2. Our Mission
To improve the lives of
students by educating
and empowering them
through career and
professional development
for lifelong success.
4. Our Three Part Strategy
Strategy 1
Service
Alignment with
Student
Expectations
Strategy 2
Increase
Student
Awareness and
Understanding
of Services
Strategy 3
Improve
Integration and
Promotion of
Services with
Academics
Where we have begun…
5. Small Wins
“A small win is a
concrete, complete, implemented outcome.
By itself, a small win may seem relatively
unimportant, but a series of small wins can
help reduce the feeling that issues are so
complex we are incapable of solving them”
(Rhatigan & Schuh, 2003, p. 18).
6. Our Small Win
WIN!
Assess Current Student Expectations
and Satisfaction Regarding Services
STEP 1
•Survey Development
STEP 2
•Survey Administration
STEP 3
•Analysis of Results
7. Benefits
Improve service quality by identifying
students’ “expectations of the service to
be rendered and their perceptions of the
actual performance of the service”
(Nadiri, Kandampully & Hussain, 2009, p. 525).
Expectations
of services
BRIDGING THE GAP
IMPROVE SERVICE QUALITY
Perceptions
of actual
services
9. Shared Value
Our Mission
Fulfilling Mission
• Better educating and
empowering students
through career and
professional development
for lifelong success
• Improving lives of
students
10. Data and Results
Services Desired Versus Perception of Current Services
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Ranked Importance of
Services
Perceived Quality of
Current Services
Resume & Interview Career Fairs
Cover Letter Preparation
Writing
Online
Career
Resources
11. Data and Results
• Resume and cover
letter writing is a high
priority.
– Continue to improve
support in this area.
• Focus on increasing
availability of online
career resources.
– Solicit greater input on
desired online services
via focus groups.
12. Publicizing Our Win
• Email communications to
students, faculty, and staff
• Web links:
– University blog
– Student newspaper
– Career services website
• Promotion of web links via
social media
• Internal presentations to
faculty and staff
13. Next Steps
Strategy 1
Service
Alignment with
Student
Expectations
Strategy 2
Increase
Student
Awareness and
Understanding
of Services
Strategy 3
Improve
Integration and
Promotion of
Services with
Academics
14. References
Nadiri, H., Kandampully, J., & Hussain, K. (2009). Students’ perceptions of
service quality in higher education. Total Quality Management and
Business Excellence, 20(5), 523-535.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14783360902863713
Rhatigan, J. J., & Schuh, J. H. (2003). Small Wins. About Campus, 8(1), 17.
Retrieved from EBSCOHost.
Spiro, J. (2011). Leading change step-by-step: Tactics, tools, and tales. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Stimac, H., & Leko Simic, M. (2012). Competitiveness in higher education: A
need for marketing orientation and service quality. Economics and
Sociology, 5(2), 23-34. Retrieved from EBSCOHost.
Notas do Editor
Image from Microsoft Clip Art GalleryTo start off, let’s consider what our overall mission is and thus also what our larger goal is.
Image from Microsoft Clip Art GalleryGiven our mission, here is a large goal that we are striving toward with our overall strategic plan.
This slide is used to describe the larger “change strategy.”Action details for each strategy:ACTION 1A: Develop, administer, and analyze results of a survey to assess current student expectations and satisfaction. ACTION 1B: Map current services with expected services from the survey to identify gaps and areas of opportunity. ACTION 1C: Review and revise the strategic plan to address identified gaps and areas of opportunity.ACTION2A: Provide resources to student advisors that they may share when advising students.ACTION 2B: Create a targeted Marketing campaign to promote services directly to students.ACTION3A: Meet regularly with department faculty to improve communication and collaboration.ACTION3B: Develop at least one project per major academic area that integrates services into the curriculum.
This slide defines small wins as Karl Weick first introduced the idea into organizational theory.
This slide explains the goal and steps of our first “small win.” When the larger win is considered to be increasing the department’s reach to students, this first step is one that is certainly concrete and achievable. This small win enables the department to then make other shifts that may all help contribute to achievement toward the larger goal.
The benefit of the small win is that enables the department to start to bridge the gap between services as students indicate expectations and how they perceive actual services being delivered. In some cases, the actual services may exist and may simply need to be better marketed or communicated. In other cases, it may be necessary to actually shift the way that and which services are being delivered. In any case, better alignment will result in increased service quality.
A great shared value for the university as a whole is found whenever service quality improves and results in increased customer satisfaction. When students are more satisfied, they may arguably experience greater success and this may impact improved persistence rates, as well as result in students recommending the university favorably to others.Image from Microsoft Clip Art Gallery
The greatest shared value is an improvement in services that has an overall beneficial impact on student success. This improvement is a shared value in that it not only helps the department meet its mission, but it also improves student lives, which is a huge shared value for them.Image from Microsoft Clip Art Gallery
NOTE: This is fictional data.While there were theoretically a number results, this graph highlights some key findings that inform the recommendations made on the next slide.
While the survey that was administered to students provided a variety of results, here are two key findings that emerged from the results.
While the small win represents a successful win for students, it is just as important to publicize the win with faculty and staff. After all, “efficient communication with all stakeholders of the institution…would improve cooperation between different departments and teaching and non-teaching staff and students” (Stimac & LekoStimac, 2012, p. 33). This is the perfect lead-in to our next steps.
Our next steps include continuing with the larger, overarching strategic plan, which includes increasing student awareness and understanding of services, particularly by engaging student advisors. Also, the goal is to fundamentally improve the integration of services into the curriculum by working closely with academics. The overall end goal is to increase student use of services for better fulfillment of the mission, which is to improve student lives by educating and empowering them with career and professional development skills and knowledge.