By Mandy Green
3 minute read
When I first started my career, I believed that reaching new levels of success required major overhauls and big leaps. That belief was not only daunting but often overwhelming. However, as I gained experience, I discovered that real, lasting progress came inch by inch, not mile by mile.
Early on, I committed to the concept of Kaizen, the Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement through small, daily changes rather than chasing drastic transformations. Gradually, I saw the magic unfold.
In my early years, I didn’t aim to change everything at once. Instead, I would focus on improving one small thing. Some days, it was as simple as how we communicated in meetings, or a minor adjustment in a recruitment strategy. Over time, these small “inches” added up, leading to significant improvements.
Today, I want to share how Kaizen (three simple but effective strategies) can help higher education professionals advance their efforts in student recruitment, marketing, staff productivity, and team collaboration:
- Start Small – Improve Just One Thing Today
Pick one small, specific area to improve each day. Focus on incremental changes that are manageable and won’t overwhelm you or your team:
- Staff Productivity: Take five minutes at the end of each day to plan out tomorrow’s tasks, identifying your top priorities. By tackling one area at a time, you set a clear focus for the day ahead.
- Recruiting: Try adjusting the timing of your follow-up emails to prospective students or personalize your communication with a new tweak, like mentioning a specific program of interest.
- Team Collaboration: Enhance communication by tweaking how your team starts meetings. For instance, begin with a quick, positive highlight to set a more engaging tone.
Consistent, incremental improvements like these prevent burnout and gradually increase impact without feeling overwhelming.
- Track and Celebrate Small Wins
Recognizing and celebrating each small improvement is essential to staying motivated and keeping your team engaged:
- Staff Productivity: Celebrate when a new system or routine saves time. For example, did a new email template reduce response times? Share that success with your team.
- Recruiting: If a small tweak in your outreach strategy led to higher engagement from prospective students, acknowledge it in your team meetings.
- Team Collaboration: After trying a new icebreaker or team-building exercise, celebrate how it improved engagement or communication. Highlight these small wins in weekly check-ins to keep momentum going.
Acknowledging these small victories not only builds confidence but also reinforces the positive effects of continuous improvement.
- Keep Pushing for That Extra 1%
Once you start seeing results from small improvements, keep building on that momentum. Each week, ask yourself: “Where can I push for an extra 1% improvement?”
- Staff Productivity: Look for small time-wasters and eliminate them. For example, streamlining the scheduling of meetings can free up more time for deep work.
- Recruiting: Could a 1% tweak in your communication strategy improve response rates from prospective students? Maybe it’s adding a more personalized subject line or a specific call-to-action.
- Team Collaboration: Identify small adjustments in your team processes, like reducing unnecessary back-and-forth emails by using a shared project management tool.
These small, 1% improvements compound over time, leading to significant gains.
In the world of higher education, the difference between hitting enrollment targets and falling short often comes down to these tiny details—the inches that Kaizen encourages us to work on daily.