But why? Re-enrolling ourselves when enrolment is all-consuming
It’s the time of year again when the whole of higher ed is hyper-focused on enrolment numbers. This year the context feels especially heightened. With a decline in applications (especially with PG international numbers being so far down), the real threat of universities becoming insolvent, redundancies rife, and institutions around the world closing or merging, the pressure is on this year in a way that I’m not sure I’ve ever seen my 22 years of working in higher education.
The obsession with enrolment numbers can be all-consuming. The desire and space for big strategic thinking takes a back-seat as the urgency of the now - the immediacy of increasing those enrolment numbers - takes over. We repeat the cycle of chasing that next application and conversion over and over until we finally hit our numbers and feel that fleeting relief that our campus is safe for one more year.
But when the focus turns to the enrolment chase, it’s all too easy to focus on the numbers - the now - and to lose sight of why we do this. And when we lose sight of the bigger picture - our “why” - we run the risk of disengagement, burnout and attrition amongst student recruitment, admissions and marketing staff.
Why care about “why”?
Your “why” is the thing that gives you professional purpose and meaning. It’s the impact you want to have on the world. It’s your guiding commitment, or your personal north star. When we have clarity and a strong connection to our own personal “why”, we will find that we can move mountains and overcome anything in our determination to make it happen.
And yet while many of us work in education because we have a strong mission-led drive, how many of us actually take the time to articulate it, to sit with it, and to fully commit to it over and over again? And when we get really busy - as we all are right now - it’s even easier to lose sight of it.
When we get busy, when we find ourselves focused on the immediacy of enrolment numbers, it’s even more important that we take time to reconnect with our why - our personal mission - to keep up our energy, our momentum and our commitment to keep going.
For myself, every year or so I sit down and ask myself whether my current own personal mission statement still fuels my heart and determination. Sometimes it needs amplifying. Sometimes it needs restating. Sometimes it needs changing altogether. But the act of simply caring about it and taking the time to sit with it - whether than be a few minutes or a few hours - is enough to reshape and reignite my determination to move forwards, and to bridge the immediate pressures of today with the future strategic vision for the years ahead.
Finding your why
Some of you already know it. Some of you know it but have never articulated it. Some of you don’t know it. Any of these is a perfect start point. The key is just to start from wherever you are at.
In my coaching work, I help people and teams to define theirs. We do it either through an activity that has them land on a single purpose word, or by designing a personal mission statement - or both.
My purpose word is “play”. I’ve known others to land on words like freedom, equality, abundance, love, connection, community, wisdom, curiosity, sunshine, joy, adventure, flow, innovation, courage… and many many more.
To arrive at a single word, there’s a process I take people through. I can’t share it here, but I can capture the essence of it. What we’re looking for is the thing that humanity gets access to if everything else is already sorted and in place. So, for me, if we there is no hunger, there is absolute equality, the planet is cared for, there is no conflict, and so on, we get access to universal play and playfulness. For others, that word is different. We’re not looking to be “right” in this exercise, just looking for a word that gives you goosebumps, or tummy butterflies, or a boost of dopamine… your heart and your body will tell you the right word for you, not your head.
From there, I encourage people to write a simple mission statement for themselves (not their institution). This connects the purpose word in a more grounded way to your professional life. Don’t be afraid to be audacious and ambitious in doing this. Here’s my semi-retired but much-loved statement:
“To bring a playful energy that inspires curiosity and innovation, helping people to believe that the impossible is possible, and to make the steps to achieving it”.
I say semi-retired, as I still love and am energised by this. But I recently spent time reshaping mine specifically with my work in education more in mind. Here’s where I’m currently at with the new statement:
“To create a life of curiosity, wonder and perspective for everyone”.
This latter and newer one has a new sparkle for me, and it speaks to ultimately the thing that I am striving for through the work I do in partnership with education organisations and the humans that they support.
Enough of me, though. Back to you.
You might be excited by this. You might be frustrated by this. The “figuring it out” piece can leave some people squirming, frustrated and desperate to “get it right”. Perfectionists, I see you. And right now, while you’re busy chasing those enrolment numbers, I don’t want to add to your stress.
So, here’s a list of “whys” for folks that work in the education sector - let’s see if one resonates with you, or inspires your own:
To give everyone access to education
To open doors to learning
To build vibrant and diverse communities to achieve understanding and peace
To remove all barriers to knowledge and learning
To create opportunity for everyone
To help others believe that they can
To build communities of shared and collective wisdom
To inspire people to achieve more than they ever thought possible
To advance humanity
To advance the centres of excellence and the knowledge that will save our planet.
I could carry on all day with this list. But I’ll leave space here for your own creativity. What’s yours?
Enrolling and re-enrolling yourself in your why
Once you have your personal statement, there’s work to be done in enrolling yourself in it. This is where you start to bridge the vision and the now. It needs to feel audacious enough to inspire and excite you, and yet also rooted in your reality enough that you can see how you are already working towards it.
Notice how none of the suggestions in the list above are “to get 250 more applications”. Instead they’re the impact that you create in the world by getting those 250 applications. But you see how they connect?
“If I get one more student enrolled on a programme today, that is one more person that has overcome another barrier to knowledge and learning. I played a part in opening that door for them.”
Think about something that you have done today that is in service of this mission. It might be a micro step like changing one word on a web page to improve accessibility. But it’s still a step nonetheless. Every action counts. Don’t create a false yardstick that has you dismiss steps as “not enough” or “irrelevant”. If you utter the words “yeah, but that doesn’t really count”, I want you to automatically imagine my judgy face calling you out.
Think about the goals and priorities that you have in the coming weeks and months ahead that will also be in service of this mission, or could be if you make them happen. These might be bigger steps, like a goal to enrol 500 PhD students who will all work on projects that advance humanity’s collective knowledge and wisdom, or an overhaul of the scholarships section of your website, or a new inclusion content strategy.
Acknowledge and honour the part that you play in this no matter how minor it might feel in the moment. You might be a cog in a much bigger machine, but the machine needs you. Your contribution is essential.
And to keep yourself enrolled and re-enrolled in your mission - especially in moments like right now when you might feel like you’re chasing numbers, do some of the following to keep your focus on the now and the mission simultaneously. Remember they are not in conflict with one another. One builds towards the other:
Write your mission on a post-it note and pop it somewhere in line of sight throughout your working day.
Create a wall chart with your mission statement, and a tally underneath it for every new student enrolment that your organisation achieves. You could also turn this into a shared display within your office with everyone’s mission statements written at the top (see below on team sharing).
Create repeating reminders on your phone to pop up at intervals throughout the working day to remind you of your mission and your why.
Share your why with others in your team. Have them share theirs (aside: when I do team coaching work with our education clients, we work on exercises that create structures for this and also design shared mission statements that start from everybody’s individual purpose words and mission statements - this is great work to build collaborative teams who are really bought into a shared purpose).
At the end of each day, write down something that you did that day in service of your mission. Practice looking for those micro-moments and celebrate them. They all add up!
Above all, allow yourself just a moment or two every day while you’re busy driving the numbers game to just re-centre and remind yourself of the bigger purpose that all of this is about for you.
And lastly, know that I and so many others are so grateful for the work that you do. From changing a word on a website to securing scholarships for those who need them, you are all making a difference. And if you got this far in reading this post, you also today did something that helps me in my mission to create a life of curiosity, wonder and perspective for everyone. So, thank you for your partnership.
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Find out more about my coaching work and how I help to build strong, collaborative and creative teams that are focused on a shared mission and purpose.