Why the Enrollment Struggles in So Many Christian Schools? Where Have All the Students Gone? Why the Enrollment Struggles in So Many Christian Schools?

Exercise 1 List the top 5 reasons parents give for choosing to enroll their child(ren) at your school? How do you know this?

Exercise 2 List the top 5 reasons parents give for choosing to withdraw their child(ren) from your school? How do you know this?

Research says Schools with consistent strong enrollment . . . Own a consistent, clear, compelling message Communicate that message effectively Effectively employ sound enrollment/retention strategies Invest necessary resources Are known for quality programs, faculty and graduates Continuously work at building strong donor, alumni, and community relationships Consistently deliver exceptional customer service Have above average “curb appeal”

Other factors Price Perceived value (and what that implies to each parent) Quality of a specific program Reputation Personal motivation Customer service (a key in my opinion) Relationships – feel a part of a community, student-to-student Cultural norms Biblical beliefs/Values Other

Let’s make it more complicated SATISFIERS MOTIVATORS

An exercise – for you and your team In each of those areas rate your school on a 1-5 scale. What are the areas you have worked on most over the last three years? Describe your most effective strategies of the last three years. What areas have you not received as much attention over the last three years? What do you believe you must address to improve your current enrollment?

Two key elements MARKETING ENROLLMENT The Message Messaging Tools Messaging Strategies Impact Analysis ENROLLMENT Admissions – process Recruiting – sales Retention – quality Programs/Performance Service Culture Relationships Re-marketing

Must be in balance Marketing Enrollment

Must be in balance Velocity How Well Volume How Much

But . . . “The journey starts with an understanding of the difference that you want to make in the world. What does this organization believe in? What does it believe it is here to do? What difference does it ultimately make in the lives of the people it is trying to serve? At the intersection of the passions and strengths of an organization and the needs of the world stands a great purpose.” Roy Spence

You must Start with the why simon sinek How? What?

Illustrations of why “to democratize the American skies” “to challenge the status quo and to empower the individual” “I have a dream.” “Because Nigeria needs strong churches” “To build Champions for Christ” “Make disciples of all nations”

Some questions to prompt discussion What is your why? Some questions to prompt discussion What difference are we trying to make? Why does that matter? What is lost if we cease to exist? Why have I invested my life in this?

Why why matters – in recruitment and retention “A simple claim of better, even with the rational evidence to back it up, can create desire and even motivate a decision to buy, but it doesn’t create loyalty. If a customer feels inspired to buy a product, rather than manipulated, they will be able to verbalize the reasons why they think what they bought is better. Good quality and features matter, but they are not enough to produce the dogged loyalty that all inspiring leaders, and companies are able to command.” Simon Sinek

Why why Matters - Alignment “The second requirement for building a healthy organization – creating clarity – is all about alignment. . . alignment is about creating so much clarity that there is little room as possible for confusion, disorder, and infighting to set in. Unfortunately, most leaders I’ve worked with who complain about a lack of alignment mistakenly see it primarily as a behavioral or attitudinal problem.”

Why why matters - Alignment “In their minds, it’s a function of the fact that employees below them do not want to work together. What those executives don’t realize is that there cannot be alignment deeper in the organization, even when employees want to cooperate, if the leaders at the top (including the board – my note) aren’t in lock-step with one another around a few very specific things.”

Why why matters - alignment “there is no way that . . . employees can be empowered to fully execute their responsibilities if they don’t receive clear and consistent message about what is important from their leaders across the organization. There is probably no greater frustration for employees than having to constantly navigate the politics and confusion caused by leaders who are misaligned.

Why why matters - alignment “Alignment and clarity cannot [however] be achieved in one fell swoop with a series of buzzwords and aspirational phrases crammed together. It requires a much more rigorous and unpretentious approach.”

Why why matters - alignment Why do we exist? How do we behave? What do we do? To what end? How will we succeed? What is most important, right now? Who must do what?

Why why matters - Alignment Operational integrity “Patterns of intentionality” Consistently connecting purpose to practice; to what and how Focused impact “True education is always about learning to connect knowledge with doing, belief with behavior” Steven Garber