Understanding the Systems Approach to Innovation

We see it time and time again. In every industry, from technology to education, the evolution of the systems approach. With all of the chatter in the education industry, it is always important to underscore the fact that innovation in itself is merely a phase - and important one, at that - of a larger systems approach. Innovation historically sets a systems approach cycle into motion, which inevitably is followed the integration of new innovations, the convergence of many tools into one platform, followed by the adoption of that new convergence. But, what do these terms really mean?

Innovation is the creation of a new paradigm, invention or a new way of doing something. Innovation often brings new tools to bear on a task. In education, the online learning platform - or even distance learning, as we once called it - was a true innovation. It was a play on the "place" P of the famous Four P's in marketing, changing the very distribution system of learning.

Integration is the bringing together of new innovations and advances into existing systems. It allows the new innovation to be blended or woven into some meaningful system or structure. We see this in education through hybrid learning programs that foster both virtual and physical learning environments.

Convergence is where innovation gets the most traction. It is at the point of convergence where several systems or platforms, not just one, become integrated into a fully functional suite of accessible programs or tools. In education, we see convergence a reality when existing and mature tools get fully integrated into an experience that benefits the end user.

Adoption is the final stage, at least until a new innovation is spawned. It is marked by the widespread adoption of the new systems, creating a new normal. The education world now readily (or maybe hesitantly) adopts several different but equal paths to a quality experience. This could include a series of programs that can be accessible in residence, virtually, in hybrid format, accelerated, or perhaps delivered experientially.

Some new innovations never make it past the first or second phase of the systems evolution. The trick, as always, is to spot an innovation that has both the legs and the stamina to see the complete evolution all the way to adoption. From a strategic standpoint, it becomes important to gain that needed clarity on innovations, if at all possible, before investing too heavily into them.

Education as an industry has a tendency to be faddish about innovations. I remember the first time I visited a school with totally retooled open classrooms. The walls were only three feet high, and I could see at least twelve operating classrooms by looking down the hall at one time. Two years later I visited the same school only to find the classrooms closed again with educational administrators claiming that the experiment just wasn't practical or conducive to great learning.

The challenge, as always, is finding the sweet spot between innovations that have lasting power for integration, convergence, and adoption, and yet getting ahead of the competitive curve in the process.

Education is at a Tipping Point

Education is experiencing an inflection point like no other time in history.  Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, education had four preexisting challenges that contributed to stagnant growth and limited innovation, including:

1. a broken funding system, 

2. a bloated expense and pricing model, 

3. a tired assessment and learning measurement system,

4. inflexible delivery limitations based upon fixed times, schedules and locations that limited access to broader populations. 

Still, there were some real innovative disruptors in the education space during the last 10 to 15 years.  In the past decade, the schools and colleges that were truly innovating in the education space were focused upon three things:  

1. creating affordable pricing systems, 

2. accelerating pathways to completion, 

3. developing new access points by shifting the location, time and method of delivery. 

The pandemic accelerated these issues. With place-based, schedule-driven learning in limbo, schools and colleges had to reinvent themselves, whether they wanted to or not, just to survive.  Smaller, nimble and better funded schools and colleges responded well and grew their enrollment.  Others faltered and were left struggling for their next step.

The pandemic reset education in many ways and gave us a bit of a blueprint for what success may look like in the future.  Future learning organizations will likely have many common elements, but some of them will most certainly include:

1. integrated ecosystems of delivery, from physical, virtual and hybrid, 

2. a renewed assessment system to measure learning from a modern perspective,

3. diverse price and access points to reach different audiences, 

4. redesigning time and schedule around the needs of the student,

5. leveraging technology to personalize learning, rather than simply deliver it, and

6. responsive to their local communities and environments. 

While education is in the midst of creating a new model for learning and operating, the rest of the world is debating whether a formal education is necessary for success in the future and warrants the price it has historically charged. Education faces some stiff external competitive forces in the future that will continue to erode market share.  They include:

1. political unrest, division and upheaval

2. heavy industry regulation that slows the pace of change

3. artificial intelligence and augmented reality 

4. sourcing suitable teaching and leadership personnel 

5. the viability and sustainability of governance as a legitimate model of leadership

6. the looming demographic enrollment cliff facing many higher educational institutions and private school regions

7. the increasing perception that a formal education from a preferred provider is not the only path to success in a new economy.

The next decade will be formative and formidable in the recreation of the education industry. It is likely that the future will see a reduction in the number of schools and colleges, each which have diversified their access, delivery and price points.  We expect to see some contraction and consolidation of offerings in the marketplace and that students will use pricing and flexibility as key drivers of their purchase.  And, we expect to see technology to drive and be fully integrated into the learning experience.

Is a formal education from a preferred provider the best path to success in a new economy? We had better be able to answer that question because the world is watching.

Butte College and Rebuilding Communities

I spent the past two days on the Butte College campus in Oroville, California. It is a mid-sized community college of roughly 7500 students situated just south of Chico in Northern California. The campus rests on a wildlife refuge, and has been recognized as a national community college leader in sustainability, winning the grand prize 2008 National Wildlife Federation's Chill Out Contest and the 2009 National Campus Sustainability Leadership Award. It is a stunning and serene setting to bring together students from the throughout the region for training in applied learning programs.

But, you might know the region from the Camp Fire, the wildfire that burned in November 2018. The Camp Fire was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's history and the most expensive natural disaster in the world in 2018 in terms of insured losses. It completely burned down multiple communities, destroying towns such as Paradise, California.

I am amazed by the resilience demonstrated by people in this community. Environmental disruption has been their recent five year history, from the Camp Fire to the pandemic, as the region tries to rebuild and reemerge stronger. Throughout Butte County, you see commemorations to the destruction around this time of year. And, community colleges such as Butte College are an integral part of that rebuilding process. Situated in the heart of the county, Butte College is among the most integral components of workforce development, creating career pathways in areas such as law enforcement, fire fighting, healthcare professionals that literally rebuild the region. I’m feeling grateful and inspired today after watching this resilient organization literally lift and elevate a community.

Three Major Shifts to Watch

Many of our clients spend a little time at the outset of a strategic planning process reflecting on their past plan. It is healthy and reflective to remind an organization where they have been, what priorities they recently set for themselves, and how they fared in accomplishing them. And, to be honest, it also is a good homework exercises to get people grounded on the work at hand. It is hard to think about the future without an understanding of the past.

That reflection phase is always helpful and typically bears some fruit of understanding. But, undoubtedly, a few on the client team will make an obvious observation about the last strategic plan: it did not prepare them for what major cultural and environmental shifts occurred in the past five years. And, that is a valuable lesson to learn early in a planning process.

From my view, the past five years had three major themes with significant impact:

1. Identity - Individual identity, and the rights associated with it, entered in a new era in the past five years. This includes all of the basic and foundational elements of identity, from race, ethnicity, and gender. We are in a time of redefining identities and the role of the individual within that context.

2. Tribalism - The further fracturing and division of culture and society has accelerated tribalism, where people gravitate only to their groups. The includes geographic migration where people move to other regions, social and news media consumption where people only engage with channels that affirm their beliefs, and clubs and organizations that share values. The net effect is a cultural “echo chamber”, where people do not want to build community with others that they do not believe are similar.

3. Environmental Disruption - The pandemic was a fierce force in nearly all industries and it had a profound impact on eduction. It was an environmental disruption and, from the looks of things, we will continue to have more of them. From earthquakes to hurricanes to wildfires to terrorism to medical crises, education will need to remain flexible and adaptable to a constantly changing environment.

As clients go back and look at their past plans, they start to understand that they were largely unprepared for the three major forces from the past five years that drove the cultural narrative. I’ve always believed that the largest threats to the future of education do not come from within the classroom but from the changing landscape. Best to read the tea leaves of culture and build plans around these trends.

Education is Entering the Era of Accountability

We know that the pandemic accelerated many critical issues for education, such as assessment, the role of technology in teaching and learning, reprioritizing time and schedule, and developing new ways to reach audiences in creative ways. But, perhaps one of the more unexpected ways in which the pandemic impacted education is through making the industry more accountable to the business model it has developed, the price it charges, and the outcomes it espouses.

For decades, high quality education has rested on three basic assumptions;

1. A college degree is required for an excellent career and promising future;

2. A strong college preparatory primary and secondary education is the necessary path to #1;

3. The higher the tuition price and greater the selectivity of either #1 or #2 means the better the quality of the experience and outcomes.

The pandemic turned those assumptions on upside down. It demonstrated that many of the so-called “best” or most “elite” institutions struggled with being flexible in their delivery and student-centered in their approaches. And, I believe it challenged the status quo regarding the education equation of “price + selectivity = good outcomes.”

Yes, education is under the microscope now. As parents, students and their respective families continue to make lifestyle trade-offs, such as moving to a new location for a more balanced life, education will be pushed to get less expensive, more flexible, and deliver more practical outcomes. Consumers are far more aware than before the pandemic of what they get for what they are charged in an educational experience.

Watch for education to be under pressure to reduce price, become more flexible, and provide practical outcomes that the consumer values in the workplace.

Using Intelligent Design to Overcome Barriers to Online Learning

When AirBNB and Uber developed their respective platforms, they used intelligent design to overcome a key barrier: trust. They were trying to bring two strangers together share something very private: a home or a car. How could they use design to overcome trust as a barrier? How could they foster personal safety through sharing of information, a rating system, and common goals?

As online education becomes a dominant force in the education space, it needs to deploy the same intelligent design to overcome the key barrier consumers and educators worry about: engagement. How can online tools promote engagement in the same - or better - way that physical space can? How can we develop and deploy the tools to not just deliver learning, but enhance the experience in such a way that it expands the learning environment?

Isn’t it Time to Redesign the Stone Age Search Process?

With an imminent threat of a human resource shortage in literally all sectors and roles in education, isn’t it time for the stone-age search process to be reinvented? Numerous studies now show that the education sector is likely to experience a massive loss of faculty, staff, and leadership in the next two to three years. Call it what you like, but the “great resignation” will take a bite out of education in ways that we have never experienced in recent history.

Isn’t it time to redesign the Stone Age search process that schools and colleges have historically utilized to acquire human resources? The model is outdated, irrelevant, slow, and costly. It was never built for speed, efficiency, or effectiveness. It was build to move slowly and gain the consensus of internal stakeholders. I liken the old model to a below average gas combustible automobile engine trying to compete in a new electric vehicle economy; it can’t survive. We know that the days of the old model are numbered.

The traditional search process is a legacy system developed at a time when none of the existing environmental factors are in play. It was also designed at a time when education looked extraordinarily different and what we needed from educators and leaders was something very different. It cannot meet the needs of today, let alone tomorrow. It needs to die a quick death and be replaced by a thoughtful, faster, more efficient, learning-centered model that meets the needs of tomorrow.

RIP traditional search. You lived longer than you were useful.

Drucker's Prediction

Peter Drucker was the modern management guru, but also an acute observer of culture. He understood the future challenges the world would face and believed deeply in the role of the nonprofit in addresses them. Although he passed away in 2005, Drucker’s words are durable and advice perhaps more relevant today than ever.

Yesterday I wrote about the challenge of building community in divisive times and the role that education has historically played in this work. This quote of Drucker’s always inspired me to find creative ways to mobilize our organizations for the needed good work in the world. I hope it inspires you.

““The 21st century will be the century of the social sector organization. The more economy, money, and information become global, the more community will matter. And only the social sector nonprofit organization performs in the community, exploits its opportunities, mobilizes its local resources, solves its problems. The leadership, competence, and management of the social sector nonprofit organization will thus largely determine the values, the vision, the cohesion, and the performance of the 21st century society.””

Restoring Community in Changing Times

If “the work of the school is determined by the needs of society”, as the prolific educator Francis Parker claimed, we have a deep challenge in front of us as schools and colleges rest up for a new academic year. The frantic pace of change in the past two academic years have left educators depleted of energy and some campus communities polarized by divisive issues. We have some restorative work to do in the future.

Not long ago, campus communities were seen as enlightened and hopeful places - safe harbors - in times of political turmoil and social unrest. They were places that rose above the political fray to create communities of safe discourse; they placed personal and community wellbeing at a premium; and they held close their mission and North Star. Today, many campus communities are at risk of falling into the same polarizing tribal behaviors that have so divided America, such as media, social media, and the politization of social issues, contributing to the culture wars.

The work ahead will be critical to the future of the education industry. Schools and colleges will be well-served to look beyond the current needs of their audiences and into their real reason for existence. They will look deeply at their mission, vision, and their core values, using them as the foundation for restoring community. And, if their mission, vision, and core values don’t provide the clarity needed for the task, they will be well-served to sharpen those elements in this critical time. They will need to be clear about their contribution to the future in a rapidly changing landscape.

Does Independence Breed Innovation or Insularity?

I have often believed that the great asset of an independent school, college or university is held in their categorical name: independent. In fact, one might expect independent private schools and colleges to drive the most substantial change and emerge with the greatest advances in the education sector. They are independent, beholden to no one except their mission and stakeholders. As I said in our blog yesterday:

An independent school or college is defined by their ability to make their own choices, chose their own mission, and cultivate their own, self-perpetuating board members. In other words, these are organizations that have few limitations, other than those they impose on themselves.

I have come to believe, however, that independence can often be a breeding ground for two different ends of the spectrum. On the one hand, we do witness a small set of institutions that truly define innovation. They create the advances that drive our industry, whether it be in curriculum design, learning research, educational delivery or public purpose. They lead and others follow, sometimes reluctantly.

Experience has also taught me that independence also breeds insularity. Our industry sector - private, independent schools and colleges - often find themselves in a distinct category in their marketplaces. Or, at least they believe they are in a distinct category. They have a tendency to believe that what they do is actually unique to them, innovative to the core, and precious to the market. And, to be completely honest, it is not. Most of what they are doing is similar to many other schools and colleges. This inward thinking often drives resistance to change and, at the very core, a real limitation on their innovation.

I have often believed that independence is the most valuable asset of these organizations. Harnessing it to advance learning in a new world seems to me the task of the moment. Getting out of their own way is the primary challenge for many of these same schools and colleges.

The Irony of Independence in Schools and Colleges

From a categorical standpoint, one might expect independent private schools and colleges to drive the most substantial change in the education sector. An independent school or college is defined by their ability to make their own choices, chose their own mission, and cultivate their own, self-perpetuating board members. In other words, these are organizations that have few limitations, other than those they impose on themselves.

Why is it, then, that these same organizations struggle from the same historic business model challenges? They often wonder why they struggle with enrollment or finance, yet fail to recognize that they follow a high cost, low volume business model, favor selective admissions, and install other barriers to enrollment and retention. You would think that, given their independence, they would build out their ecosystems to reach new students, audiences, and price points, increasing their footprint, influence, and diversity in the process.

Educators and economists alike have been predicting a reset of education for years. They have warned that the occurrence of one or two catastrophic events could reshape the entire education landscape. They have argued that tuition was too high, expense structures were too bloated, and private schools and colleges were not centered on the needs of the market, just the needs of a minority. And, then came the pandemic.

My theory is that independent schools and colleges have been trying to solve the wrong strategic questions for quite some time. Chief among them include the following, which I shared back in January 2021 in a post called The Reckoning Begins:

• How do we find more full pay families? The right question here is how do we scale our price and expenses to meet the needs of the market?

• How do we remain selective in our admissions process? The right question here is how do we make our programs more accessible to those who need us?

• How do we market ourselves better and be better known in our community? The right question here is how do we better connect and make meaningful and relevant relationships in our own backyard?

• How do we acquire more diversity in our schools? People were meant to be understood, not acquired. Diversity through acquisition is among our most significant moral sins as an industry. The right question is how do we gain cultural competency and fluency in order to attract audiences that can see themselves in our community?

We are at another pivot point, an inflection in the education industry. As we emerge and pass into a post-pandemic landscape, our industry has a golden opportunity to challenge some of the inherent failed assumptions of our business model. And, in order to solve these issues, it will need to lean into independence as a primary asset for creating change.

Challenging Faculty Recruitment and Retention Landscape

If your school or college is experiencing challenges in recruiting and retaining high quality faculty and staff, you are not alone. The acquisition and retention of quality human resources is quickly emerging as one of the top short-term issues facing our schools. Changing geopolitical migration patterns, cost of living, housing price increases, inflation, early retirements, and education industry fatigue all play challenging roles while educators seek to acquire and compensate talent for the future.

Two Different Education Realities Emerging Today

The education industry is beginning to witness the same divide as we see in other segments of culture. As the world moves toward a post-pandemic new reality, two different realities are emerging in the world of education. And, private education seems to be the most directly impacted.

On one hand, many private schools and colleges fared very well during the pandemic. They had some resources with which to pivot online and hybrid settings, fostering economic strength and demonstrating resiliency in the delivery. Now, saddled with strong enrollments, balanced budgets, and happy students, we are seeing many established and mature schools settle back into their old ways as they try to recreate the past. Post-pandemic retrenchment has hit the ranks of faculty, staff and even leadership at some of these stronger schools and colleges. Their new reality is one of managing newfound demand, which may outpace capacity, and move back into a more traditional style of education. Oddly enough, we are not seeing the same level of innovation among these schools at the moment. They are less concerned with the innovation with which they leaned into during the pandemic and more interested in stabilizing their current circumstances. Perhaps not a surprising trajectory, but a concerning one if it continues.

On the other hand, there are a cohort of private schools and colleges that are simply not healthy at the moment. They did not fare well during the pandemic, losing students and market position. They are at risk of retraction and market consolidation if they are not careful. They struggle with recruiting and retaining top talent - or any talent, at all - with a faculty and leadership team that are exhausted from the last 26 months. They are at an existential crisis during the next several years and are rethinking how they will survive during the next decade.

Of course, let’s not forget those schools and colleges that passed away during the past two years. We had several small independent schools and colleges that closed or were consolidated by other systems. I wrote an article back in February 2021 about the closing of MacMurray College in Central Illinois - a fine institution that had weathered many economic uncertainties in the past. But, the pandemic accelerated their preexisting conditions. At that time, I shared the same sentiment that I offer and underscore today:

I am deeply concerned that we currently have too many over-generalized, non-distinct, over-priced, inflexible, smallish private schools and colleges, with limited resources. They are all trying to find a way to preserve a past that is declining. There simply won’t be room for all of them.

What We're Seeing on Campus: Late Spring Edition

Periodically, we publish updates on trends and forces impacting education throughout the United States and beyond. Our updates are based upon our ongoing strategic planning experiences with our clients as we conduct environmental scans, competitive analysis, and demand trends. Here are six strategic trends that we are seeing at schools and colleges as they finish up the school year and head into summer.

1. Short-term learning continues to be an expanding industry. The more innovative schools and colleges seek ways to capture new audiences with shorter time commitments.

2. Immersive learning experiences are favored by consumers as education continues to pivot to changing post-pandemic lifestyles. Schools and colleges continue to prioritize offerings that are more experiential, place-based, and favor hands-on learning.

3. Assessment has not shifted much during the pandemic. Despite some movement toward shorter and more immersive learning offerings, assessment - the ways in which we measure learning - have not caught up to program development. The industry continues to be plagued by our old, traditional seat-time in class credentialing model.

4. Post-pandemic retrenchment has hit the ranks of faculty, staff and even leadership at some of the stronger schools and colleges. With strong enrollments, balanced budgets, and happy students, we are seeing many established and mature schools settle back into their old ways as they try to recreate the past.

5. Scaling and new price models are in development. The more innovative schools and colleges are experimenting with offering different price points for different programs and services, as opposed to the full-time, full tuition model.

6. Deep concern looms over talent and leadership acquisition as schools and colleges try to fill open rosters in their faculty and administrative ranks. Changing geopolitical migration patterns, cost of living, housing price increases, inflation, early retirements, and education industry fatigue all play challenging roles while educators seek to acquire and compensate talent for the future.

We will give you another update in the late summer as we head into the fall. Have a great finish to the spring as you gear up for a great summer. And, watch for updates on our #edufails series that we will continue to publish throughout the summer.

Why Doesn't Education Scale Their Offerings?

What are the mistakes that schools and colleges continue to repeat? Our experience in this industry tells us that the education industry keeps making the same mistakes, dodging the same bullets, and asking the wrong questions about their future. This is the first in a series about the mistakes our industry continues to make and how we can avoid them in this moment of deep change and disruption in education.

So, here’s a curious question. How many products do you know of that can offer a one-size fits all solution to their customers? Probably not many, right? That is simply because people want choice, customization and options. Imagine Apple only selling one size and color of the iPhone, Honda offering one size of a vehicle, or an interior designer offering only one level and price of services.

So, you have to wonder, why has private primary and secondary education stuck with a model that has offered primarily one price, one fixed schedule, and one primary delivery option? It is a one-size and price fits all model. In the higher education space, we have seen great flexibility in price, schedule, and delivery modes in an effort to meet a variety of different consumer profiles and needs. But, not so in the private primary and secondary models of education. Up to the pandemic, very few schools were willing to experiment with mixed offering scenarios.

The truth is this: private primary and secondary education has failed to scale their offerings. And, the limitations of this are both significant and two-fold.

1. On the consumer front, a lack of scale equates to a lack of choice. With only one fixed schedule, one price point, and one delivery option, consumers are locked into a product line that is inflexible. It has not shifted to meet the changing needs of culture and society.

2. On the school front, a lack of scale equates to a lack of influence. There are few ways in which a school can diversify their student enrollment, increase their footprint, reach more students, or expand their mission or philosophy to enact change in the world.

The pandemic offered a seismic disruption to our industry, causing schools to pivot to an uncomfortable level. Some have responded by learning from that moment and creating newly scaled offerings to different audiences. Most, however, continue to retract into pre-pandemic times, failing to scale to meet new needs.

Let’s not make the same mistakes again, folks. We need to use this moment in time to expand consumer choice and increase our level of organizational influence. If we don’t, others most certainly will, and we may not have a future.

Five Forces In Five Years (That Seemed to Have Changed Everything)

If the world around you feels like it is moving too fast and trending a bit too dark, there might be some pretty clear reasons. The past few years have ushered in cultural change at a magnitude that few, if any, of us can come to close to comprehending.

Five forces — in just over five years — have ushered a wave of cultural change that is, admittedly, hard to manage. And, for those in the business of community-building, such as educators and non-profit strategists, these forces are hard at work opposing our efforts.

So, what are these five forces and what do they mean for our future?

1. #MeToo - For some of us, the #MeToo movement may seem like a long time ago, but it gained mainstream media attention just five years ago. The movement actually started in 2006 when founded by survivor and activist Tarana Burke. However, #MeToo really gained pop culture traction in 2017 with the world waking up to the magnitude of sexual violence through a series of high profile cases of marginalization of women.

2. #BlackLivesMatter - The #BLM movement gained public traction in 2013. As a movement, it is a decentralized effort to highlight the deaths and acts of police brutality against black individuals, including Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, among many others. The goal of #BLM is to highlight and orchestrate needed cultural and systemic change.

3. Normalization of Political Division and Hate - The presidential elections of 2016 and 2020, the ensuing Trump presidency, and the insurrectionist movement have all served to fuel a public divided and a normalization of hateful speech experienced everyday throughout the world. Whether you like it or not, we have normalized shout-downs and call outs on social media, hateful rhetoric, and divisive language in pop culture. It is now the norm.

4. Confirmation Bias, Social Media, and Media Consumption - With greater polarization in mainstream culture, people have sought confirmation of their own ideologies through a more divided media, news, and social channels. Rather than seek to understand others with different views, our culture has become more divided and segmented into categories along the political spectrum, and we follow those groups in the news and media we choose. Again, this is an incredibly tough challenge to overcome when you are in the business of building community, which, by definition, requires diversity of people and thought.

5. Global Pandemic - The coronavirus pandemic was the fuel that burned the fire. It served as a catalyst and accelerant to these issues, creating more division and isolation in our culture. It highlighted those marginalized in most sectors, from finance, healthcare, employment, education, and housing, and continues to do so. It didn’t cause the problem; it magnified it.

Five forces in five years. They seem to have changed everything. And, so fast.

I am not arguing that any of these changes did not exist before the past few years. They did - but they came of age only more recently. And, simultaneously.

Any one of these issues would have historically created a cultural inflection point for decades. But, all together, in such short time, they represent a pivot so significant we must pause. We must contemplate. What does this all mean?

Over the course of the next few weeks we will unpack these challenges as it relates to the work of education and community building.

Breaking Fertile Ground

The past few weeks have been very interesting. As we continue to scan the horizon to see how schools, colleges, and universities are responding with new strategies in a post-pandemic world, we continue to see new ground being broken. Our work with several associations, as well as teaching a few learning cohorts on resiliency planning, bears witness to a shifting mindset about the future of education. Clients formalizing strategies currently are continuing to juggle with the future while they meet the moment.

I see three emerging and enlightening trends, which help me believe that new, fertile ground is being broken:

1. The definition of what both a learning schedule and a student look like will change in the future, shifting from a traditional model to a more flexible model. The delivery model will continue to evolve to meet the changing needs of the marketplace.

2. Short-term learning enterprise with new price points, access points, and ways to expand the compositional nature of enrollment will continue to grow. This will potentially have dramatic influence on accessibility, diversity, and inclusion, as well as financial planning.

3. An acknowledgement that there will be future contraction and consolidation in the marketplace, along with new players and competitors. Those learning organizations in leadership positions possess a deep opportunity to make the first moves in this new marketplace.

These three trends are encouraging, making me believe that education is at least on the way to the needed disruption that it so desperately needed. And, it is gratifying to see that the very binary conversation about online or technology inspired learning is losing some ground, as more consumers realize that this will be a permanent addition to the educational ecosystem.

The Consumer Reckoning: How Will Education Respond?

The pandemic will play the role of supercharging change in a stagnant industry with limited previous disruption. Education has remained in relatively the same place for some time, struggling with the same issues and failing to adapt an industry to changing pricing, delivery, assessment, and time variables. The consumer will demand something different from education in the future and that alone will hold schools, colleges, and universities more accountable for their systems and structures.

Education has been historically responsive and adaptive primarily to the systems that it has created. Systems, policies, and structures have been created mostly to ensure the sustainability of the organization and those who hold position of power within it. Chief among those include faculty, administrators, and board members. Only a small number of early adaptors have created the space for change - prior to the pandemic - that was necessary to be responsive to the market. Those with independent missions and the freedom and flexibility to adapt have had a greater opportunity to innovate and be responsive.

This will change in the coming months and years. The market will demand a more responsive educational system, both public and private. One that is more fluid, practical, accessible, and adaptable. One that meet students and their families where they need them, on their terms. The genie was let out of the bottle during the pandemic and it will not return. There will be an explosion of educational responses that will be focused on meeting the needs of students and families. The pandemic was the innovative disruptor. Schools and colleges will have to respond to a game in which the rules have changed.

Can Education Heal Divided Communities or Does it Contribute to a Growing Divide?

An intensely cultural and political divide continues to threaten once thriving communities. This is not a debatable fact but, instead, a reality both here in the United States and globally. Many cultural leaders have expressed concerns that we live in one of the most divided times in recent history, especially among democratic nations.

Far-ranging and heavily publicized issues from racial injustice, oppression of women, accessibility of quality education and healthcare, among many others, color nearly every interaction that people may have with each other. Technology algorithms influence our thoughts and behavior, predictably feeding us our own preferred news and, therefore, our own view of the world, further dividing communities. We are divided. I am less concerned about how we got here, but how we move forward. And, how certain institutions actually contribute to this growing divide.

This is the current status of American life. And, many other democracies. But, I am not naive. I realize, at some level, it has always been this way, but not this loud. Not this divisive. And, I wonder today what the role of education might be as a catalyst for division. As I ponder, I remember my favorite quote from Francis Parker, the progressive educator.

The work of the school is determined by the needs of society.

—Francis Parker

Well, if the work of the school is indeed determined by the needs of our collective cultures, then our current challenge of cultural division must be the work of the school. It is a strange challenge, from my perspective, because the core stakeholders at most of our client schools and colleges have told us through research for 20 years that “community” is one most intangible assets that an education institution curates. In other words, the creation of community is among the reasons that consumers choose them. So, community creation might just be their core business. Hold that thought for just a moment.

But, I also wonder if many schools and colleges, based upon their educational philosophy, price point, location, and commitment to important social issues, are actually accelerating the cultural divide. They attract certain consumers from segments of a population based upon political, ideological, and socioeconomic factors, based upon attributes of the institution. So, rather than serving to unite people from different communities and perspectives, fostering dialogue and understanding among diverse individuals, they actually play an active role in dividing communities. I am afraid that this is our current reality.

Look, education is at the point of redesign. We tend to think about redesign from a price point, delivery, and assessment lens. We need to reconsider what the role of educational institutions will be in the future with regards to community-building. Cultural division is our current greatest threat to building safe, thriving, sustainable living communities in the world. We need to be thinking about how we thoughtfully reconstruct and redesign our educational institutions - private and public - to reflect this enormous need. Our futures literally depend upon it.

Innovators, Adaptors, and Deaths - The Reality of This Moment in Time

I have a theory. It is not just based upon the pandemic, but accelerated by pandemic conditions.

I am deeply concerned that we currently have too many over-generalized, non-distinct, over-priced, inflexible, smallish private schools and colleges, with limited resources. They are all trying to find a way to preserve a past that is declining. There simply won’t be room for all of them.

Last month, USA Today ran an article on the death of a handful of small private colleges. Once bastions of small classes and nurturing relationships in quintessential collegiate settings, a lack of distinctiveness, demand, and ample reserves in a changing world sealed their fate. They entered the pandemic struggling and, like many things, it only accelerated their fate.

One of these college deaths was MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois. It is about 2 hours south of my hometown in Central Illinois. It has a special place in my heart as I used to play some summer tennis tournaments on their campus. Founded by the Methodist Church, it enjoyed a 174 year history, spanning world wars, depressions, and other global catastrophes. It was named a College of Distinction six years running by one publication and has been a beacon of light for first generation students from the rural Midwest for a century and a half. But, it also competed with a litany of other small, private liberal arts colleges in the state and Midwest that shared the same, general circumstances.

Long before the pandemic, I took a cabinet level job at a college not unlike MacMurray. I managed enrollment, marketing, communication, and research at a similar college. My first week on the job one of our competitors closed and I found myself driving across the state to attend a fire sale as the College literally sold off assets to pay debts. It was sobering to see a once thriving community decimated by a college death, a college that had been the lifeblood of that rural community. Generations upon generations had found careers, spouses, and passions at that place. And, in a moment, it was gone.

Expect to see more of this, folks. The consolidation and contraction of this moment in time is real. It will continue. There will be winners (those that innovate) and there will be losers (those that die). And, in the middle will be those just trying to adapt but not leading in any way.

And, if there is anything that I have learned in my 35 year career so far it is simple:

If you are not the leader in something that matters, your future is likely in jeopardy.