| October, 2010 | Past Issues | www.ccbo.org | Advertise |
Executive Director's View
By Bob Hassmiller What does the future hold? We’re all most often concerned with major trends that impact our work. Which trends you face are of course dependent on your current situation, and our situations in higher education are "fluid" to say the least. I was recently challenged to identify the major trends we see at CCBO for community colleges and higher education. Each is worthy of much discussion, and they aren’t in order of importance. But we will hit the highlights. 1. Financial models are changing. With changes in federal, state, local, auxiliary, endowment and tuition models, all methods of increasing revenues and/or formula funding are under scrutiny. In an environment where "raiding the bank" is happening more often, we need to explore consistent funding models for the future. 2. Outsourcing is increasing. CCBO has always been an advocate of the efficient and effective operations of support services. We’re seeing increased outsourcing both for good and bad reasons. We very much need to examine this trend in depth and set a better basis for good decisions. 3. Succession planning will soon be crucial. Our "Boomer" population of business service and higher education leaders will soon be retiring, taking a large part of the knowledge-base with them. The succession process (not replacement) will be important. 4. The impact of rising enrollment and new students. Many suggest that as unemployment rates decrease, so will our bursting-at-the-seams student population. I’m not so sure. But we must look at our students in relation to their impact on our business partner/vendors, our classroom and faculty, the US workforce, the services we offer and our learning mission. AACC efforts in this arena, working with President Obama and the Congress insures our leadership role in workforce development and post-secondary education. 5. Cooperate, compete, or something else. We have often been in state-wide systems, and community colleges really do work well in our communities. But we will need to look at all that we do to ensure that our economies of scale are placing services where they can be most effectively be operated. One example – parking and/or transportation. 6. Doing more with less. Our internal organizational structures and even the time we have in the day (or night) are changing. We may need to examine or abandon "scented territories" to accomplish our goals. How do you get others, or yourself, to look at your operation without being all things to all people? Community college business professionals have always been the guardian against excessive expenses. We may need to do more. 7. Standards. We have, for too long, said that what we do is hard to measure, and we are right. But setting standards, determining concrete, measurable and quality objectives will grow in importance. Our role in providing meaningful data to show improvement will increase in importance. 8. Marketing. Few operations will be able to function without thinking how and what they communicate with others. Facebook, Twitter, texting and conventional messages will grow in importance. It seems that business services wouldn’t need to be tuned to this. But we may. No one can face new trends without thinking of the team with which they will face them. CCBO has been privileged to have gifted individuals who have served as the President, along with a great Executive Committee and Board. Many thanks to the great leadership that Susan Clough has provided during certainly challenging economic times. Her concrete thinking, good humor and the ability to bring out the best in all around her will be missed. You will soon meet her successor Kurt Buttleman. He is in charge of our upcoming annual conference in Hilton Head and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to business services and CCBO. Each great leader participated in their first annual conference at some point and, more importantly, said "Yes" when asked to become more involved. We hope that you support all of our leaders and that you will be more involved in CCBO too. As always, agree or disagree to bob@ccbo.org |
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