The world of business is full of cautionary tales that we can learn from. Blockbuster Video was the biggest video rental chain on the planet. It had the resources to continue dominating the market, even as upstarts like Netflix encroached on it. But it was slow to adapt to sending DVDs by mail and then to streaming. Now, Blockbuster is a relic of a bygone era. One Blockbuster Video retail store remains. If you’re feeling nostalgic, you can travel about 2,300 miles to Bend, Oregon, to visit it.
Higher education could find itself in the same boat as Blockbuster. We have watched a difficult scene unfold over the past year as a number of higher education institutions in Northeast Ohio have faced enrollment declines and resulting economic hardships, with two closing their doors.
It can be easy to identify what went wrong after the fact, but it’s much more difficult in the moment. Forecasting the future, and evolving and adapting to capitalize on it, is hard work. But it can be done. Here are some best practices that can help your organization survive long-term.
Observe trends. It seems simple, but there is more to the issue than meets the eye. In a nutshell, do you know what your customers are going to want in a year? In two years or five years? You need to understand how emerging technologies could impact your business and how those technologies might influence the way your customers purchase and use your products.
Know your data. It goes beyond the spreadsheets telling you what is and isn’t selling. That’s important to know, but there is a human side to this data. Do you ask your customers what they want? Do you perform market research and solicit feedback? How do you analyze that feedback and use it to make decisions?
Choose smart growth. Grow too slowly, and you will be left behind by more agile competitors. Grow too fast, and you can outpace your manpower and resources. Smart growth is timely growth. Smart growth can be aggressive, but it still has to be controlled and measured. This impacts everything from new products to making acquisitions to new hires.
At Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C®), we have observed the changes in how students seek to experience higher education. More students than ever want flexible class options that work with their schedules, such as online classes and self-paced learning. Students also want a straightforward system for enrollment, registration and scheduling that allows them to more easily identify and declare a major and ultimately see a clear direction to their degree and post-graduation employment.
In response to these and other expectations from our “customers,” Tri-C is implementing a school-based academic model for the coming school year, which will help streamline and better organize the process of getting from enrollment to a degree. We have also added new program options through the Center for Entrepreneurs at Corporate College®, which gives aspiring entrepreneurs a nexus for education and networking.
Tri-C is also introducing its first bachelor’s degree program this fall — a Bachelor of Applied Science in Integrated Digital Manufacturing Engineering Technology. This program will benefit both our students and Northeast Ohio’s large manufacturing sector as we work to address the ongoing skills gap in the space.
But we are not done. Adapting to serve our students — and all of Northeast Ohio — is an ongoing task because the world around us keeps changing. And we realize, as every business and organization must, that if you don’t listen, adapt and evolve, you will just as surely wither away and be banished to the history books.
Michael A. Baston is President of Cuyahoga Community College.
