Category: Featured

Social Connection Backgrounds

Digital Transformation in University Communications & Marketing

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Events of the past seven months have leapfrogged consumer behaviors ahead 10 years. The digital laggards – people who were slow to embrace digital engagement, communication and shopping – have become relatively experienced practitioners. They learned quickly to go digital when that became the only way to stay connected and informed during the COVID-19 pandemic – as well as to do business, shop, donate, attend worship services and experience museums and theater in a remote, stay-at-home, socially distanced world.

It’s time for university communications practices to fully leap ahead into digital-first practices because too much is at risk. Institutional leaders and communicators in central and advancement offices must re-engage stakeholders (across the spectrum from enrollment to philanthropy) by redefining the value proposition for higher education for their colleges and universities – how they’ve adapted, how they will be different and how they will sustain quality in agile, hybrid and even virtual environments. While university communications and marketing offices have accelerated digital communications in recent months, for organizations of all shapes and sizes, there is no turning back. The behavior of their customers has changed.

The attached PDF describes The Napa Group’s approach for developing and implementing a digital-first strategy in colleges and universities as part of a comprehensive strategic communications program. It’s scalable to non-profit organizations of all sizes.

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I Refuse To Face Any More Deadlines

The Remote Workforce: A Quick Guide to Staying Engaged While Avoiding Zoom Fatigue

Worldwide, organizations and employees together underwent a major upheaval of routines, management processes and collaboration methods when remote work became the prevailing business model at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly five months in, new routines have taken root and each day at home is now business as usual. But without the critical touchstones of in-person collaboration and celebratory milestones ubiquitous to the workplace, and a daily routine that lacks important structural components such as commutes and lunch breaks and even post-workday beers, many remote employees are feeling the drudge of Zoom meeting after Zoom meeting (or similar online platforms) without social outlets to offset the mundanity.

We’ve culled through the best resources so you don’t have to – use this quick reference guide as you manage your remote and hybrid workplace.

All this time spent on video calls has its problems. We rely on it to connect with people, yet it can leave us feeling tired and empty. It has given us some semblance of normal life during lockdown, but it can make relationships seem unreal. This feeling has spurred talk of a new psychological affliction: ‘Zoom fatigue.’[1]

Employee engagement and strong leadership are inarguably the most critical elements of productivity in business. But how do you keep employees engaged from afar? How do you create equilibrium in the work/life balance if the two are now enmeshed? Read more >

Top View Of Red Scissors And Cutted Paper Card With Word Racism On The Black Surface.concept Of Stop Racism

Equity and Inclusion: Is This “the Moment” for Sustainable Change?

Nearly six decades have passed since the Civil Rights Movement, a bellwether crusade for equal rights that seemed certain to galvanize the long-overdue eradication of racial bias. And yet, right now in 2020, with continuing Black Lives Matter protests across a country still in the throes of a global pandemic, it is apparent that any progress already made toward black equality is vastly overshadowed by the volume of change still needed.

Despite laws in place to prevent overt racial discrimination, biases remain deeply rooted in American society and individual ideologies. The questions are being asked across our institutions and media – What has worked? What hasn’t? What must we do to finally get it right? Read more >

Covid-19 Impacts on Higher Education – Selected Resources Updated       

(Updated November, 2020)

This resource guide provides informative and thoughtful articles about the current and future state of higher education as a result of the COVID-19 disruption. Here’s what we’re reading. We will continue to keep it updated with selected material. We trust you will find useful data and insights. (Some of these may require a subscription. If you cannot access them, please contact us for assistance.)

Reopening:

Chronicle of Higher Education (numerous articles – here are key ones to date):

Reopening plans – The Chronicle is tracking more than 1,200 colleges serving primarily undergraduates and not including those that were already 100% online; it includes searchable tracking table to find institutions by name – here is the status of July 31. In the last 10 days, the number of “in-person” institutions has declined noticeably while the “hybrid” model and online have increased. https://bit.ly/2DkQoxa

  • Fully in-person (2.5%), primarily in person (21%) on July 31 versus planning for in-person – 53% (July 20)
  • Hybrid (16%) versus proposing a hybrid model (defined as mix of online, in-person, hybrid or blending learning) – 32% (July 20)
  • Primarily online (24%), fully online (3.8%) on July 31 versus planning for online – 10% (July 20)
  • TBD (27%) versus considering a range of scenarios – 3.5% and waiting to decide – 1.2% (July 20)

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Big Idea

“Best of” Resources for Leading Your Organization through (and beyond) COVID-19

Updated Fall 2020

These unprecedented times call on all of us to bring our best expertise and insights to lead organizations with resilience and agility through COVID-19 and plan smartly for a sustainable post-pandemic future. Even though the first “crisis response” phase is past, every week brings a blizzard of ideas, perspectives and approaches. We’ve collected our picks among the “best of” resources to assist you as you make critical decisions for the next 6, 12 and 18 months, and plan for the longer term.

Many of these resources have provided open-access to their articles and research, while a few may still require a subscription or membership. If you’d like to discuss the implications for your organization, we’re happy to share our additional insights about turning “best of” to the “best fit” for you.

We know many of you have made very successful adaptations to the ”transition normal” and are ending the year with new innovations and streamlined effectiveness. We wish you continued success as you embrace the coming months and tame the uncertainties ahead.  Read more >

Customer Experience Drawn On Blue Wall.

Platform Business Models – Considerations for Organizational Redesign

Implementing a platform business model, in contrast to a vertically integrated organization, centers on a dynamic platform directed at the customer experience. This has impacts on the entire organization with respect to key functions (such as sales, marketing, communications, IT and analytics) as well as their alignment and governance.

While “digital” is often the reason that organizations consider a platform model, there is not a one-size-fits-all solution nor is it as simple as creating a single unit focused on digital; rather a comprehensive digital strategy is necessary to support the core strategic drivers of the business – and position the organization to respond to business opportunities and build the teams to respond with digital (and other) tools. Questions include: Will the impact of digital be focused on overall IT integration? On systems and software that provide deeper analytics for product development and sales? On marketing and communications? On social media?

Agile companies have more fluid structures in which day-to-day work is organized in smaller teams that cut across business lines and market segments. The old view of “dotted lines” begins to fade as talent and tools are reallocated according to the business need. Digital technologies facilitate a more customized tactical approach to customers as part of a larger strategy. From both IT and marketing/communications perspectives, it’s vital to understand the “whole customer” (the strategy) and what tools (the tactics) are most important to engage them.

Here’s how to design your organization for the customer experience…

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Team Work Together To Build Blocks

What Organizations Are Doing Now to Manage Change Effectively: 7 Pillars for Coping with Covid-19

In a crisis, let purpose and strategy be your “go to” pillars.

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced organizations to move quickly to redesign work, home and social interactions in real time, choose priorities and accelerate change at warp-speed. This crisis challenges the very pillars on which we’ve built our universities, Advancement organizations, schools, businesses and nonprofits.

As companies and organizations navigate ambiguity and redesign a range of futures, several foundational practices can provide valuable pathways and platforms for re-engineering. Now more than ever, 7 pillars of organizations managing change effectively are driving their decisions as they plan for the next 12-18 months.

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Campus Silhouette

Pivoting Into the Future of Higher Education: Leadership Communications in a Prolonged Crisis

Ask most college or university presidents or chancellors who have taken the helm in the last 10 years what their most important job is, and they will tell you it is finding ways to finance the operations of the institution through private and public resources. And though they may not often articulate it, the key to successful fundraising through private sources or advocacy for public funding is using a complex set of communications tools to reach prospective students, donors and public officials. Effective leadership communication, more than ever today, may very well be pivotal to the future of our higher education institutions. Leaders must make hard choices, almost on a daily basis, and the scenarios they face may be even tougher in the future.

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Why “Business Continuity Planning” Has New Urgency for Universities

OVERVIEW

With the advent of increased natural disaster frequency, prevalence of cyber-attacks, and a global pandemic (COVID-19) that has plunged global marketplaces into precarious territory, organizations have more reason than ever to plan for unanticipated threats to their ability to conduct business and keep personnel and assets protected. Colleges and universities are no exception. Not only are enrollment cycles threatened but fundraising – ongoing and major campaigns – immediately began to see their investment portfolios and thus operating cash from endowments slide drastically while anticipated pledge payments started faltering.

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Laptop Network

Software Programs for Virtual Team Management:  Popular Options

Before the CoronaVirus (COVID-19) outbreak, many companies were already operating with a remote workforce, but the traditional office environment remained the de facto way to conduct business. Now that people in cities and countries across the globe are quarantined for the foreseeable future, companies that previously may not have had much understanding of how to accommodate its workers remotely are scrambling to get up to speed. Fortunately, there are many programs—many of them free—that are quick to implement and enable personnel to stay on top of their tasks from home, even when collaborating as a team. Read more >