Insights: Recent Episodes
Ian Symmonds & Associates
Join Ian as he discusses why some schools and colleges are predisposed to leadership or innovation and others are destined to mediocrity.
Join Ian as he explores -- and predicts -- the impending impact of AI and AR on the school and college landscape.
We live in a politically divided world. Full stop. And, it is not just a divided America, or North America, but an increasingly divided global environment. With cable networks stoking the division and social media amplifying extreme voices, it is not hard to see that political solutions to social problems are failing. And, as the political environment becomes less effective, the relevance and impact of non-profits rises.
Why is it that we value selectivity in admission programs so much? Most schools and colleges seek to promote the illusion that they educate only the best students in the region, country, or globe. And, yet, what are they really saying when they promote this? Are they selling status? Exclusivity? Elitism? Each of those concepts seems to run completely the opposite of their stated intention of being inclusive and accessible.
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.
Sometimes the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.
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.
And, from the looks of things, it appears that the industry is at their old tricks again.
What if we created strategic plans and then didn't share them? No kidding. Not with anyone. Instead, we just decided to DO them. Like major companies do.
We campaign a lot about the value of education through our Just Cause effort simply because the facts are startling. No matter how you slice it, education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.
Why is it that educators historically have designed programs that serve intrinsic organizational interests rather than the needs of the market? In this episode of Insights, Ian discusses the age-old issue of designing programs and services for the right audience.
The 3D test gets at the heart of organizational competencies, market desires, and competitive realities.
Ian sits down with higher education guru Tricia Brand and talks about deep issues of positionally, confirmation bias, deescalation, and the status of first generation students in America.
We hear a lot of folks talking about educational innovation today as if it were an educational philosophy or platform unto itself, like Montessori education, Jesuit learning, or single gender teaching. It is not. Innovation is not an educational platform, it is a mindset, and it has been around in every industry from the beginning of time. This is not a new idea.
What is the state of play in our industry? After visiting campuses across several states, including Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Texas, Arkansas, Florida, and Connecticut, Ian shares his reflections here.
On the other end of this crazy pandemic, a new private learning organization will be born. I am not sure if we will call them schools, academies, colleges, centers, hubs — we’ll find something that sticks. We need a new name. I see these new learning centers having eight distinct characteristics that will drive their resilience in the marketplace.
The largest threats facing the very structure of formal education do not come from inside the organization. You won’t find it in faculty, student and parent survey data. That information can often be fools gold, urging your organization to remain the same, to keep the status quo.
The typical school or college takes a long time to create a strategic plan that, unfortunately, often reinforces what they have been doing in the past, rather than what they must do in the future. As the COVID dust settles, the education sector must rethink how they engage in strategic planning.
With the world battling extremes - from political division, climate change, natural disasters, racial tension, and a global pandemic - is there any danger of over-correcting our systems given the current circumstances? Are we better taking the long view as we battle with our current crises? Join Ian as he discusses the danger of over-correction.
What can travel to seven campuses and cities in 15 days tell us about the state of the education industry? Join Ian as he reflects from the field, sharing five observations on the state of play on campus.
We have a leadership crisis in American education, failing to pivot to meeting the opportunities and needs of the future and the courage to change an outdated culture of learning.
Remember, if you don’t know who you are, it is impossible to communicate your identity to others.
Pay attention to the commercials. More than just simply marketing gibberish, they give us important clues as to what is trending in our culture.
My experience is that most schools and colleges will do nearly to delay the inevitable so that they don’t have to deal with the real challenges that change brings to an organization. But, those years spent in denial lead to wasted time and energy that often could have arrested their slide.
Never underestimate the power of your influence on young lives. Mentors can reveal possibilities and instill characteristics in people that have an impact for generations. And, if you work in the education sector, you are already a mentor, even if you don’t realize it.
There is nothing like a visible reminder of the mission or vision statement as an active, guiding principle that should inform all strategic decisions.
In the first part of our story, we used key variables of student engagement to identify students that were at risk of attrition. Armed with this data, we formed an “SOS Team”, an ongoing administrative task force that was charged with proactively identifying students and creating indvidual intervention plans for their retention.
When a student or parent is thinking about not returning to campus for the following term or year, certain sorts of behavior can be not only witnessed, but identified and tracked.
I am deeply concerned that we currently have too many over-generalized, non-distinct, 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.
On the other end of the pandemic, a new private learning organization will be born. Here is how private education will be reinvented.
Education has moved a decade forward in some areas of innovation in about six months. This is warp speed, radical change for educators. It is important to remember, however, that this is only the beginning. Long after the pandemic has left hold of culture, there is more change to come in the next ten years.
Ian sits down with a cup of joe and discusses the current civil rights movement with Dr. Derrick Gay. They explore the impact on educational institutions and nonprofits, both here in the US and globally.
Education is in the midst of reinvention. We have collapsed two decades of needed innovation into six months due to the pandemic. The next 36 months will be critical as we will see continued unrest combined with deep innovations. Where do you go from here/
People are tired everywhere I look in the education industry. Maybe it is because we have pushed a decade of innovation into six months. Here's one theory on why people are tired.
Ian unpacks the concept of "acceleration" as a result of the pandemic and describes how education will be permanently changed.
I’ve been thinking about how many times each day I have heard or read the word “unprecedented” in the past few weeks.
The pandemic has accelerated everything, and I believe it will leave behind its wake a series of lasting innovations across industry sectors. It will be interesting to see what will stick.
We need to be watching for what will stick after the pandemic. What innovations that have and continue to occur during the pandemic will remain permanently in our various industries? There are innovations moving forward that will change the face of learning forever. The challenge at the moment is to identify them and build around for the future.