Hi, and welcome back to Tambellini's Top of Mind Podcast today, we're here together to talk about building a top-notch remote employee experience in higher ed. Over the past year, admissions leaders have had to work especially hard to build and sustain a positive and collaborative team culture in a remote environment all while their roles have drastically changed. Enrollment teams are the frontline ambassadors of their institutional brand and customer experience to prospective students.
We're joined today by Lukman Arsalan who joined Franklin and Marshall College in August 2020 as its first Dean of Admission. Lukman has a very unique and interesting perspective to share on the challenges he has faced and strategies he has employed when assuming a newly created role with a new team at a new institution. Welcome to the show Lukman.
Thank you so much, Katelyn . We match it exactly what I am experiencing.
Well, I can't wait to hear about this experience starting a new job in a pandemic in a remote-first culture, but before we get too in the weeds, can you tell us more about Franklin and Marshall College? Yeah ,
Absolutely. So Franklin Marshall College, or , uh , known as F & M is a small private liberal arts and sciences college located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And it's a small institution about 2300 students in enrollment and a very diverse student , uh, background population. It's an institution that meets a hundred percent of , uh , financial need for every admitted student, regardless of citizenship.
And , uh , it's pretty astonishing to me when I moved here, I realized that 20% of the student body were international students , um, from over 50 countries and , uh, F & M is one of the institutions that was a founding member of the American is a talent initiative. So there's also a lot of students that come from very diverse , um, racial backgrounds , um, as well as , uh, different socioeconomic backgrounds. Um, and so that's a quick summary.
Wonderful. Thank you for giving us that overview of the college. And what has the six months that you've been there been like, what is , what does this look like for you?
So it's interesting, you know, you mentioned it's the first position, you know, I joined , um, Franklin Marshall College. Um, this is public information , um, was going through a budget crisis, pre-pandemic, and , um, COVID-19 really just simply accelerated , um, um, the college's sense of urgency and to innovate complete. And , uh , the position as an inaugural Dean was created that , um, I assumed leadership on J uly 1st of 2020. And, u h, it has been really fascinating to me.
It's fascinating because, u m, the position I sit at is a senior level, u h, position where you get to see a lot of the behind the scenes work. And, u m, I started a position that i s a remote-baced where I've never met my employees in person. U m, and my interview process was also, u m, virtual-based. So it certainly has been a , u m, a unique experience. And I know that, u h, many of those who are listening, u m, share the experience that I'm currently going through.
If they sit as , um, CFOs at campuses or enrollment leaders , um, it is an interesting position to be in , um, where I've never met , uh , in person, the staff I currently work with. Um, and I would say it's, it also presented a huge opportunity , um, as an inaugural Dean. Um, I really had , um, the support from the president and her cabinet and from my vice-president to create , um, what we envision , uh , F & M post-COVID environment , um, and through COVID , uh, how does it look like?
And we're currently at a point where we are looking at the post COVID business plan , so to speak and what are going to be some sustained activities , um, collapsed , uh, behaviors and modified behaviors of what we are doing now.
So in some ways COVID has brought opportunity to the institution.
I would definitely say yes, I think it brought an opportunity. It also, because we are in a virtual environment, it communication and clear communication , um, was something that , um, I learned I have to practice , um, to ensure that there is a common and shared understanding and expectations of how we move forward. And the COVID , um, induced virtual environment really allowed me to be in a place where I have to thoroughly explain what is going on, how do we move forward from this?
And how do we operationalize it? And it created this shared , um , this shared experience created this shared understanding for employees around, what do we need to do and how do we do it ? The work we started making a distinct distinction between what is hard work and what is the right work and hard work. I appreciate hard workers and, but yeah , I want to be doing the right work with that , um, big and we measure the right work through outcomes versus activities.
So we looked at, you know, what was our level of engagement with prospective students and interest for a specific event that we did versus I sent out 10 emails , um, started making a distinction between those two. And so it was a lot of recalibration into an inbox and , um, that didn't necessarily have these so discretely spelled out , uh, pre pandemic. Um, so that was certainly something that I had to quickly learn so that I could then in turn, set that structure for my team.
And it's fascinating to be in this position because over the holidays, I got so many beautiful cards from million employees and it really brought me to tears because I realized, wow, I am making a difference in these employees , lives in the knife, never met them in person, and we are having meaningful interactions over a virtual environment. Um, is it easy?
No. Um, you know, I , uh, before we started the recording, I was mentioning to you how it's , um, it's a time when I have a stress team and I am stressed as well. Um, but I have to lead the team and , um, make sure that I'm bringing positive energy every day into that team. And , um, we started discovering kind of what works and doesn't work and we use , um, we celebrate small wins. Um, it's hard to have these big accomplishments and not everybody has big accomplishments.
Um, and so we started really acknowledging small wins , um, toward a big project that we're working on , um, so that people feel motivated and energized and excited about the work they're doing. And , um, the reality is sometimes, you know, we could have fun activities , um , built in, but there's not so much fun in manipulating , uh , data, Excel sheets and , uh, reviewing and reading.
And so a lot of , um, my time then goes into really being , um, empathetic and listening , um , to my team and to their concerns. Um, I think at the beginning of the pandemic, we were all dealing with the psychological shock of it. And we're now at the stage of them psychological stamina. And how do we , um, sustain , um, link , uh , with the challenges that we have.
And so it's really being able to hit, to use a word that is so overused now, but how might we just be nimble and adapt very quickly? And , um, if there's something that I shared with the team, when I started, it was, I said, listen, we are charting roads that and sees that we've never sailed before, and we're doing this together and we'll make decisions at that. We might back out of when we realized this is not the right thing to do.
And so I think , um, a helpful exercise for my team was how do we acknowledge mistakes and how do we learn from them? I love design thinking and I always talk about , um, you know, we're prototyping something until we nail it down. And if our prototype fails , um, it's not failure. We, because we get lessons learned and we redo it and do it again and do it better. Um, and it made me realize the employee experience is really important.
Um, and how employees feel in the office is important so that we could deliver an excellent and extraordinary customer experience. And I know customer is a taboo to say in higher education, but ultimately , um, whether a student is on full financial aid or not , um, they are customers of the college. And we have a lot of constituents that we interact with that are not just the students , um , parents , um, counselors, alumni, and , uh, our partners in different vendors.
So in order for us to really present an outstanding customer experience, the employee experience has to be seamless. And so it was very important to ensure that my employees were having an actual ordinary experience so that they could present that , um, to the customers. And that's where , um, you kind of have find that crossroads between what kinds the business world, we'll talk about CX customer experience and then EX employee experience, and that merges at the chief experience officer.
And so it was a kind of a moment where I was encouraging the team to think about it that way, that we, our chief experience officers, we're not offering programming, we're offering experiences for students and people that are interacting with us. And how might those experiences be relevant that convey empathy to our constituents in this moment.
Um, because initially we were using the language that avoided what I know and didn't acknowledge what was happening and that that quickly makes us not relevant. We had to be relevant, empathetic, and we had to rapidly innovate. And we had to think broadly about really the end of the funnel and who enters the college and why do they enter? And those who don't enter the college and matriculate, where do they go? And we use that as our , um, base in order to create recruitment partners.
So we lose, at Franklin and Marshall College loses students to , um, the UC System and to large public institutions. And I thought, this is excellent. I know this information, let me partner. And so I partnered with the Dean of Admissions at UC Berkeley and the University of Illinois - Urbana -Champaign —two large public institutions that we lose students to . And I thought let's recruit students together.
And because I knew our engagement would be high, but I also knew that I can distinguish myself from these large public institutions by truly offering an extraordinary experience , um , for our students. And so that's where kind of the hustle came through
Lukman. That's so smart. And I completely agree with you last year, I read a book called the power of moments and this idea of creating an experience is so important to your point, both for the students, but also for your employees. If your employees don't have the structure and empathy, it's so hard for them to give that to your potential students and current students. And I think that that's a really wonderful way to be thinking about it.
If there's a point of interaction that I have with , um, anybody employees, coworkers , um, constituents, and I could make them feel special , um, then that's a win. And , um, everybody is wearing an invisible sign that says, make me feel special. And so our job is to read that sign and feed that sign. And , um, you feed it in different ways. Sometimes the sign might say, don't talk to me and you feed it by not talking to that person.
And , you know, it goes back to this emotional intelligence of understanding , um, nuances, even if it's on the computer screen to understand how folks are feeling , um, around those pieces and how do you, you know, razzle and dazzle in a webinar when everybody is doing as in webinar. And so I'll give you an example.
I started , um, we did virtual breakfasts with , uh, counselors and we sent out a gift box , um, to these counselors that included some goodies from Lancaster and some things that resemble Lancaster because they can't travel to the Lancaster. And we really wanted to share a piece of Lancaster with them, and we gave them gift cards for coffee. And , um, and it worked out the attendance was so high and the language that we use in these invitations matter, and these were invitations.
And instead of saying, we're inviting you to this, I phrased it where I said, this is an exclusive invitation and it's invite only, and it's non-transferrable to you. And that person feels so special that are doing this just for me. Um, and in fact, you know, if some people emailed and said, I'm sorry, I can't make it, but can so-and-so attend on my behalf? And we said, no, it's for you. And we picked you for it. And people want to feel that, you know, instead of saying, it's free to apply.
You say I'm extending an exclusive invitation to you to apply at no cost to the college. Um, and so, you know, rephrasing those pieces to not devalue the brand and also to make the folks that you're interacting with, feel good about it.
I think that you've been so thoughtful around how you build the experience for everyone you're interacting with. And it does matter if you can surprise and delight people, if you can make them feel significant, it makes a really big difference. They remember you and they want to engage. It feels really positive. So you mentioned you're doing a lot of Zoom webinars. What other tools are you using?
Are there internal tools that you've adopted to try to make your relationships with employees better, more engaging?
Yeah. You know , Um, you know, we talk about these are unprecedented times and I reminisce the precedented times. Like, do you remember precedented times? F & M a Google institution. And so we use Google Hangout internally. We use Zoom externally , um, and we use , um, Slack as an internal tool, but a piece to make my employees feel special. I actually write cards to them. I have the mailing addresses of all employees.
And I , uh, I tried to think about what are they experiencing because they are experiencing exactly what I'm going through , um, in terms of this , um, digital fatigue, so to speak. And , um, uh , we tried and continued to try to create these , um, fun activities. And I know usually when the boss says fun activity, it doesn't to fun. Okay . So I exempted myself out of that. I've had a committee of folks work on what is fun for them so that they could do it.
And , um, you know, it's been , uh, they have been actually fun where we did , um, childhood photos and trying to guess who's that person. And it really helped the team get to know me on a personal level, because when I interact as the Dean of admission in an inaugural position, when I am under the microscope, and there are pressures in terms of enrollment, tuition, revenue, discount rate , um, and everything in between from academic rating, et cetera. Um, my time is so stretched thin.
And so when I interact with the staff , um, I do find myself interacting with them in a very limited basis that are project-based and task-based. And I pop up on Zoom to share the 30,000 foot level and get assigned projects. So I realized that my interactions with the staff were through these 15 minutes or 30-minute meetings in which I pop up on the screen and it's business, and I run through it and onto the next Zoom call, you know? And so from, from my standpoint, I think I'm getting it done.
You know, I'm checking my boxes and , um, I'm going to get through it, but from their standpoint, it's intimidating. I pop up when there's when there is a need of getting something done. And , um, if it's at my desk, it always tends to be quadrant one—that's urgent—and Operating under immense sense of urgency. And that's what I'm conveying to them in these short meetings. And so I slept there.
I really needed to create , um, opportunities in which the team could also empathize with me and, and realize that I too am human. And I also go through similar feelings and emotions. And I , uh , hosted, especially at the beginning of my , um, job, I hosted a lot of , um, town hall meetings shift in my leadership style. I tend to be , uh, very clear with my expectations , um, which sometimes can be overwhelming for people because it's very direct in terms of how I'm conveying that information.
And I do it purposefully because we are in an environment where it's it's, I don't want people to think about what I did say What I am saying. And so it was a big shift in terms of leadership style. I created a leadership team. I created a structure that was , uh , different from before , um, so that we could really stream , um, our activities. And also have we started assessing what are we doing, right. And what can we improve?
And so we really changed some pieces that are significant , um, internally. So we changed how we are evaluating students. Um, we are , we conduct holistic evaluation that we , we conducted now really measures and quantifies non-cognitive skills and characteristics. And in order to do that, we had to really change how we are reviewing those smiles. And we went into a committee-based evaluation, and I did that purposefully because it requires two team members on Zoom reading the file together.
And I did that because I wanted to increase engagement of my employees with one another. I know if my employees are feeling crappy, my prospective students are gonna get crappy service.
Of course. Right. You can't , if you're drained, you can't give of yourself.
That's true. So it was, it was a lot of really assessing efficiencies in the office, and it was also, you know, avoiding only doing urgent and important things, but rather doing the job as it would normally be. So that we're not delaying things too well once the pandemic ends or once we're back on campus. So it's really trying to normalize as much as possible, how we're doing our work and what we are doing.
And it was also explaining how meaningful and purposeful it is to scan documents and complete a student file and how that impacts the organization and the institution. So it was really highlighting to each member how important their job is and how critical it is for the success of the organization.
And I sent a lot of articles for my team to read and be aware of what is the landscape looking like, because while we might be in what people call Amish country , um, we're not competing in only Amish country. We are measuring ourselves against other top liberal arts and sciences colleges. And we need to be aware of what is happening around us and discuss the challenges that others are going through and compare it to the challenges that we are going through
Lukman, do you think that remote is sustainable long term ? I mean, do employees, is there ever going to be a need for everybody to be back on campus together?
So if I were working for a private company in New York city with real estate that I'm paying for, I would probably be really asking this question and thinking about it at night and saying to myself, why am I paying for all this rent when the jig is up and we all can work from home. So I think , um, if it higher education institutions were certainly pushed a lot during pandemic to make decisions quicker than they do.
And higher education institutions, shared governance is an important piece of what makes an institution. And so, while it's important, the undesired outcome is that sometimes it can be slow because as you gather everyone's opinion, if I am looking at my office, there are certainly positions that don't need to come to the office. And as we look at a post pandemic era, I can't imagine that all my employees would be back in the office on the same day.
I think that we would enter a hybrid model where you work in the office for a few days, you're working from home other days, we're purposefully densifying the office. And that's where, while we are not vaccinated right now, we're in Pennsylvania, educators are the next phase. And it might be until end of March, April until , um, employees of the college , uh , get vaccinated. But sooner than now, we have to open campus up for visitors.
So as we look to open the campus for visitors, I have to really carefully think about the safety and well- being of my employees. And also how do I densify this , um , where I only have a handful of critical employees in the office at a given time. Um, and then what's difficult is I think we're all getting used to , um, working from home. I am certainly getting used to it. I don't like it. No, but there are pieces I enjoy.
There are , um, lifestyle changes that have happened, that it would be a little bit difficult for us to go back into was a pre pandemic environment. And I don't see moving forward, I don't see the world going back to what it was as a pre pandemic era. I think we should really just open our arms wide and embrace how we are really , um, so beautifully creating this new normal that we are entering.
Look, man, we're at the end of our time together, I have one last question for you, which is what advice do you have for institutions that might still be struggling with this remote experience?
I would say it's really important to create a balance for, especially if you are leading an organization and leading a team, you know, you really have to think about compassion and containment and looking at compassion from the point of crisis of the conditions that employees are feeling. Um, some might be depressed, feeling lonely anxiety, health concerns, isolation, heavy workloads.
And so to be aware of that mental well- being and intervene , um, quickly, and to really suit the team by taking the, to listen and be daring, to stay in the hardest moments , uh, in those. And I would say there are a couple of approaches for that. You know, one could be—I don't know—or sharing your own feelings of discomfort.
And I think that there's an enormous value in leaders who are able to express their own secure insecurities around the circumstances , because it really then disarms the team around it. And I would say the next step to it is to energize everyone every day. And really it is difficult when even leaders are exhausted, but it's important to use language that is positive. That's feel good, how we're pulling this on this together and showing how to do it together and not just saying it.
And I would say with that, my advice would be to celebrate small wins because it's hard when we are all faced through budget cuts, retirement benefit, cuts, salary reductions, furloughs, and layoffs , um, to simply just wait for that big moment of we made the class at the end of the year. It's really important to celebrate small wins, if they are impactful wins for the work that we're doing.
Thank you so much for coming on the show today, Lukman, it's been wonderful to hear what you've been building at Franklin and Marshall.
Thank you so much, Katelyn . I really appreciate it.
That's the end of our Top of Mind Podcast. Thank you for listening and we will be back next month with another new show. In the meantime, you can check out Tambellini's free and member only [email protected].