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2018
Opportunity Is an Idea, Success Is a Project
By: Dr. John Donohue
1201 S. Alma School Rd, Suite 9500, Mesa, AZ 85210www.synergiseducation.com
Copyright ©2018
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Copyright 2018 by Synergis Education, Inc.
Opportunity Is an Idea, Success Is a Project
Discussions with higher education leaders across the nation are always informative. They provide real-
time insights into concerns, reveal operational dynamics, and constantly challenge me to find techniques
to craft my messages in ways that are both accessible and embraceable. While all parties are uniformly
excited about new program opportunities, the implications for operationalizing these initiatives are often
challenging.
For the majority of private colleges and universities in the United States, a significant
topic of conversation is program expansion. And not simply expansion for the sake of
disciplinary diversity, but rather an expansion that
serves some highly pragmatic purposes. Institutions
want to grow enrollments and do so in ways that create
a significant return on investment.
This reflects the financial dynamics in which
many private colleges find themselves. If they are like
many of their peers, they have endowments inadequate to their needs, are watching their
tuition discount rates climb, and are finding the market for students to be increasingly
competitive.
Private institutions are typically organized along a model that mimics highly selective
and resource-rich universities. This model is organized along principles that stress the life of the
mind, the centrality of research and teaching (with various proportions of emphasis), and an
educational delivery system predicated on the outdated assumption that most students are
between 18 and 22 and will attend as full-time residents. It is also assumed that endowment
resources can be used to support this organizational model. The pace, process, and structure of
these institutions are dictated by these assumptions. And yet, for all but elite universities, the
Institutions want to grow
enrollments and do so in ways that
create a significant return on
investment. This reflects the
financial dynamics in which many
private colleges find themselves.
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Copyright 2018 by Synergis Education, Inc.
assumptions are wrong: 54 percent of private institutions have endowments of less than $10
million. The median endowment at private colleges and universities is roughly $7.9 million.i
College students are also increasingly nontraditional in their characteristics and, in fact,
make up most students in higher education today.ii Despite this fact, the organizational
dynamics of many colleges keep them focused on a shrinking pool of more “traditional”
students. And when demand is high but supply is low, costs rise: “private colleges and
universities discounted tuition for the 2016-17 academic year at higher rates than in previous
years and continued their decade-long attempts to recruit and retain freshmen at a time of
declining enrollment and increased competition for students.”iii
Thus, institutional leaders are faced with the
stark realities of higher education today. They may not
be able to change the traditionalist mindset of their
institutions, but they may be able to exploit
opportunities in selective areas where there is some
flexibility to modify operational principles. This is
important, because, as a recent article in Forbes
outlines,iv colleges and universities have deeply
bureaucratic operating structures. The systems and operational dynamics in many institutions
are poorly adapted to market demands that are increasingly non-traditional. Success often
means doing things differently. We can talk about “skunkworks”v in the classic sense of a group
working with great autonomy largely outside a bureaucracy, but for educational settings, I
prefer using the phrase “targeted innovation.” I do so for two reasons. On the one hand, many
academics are familiar with Clay Christensen’s work on disruptive innovation in industries
(including education).vi On the other hand, higher education is a deeply traditionalistic
environment and disruption is frowned on. Therefore, I emphasize tightly focused areas of
initiative that do not threaten the status quo, but are also freed to operate in different ways.
I increasingly find academic leadership interested in the possibility of engaging in
targeted innovation. They are excited by the possibility of attracting more students to their
… institutional leaders are faced
with the stark realities of higher
education today. They may not be
able to change the traditionalist
mindset of their institutions, but
they may be able to exploit
opportunities in selective areas
where there is some flexibility to
modify operational principles.
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Copyright 2018 by Synergis Education, Inc.
institutions, providing them with degrees that will lead to meaningful lives and careers, and
will do so in a way that provides a return on investment. The idea is deeply attractive.
Working through the details, however, sometimes comes as a letdown.
In my experience, what often disappoints people is the complexity of making the idea a
reality (in this, they seem to reflect the national mood, where an explanation of “it’s
complicated” is not particularly valued). My expertise, and those of my colleagues, is in the
operational side of bringing the targeted innovation to reality. We know from experience that
there is a wealth of detail needed to adequately undergird an initiative (at Synergis, we have a
standard operational plan that lists over 600
interdependent tasks). The bar for execution is high
and the marketplace is competitive, which means you
only get the chance to do it right once.
Discussing the need to develop adequate
clinical placements for an allied health degree and do
so at scale is something that often makes academics
grow deeply concerned. It looks like a great deal of work. And it is. Moreover, they typically
approach work from a semester model and often assume administrative tasks as part of their
teaching load. From this perspective, they don’t see how to achieve the objective in the amount
of time they can devote to it.
And they’re right. But also, wrong. In this example, the need to coordinate clinical
placements is paramount. And it can’t be done well on a part-time basis. What is required is a
full-time position devoted completely to this task. It operates, in best skunkworks fashion,
outside the normal bureaucracy.
We sometimes are asked by prospective partners whether we find that college
employees involved in student recruitment migrate over to our organization. They are
concerned at losing their people to Synergis. Our answer is that this happens rarely, but mostly
never. And the reason is that the culture of the college and the culture of an OPM like Synergis
are vastly different. Administrative and staff positions at colleges, while they mimic hourly and
salaried work schedules, are still tied to the dominant model of the academy—the semester and
There is a wealth of detail needed
to adequately undergird an
initiative. The bar for execution is
high and the marketplace is
competitive, which means you only
get the chance to do it right once.
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Copyright 2018 by Synergis Education, Inc.
faculty loads. As a result, the college work environment is more leisurely than a corporate
environment. As Dr. Ray Stanz once explained, there is a difference between the work culture of
the academy and the private sector.vii
So, when institutions commit to targeted innovation, their greatest challenges are not
those of imagination. College and university campuses are filled with intelligent and creative
people. What they are typically unprepared for is the work required to take an idea’s concept to
reality:
• think through the details;
• commit to a comprehensive redesign of services;
• focus on student needs and market demands;
• embrace digital approaches to attracting and engaging prospective students; and
• be efficient, be effective and be relevant.
In all these areas, leaders in the academy should be open to the idea that there is
expertise outside their purview and a culture of operationalization that can be put to use in the
service of their institutional mission. This may require creating a skunkworks, if possible. For
many organizations, however, a more direct solution is to find a third-party provider who can
do it for them.
The Author
John J. Donohue, Ph.D. is a higher educational professional with thirty years’ experience in
higher education teaching, administration and leadership. He has served as tenured professor,
dean, vice president, provost and acting president. He is an expert on curricular design and
program development and currently serves as Chief Academic and Development Officer for
Synergis Education.
i American Council on Education. 2014. Understanding College and University Endowments.
Washington DC: American Council on Education. Retrieved from http://www.acenet.edu/news-
room/Documents/Understanding-Endowments-White-Paper.pdf
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Copyright 2018 by Synergis Education, Inc.
ii Lindsey Reichlin Cruse, Lindsey, Eleanor Eckerson, and Barbara Gaul. 2018. Understanding the
New College Majority: The Demographic and Financial Characteristics of Independent Students and
their Postsecondary Outcomes. Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Feb. 20, 2018.
https://iwpr.org/publications/independent-students-new-college-majority/ iii Valburn, Marjorie, 2018. Tuition Conundrum. Inside Higher Ed. April 30, 2018.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/04/30/nacubo-report-finds-tuition-discounting-again iv Schifrin, Matt. 2017. 2017 College Financial Grades: How Fit Is Your School?
Forbes. AUG 2, 2017. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/schifrin/2017/08/02/2017-college-
financial-grades-how-fit-is-your-school/#3ece34757d68
v Like many innovations in higher education, this grew out of training needs in World War II. See
https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/aeronautics/skunkworks/skunk-
works-origin-story.html
vi Arnett, Thomas. 2014. Why disruptive innovation matters to education. Christensen Institute. Jan. 6,
2014. https://www.christenseninstitute.org/blog/why-disruptive-innovation-matters-to-education/
vii See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjzC1Dgh17A
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