CCVC

Community Colleges of Ventura County

 

FUTURES FORUM

 

Minutes

October 19, 2001

Thousand Oaks Library

Thousand Oaks

 

 

 Note:  the following minutes are an informal record of this meeting’s presentations and activities.

 

 

Index of Contents

 

I.                   Welcome and Introduction of New Members

II.                Discussion of and Support for Proposed CCVC General Obligation Bond

III.             Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going

IV.              The Soul of Service: Leonard Berry and This Year’s Theme

V.                 The CCVC Service Excellence Initiative

VI.              Serving Students: Report on Student Satisfaction Survey

VII.           Where Do We Stand?—An Ideal-Reality GAP Analysis

VIII.        Plus/Delta on the Day

 

 

            The meeting began at 9:20 a.m.

 

I.  Welcome and Introduction of New Members

 

            Elton Hall welcomed those present to a new year with Futures Forum.  He thanked returning members for their commitment to Futures Forum and asked those attending for the first time or returning after being absent last year to introduce themselves.  Elton then invited them to come to the front of the room where they we welcomed with applause and had their hands sprinkled with glitter so that they could be welcomed into the magic of Futures Forum by others throughout the day.

 

II. Discussion of and Support for Proposed CCVC General Obligation Bond

 

            Elton asked Phil Westin to lead a discussion of the CCVC proposed General Obligation Bond.  Phil indicated that he was taking the idea of a bond issue to every identifiable group within the District, testing the waters to see whether there is solid support for the concept.  Elton distributed copies of the tentative facilities list that shows  what the four locations are considering as essential facilities needs that would be funded by such a bond.  Phil noted that the tentative facilities list is just that, and he reminded members that he had sent all district employees an email inviting them to comment on the list and on facilities needs that may not be addressed in the list.  Those comments should be sent electronically to Mike Gregoryk (mgregoryk@vcccd.net), who will compile them for sharing with the Board of Trustees.  Today’s discussion focused on the general idea of a bond and whether Futures Forum would support it.  He has or soon will consult with the academic senates, the unions, and various committees involved in the work of CCVC.  At this point, the idea of a bond has been discussed informally at the October Board meeting and will receive a formal first reading at the November meeting.  (Board actions require two readings.)

 

            Phil reported that consultants have indicated that a CCVC bond had a good chance of passage and that the ideal time to vote on it would be in the March elections.  Next month is too soon to launch an effective campaign, and there is a movement afoot to introduce a proposition on the November 2002 ballot to rescind the changes in bond votes.  (In the elections last year, California voters reduced the previously required 2/3 vote on bonds to a 55% vote to secure approval.  Since then, voters have approved bonds for the Los Angeles Community College District and for local school districts.)  If a new ballot proposition returns bond votes to a 2/3 vote for approval, passing a bond issue will be more difficult.  So March appears to be the ideal time for a CCVC bond vote.

 

In response to questions, Phil said that CCVC is looking at a bond of about $300,000,000 for facilities that will not be funded by the state in the foreseeable future, if ever.  He added that the Conejo Unified School District passed a bond last November, and to everyone’s knowledge, only the Simi Valley Unified School District intended to place a bond on the ballot in March.

 

Phil emphasized that success in approving a bond would require everyone in the District to support it actively, and that is why he is seeking initial support from the various constituencies within the District.   Answering a question, he said that the District can spend money on discussing a bond issue, but once a decision is taken to float a bond in the upcoming election, the District is prohibited by law from spending money on a campaign to secure approval of the bond.  The CCVC Foundation can help with funds, but the efforts of individuals will be essential to success.  Hence the importance of very strong support for a bond.  Should it turn out that such support is lacking, the bond will not go forward.

 

After some discussion, a member called for consensus on placing a bond on the March ballot.  By a unanimous show of hands, consensus was achieved.  Futures Forum supports the idea of a bond for facilities.

 

III.  Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going

 

            Elton did a brief presentation on the history and future of Futures Forum.  He begin with a quotation from the letter Phil sent to about 30 individuals, inviting them to come together to discuss the possibility of launching a planning and organizational transformation group within CCVC.  On April 2, 1999, he wrote:  “Ultimately, our goal is to take the County’s community colleges to the next level in order to identify and serve our students in the next millennium.”  Elton recalled that the group that became Futures Forum started with five learning days, each devised and presented by a team.  Their topics were:

 

The first work of Futures Forum was devising a plan to plan, a process that would result in a strategic planning model, values statement, list of key performance indicators (KPIs), and a planning flowchart and timeline.  Developed by December 1999, the plan to plan allowed Futures Forum to develop a strategic plan throughout the following year.  That plan, distributed to members at this meeting, includes a mission and vision statement, a set of strategic goals with defined objectives and a list of key performance indicators to be used to assess progress toward reaching those goals.  Futures Forum also created the infrastructure necessary to accomplish this task by enunciating ground rules for discussions, conducting internal and external scans, urging locations to draft their own strategic plans, supporting student and employee satisfaction surveys, and approving a white paper that laid out a plan for Futures Forum and CCVC activities for three years.

 

            Elton underscored the point of all this activity: collaboration across locations for student success, the ruling goal of CCVC strategic planning; sharing and mutual support for improvement in our processes and services; alignment of location and districtwide long-term goals to better serve the community; and organizational transformation to better serve all CCVC stakeholders.  He indicated that the next steps for Futures Forum including monitoring and implementing the strategic plan, continuing the collective learning process in the spirit of the early learning days of Futures Forum, evaluating progress in improvement of structure and services, and learning to do what we do better next time.

 

            Consequently, Futures Forum will host two kinds of meetings in 2001-2002: learning days and goal monitoring days.  The learning days will be centered around the theme book for the year: Discovering the Soul of Service by Leonard Berry.  There will be four meetings devoted to learning—service excellence, employee renewal, understanding student success, and vital education trends in teaching and learning.  There will also be five goal-monitoring days, each devoted to a goal in the strategic plan.  Each location will be asked to report on its progress, in light of the strategic plan and its own plans, on the goal under consideration, including successes and problems encountered.  These reports will allow for collaborative discussions in which successes can be shared and problems solved.  And each of these meetings will include an assessment of the strategic plan and the processes in place to implement it.

 

            Because of past confusion, Elton offered three rule-of-thumb definitions.  The strategic plan is the document approved by Futures Forum and by the Board of Trustees, distributed to Futures Forum members today.  The educational master plan is the strategic plan plus the four location plans (which include program plans developed at each location).  The comprehensive plan is all of this plus the facilities master plan, still being developed at this time.

 

            Elton also announced that the CQIN (Continuous Quality Improvement Network) summer institute for 2002 will be held in Seattle in July.  CQIN is dedicated to observing best practices across the country and translating them into applicable ideas in higher educational institutions.  Community colleges, four-year colleges and universities and businesses belong to CQIN.  The 2002 summer institute will be sponsored and hosted by CCVC, including all four locations, all of which are members of CQIN.  The theme of the institute is “Building 21st century learning systems—new imagery, new tools, new rules, new roles, new players, new outcomes.”

 

IV.  The Soul of Service: Leonard Berry and This Year’s Theme

 

            Elton introduced Burt Peachy, consultant to Futures Forum who has been with it since its inception as a possibility for CCVC.  Burt reported that he had heard Berry speak at a conference and that he wanted to share some of the ideas presented there.  Berry holds an endowed research chair at Texas A&M, where he has undertaken research on service providers.  Discovering the Soul of Service is his first book of a projected three.  His next book, for which he is conducting research at the moment, will be on service in the health care field.  His third book will be on CQIN and higher education, and Burt looks forward to seeing CCVC featured in that volume.  In speaking of student success and of service to students, Berry clearly distinguishes between student wants and student needs, focusing on the latter as the key to understanding what higher education must do to support student success.

 

            To begin his presentation, Burt showed a clip from the 1972 film “Five Easy Pieces,” in which Jack Nickelson attempts to order plain wheat toast in a diner.  The diner does not allow substitutions and doesn’t serve plain toast, and Nickelson attempts to explain how to convert a chicken salad sandwich, which he does not want, into plain wheat toast, which he does.  He orders a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, and asks that the mayonnaise and lettuce be held.  Then he asks that the chicken be held…..we can see where this is going.  So much for service.

 

            Burt then asked the tables at Futures Forum to discuss examples of terrible, frustrating, failed service, and to pick the “best” example.  The tables were then invited to report out the worst story of service they had.  The stories included an encounter with a company that copies materials, a carpet cleaning company, an automotive lubrication service, a department story bed delivery service, a condominium management service, a bureaucracy responsible for furnishing disability ratings for college tuition relief.  Burt then asked Elton to report on a Denver hotel that is remarkable for its service.  In the worst stories reported from the tables, service was either very poorly delivered or not delivered at all.  In the latter case, each employee did something beyond any reasonable expectation, so that the experience was not memorable because of the hotel but because of its employees.

 

            Burt began his presentation on Berry’s views by reiterating Berry’s insistence that service excellence is good business.  Berry holds that excellence is not only good business, but is good for employees as well.  And excellence improves the quality of life.

Berry lists a number of common customer complaints (many of which were heard in the report of worst service stories from Futures Forum’s own tables today):

 

The common thread in all these types of complaints is that they are all related to disrespect.  Consequently, Berry concludes, if we can just improve the respectfulness with which we serve, we will improve service excellence immensely.

 

            Improving service is sometimes seen as the polar opposite of lowering costs.  Berry advises us never to make a choice between the two.  Rather we should be investing in that which creates demonstrable value for customers.  We should improve service and lower costs.  To think about doing so, Berry asks three fundamental questions, which he sees are profoundly interrelated:

The funding referred to in the last question should be reallocated to answering the first two questions.

 

            Berry notes that service employees—as all employees of CCVC are, given the nature of our “business”—are in many respects volunteers.  Much depends on the discretionary effort inherent in our actions.  Discretionary effort is the difference between the minimum effort required to keep from being terminated and the maximum effort the employee is capable of.  That difference is the volunteer behavior of the employee, and it is the difference between the host of common customer complaints listed above and service excellence.  Excellent organizations are characterized by “extra effort” (think of the Denver hotel).  This means sustaining high volunteerism among employees, that is, keeping the human engine strong.

 

            Discovering the Soul of Service examines a diverse group of companies whose only common feature is a reputation for excellence as a company and for excellent service.  Berry identifies seven core values that sustain service performance:

Companies known for excellence are companies guided by values-driven leaders.  These leaders also exhibit seven characteristics:

 

Berry also identifies eight drivers of sustainable success in service businesses, all deriving from values-driven leadership.  They are:

 

Although reading the book will make clear just what each of these drivers is, a review of past Futures Forum discussions will reveal a great deal about them, since all of these have be subject to various discussions throughout the last two years.

 

V.  The CCVC Service Excellence Initiative

 

            Elton announced the CCVC Service Excellence Initiative, developed from an idea proposed by Diane Moore.  The initiative is a non-competitive contest centered on this year’s book, Discovering the Soul of Service.  (The full initiative and report form is attached to these minutes as an appendix.)

 

            The initiative has three parts.  First, individuals are invited to read the book and submit electronically a brief book report answering three questions to Elton by January 15.  (The book report form is attached to these minutes.)  Second, individuals are invited to team up with others in a small working group that aims to implement some practice described in Discovering the Soul of Service.  (Examples are given in the announcement, also in the appendix to these minutes.)  The group will journal its progress over the next 6 months, and a presentation of the practice will be made to Futures Forum in the spring.  A panel of peers will review the entries and pick up to 10 practices for the CCVC Service Expo.  Third, the CCVC Service Expo will be held during flex week in the fall, and all District employees will be invited to attend.  The best practices will be published in a specially designed publication for distribution to all employees and to the community.  Three finalists will be chosen and awarded prizes, and those finalists will be invited to make a presentation to the Board of Trustees during the fall semester.

 

VI.  Serving Students: Report on Student Satisfaction Survey

 

            Carolyn Inouye distributed copies of the report, Serving Students: Insights from the Survey of Student Perceptions, which includes a review of some of her previous studies and some previously undisclosed material.  This report is available on each college campus (see your executive vice president).  The current student satisfaction survey was taken in spring 2000, and where possible findings were compared with surveys taken in 1996 and in 1993/1994.  The number of participants in the current survey was sufficient to make the survey reliable.

 

            Although the top ten problems students identified as affecting their attendance and success at college were the same for all colleges, the highest ranking problem varied with the college.  At Moorpark College, counseling problems were ranked as the top student concern.  At Oxnard College, the chief concern was course availability, course scheduling, and course variety.  And at Ventura College, students identified instruction and instructional issues as their greatest concern.

 

            Carolyn compared responses to campus climate questions and to questions about how students feel they are viewed for both the 1996 and 2000 surveys, finding that perceptions have changed in almost every category.  For the first time, however, she did a statistical analysis of the surveys to see where perceptions had changed enough to merit the label ‘statistically significant’.  On a scale of 1-5, with 1 being most positive and 5 most negative for each category, a change between 1996 and 2000 of .05 counted as statistically significant.

 

            All findings fell within the positive range, and the changes occurred entirely within that range at all colleges.

 

            At Moorpark College, the only statistically significant change in campus climate ratings came in the category of respectful-disrespectful, with students feeling that the climate of respect has improved somewhat on campus.  Students also seemed to feel that they were viewed with greater respect, admiration, appreciation and as a valued customer in 2000.  All ratings fell in the positive range.

 

            Oxnard College surveys indicated that there was only one statistically significant change in campus climate, with students feeling that the climate had become more tolerant than in 1996.  There were no statistically significant changes in how students felt they were viewed.  Again, all ratings were positive.

 

            In respect to campus climate, students felt that there was a statistically significant change in three categories, finding a little less comfort, friendliness and enjoyment on campus than in 1996, though all rankings were still clearly in the positive range.  And in regard to how students perceived they were viewed, there were no statistically significant changes.

 

            Carolyn also pointed out that though employee ratings were very close to ratings by students, sometimes students felt a little more positive in some categories than employees did.  Carolyn did not analyze these comparisons for statistical significance.

 

            Refraining from interpretive remarks, Carolyn noted that each college needed to review and interpret the data in light of its own aims, goals and priorities.  The report is well worth careful review and discussion in detail.

           

 

VII.  Where Do We Stand?—An Ideal-Reality GAP Analysis

 

            Diane Moore asked members to form location tables for the three colleges and asked District Service Center members to spread themselves through the three college tables.  Each table (college) was asked to set out some ideal service goals and then contrast those with the realities of service at each location.  The resulting gaps represent the areas for improvement.  This analysis will form the basis for both learning and goal monitoring during future Futures Forum meetings.  After intense and cheerful discussions, each table reported out their findings and conclusions.

 

Eloy Oakley reported for the Oxnard College table:

 

Oxnard College Report

Ideals

Realities

Something for every member of the community

Community will know there is something for everyone

Innovative programs to meet community needs

Invisible or not visible enough to the community

Programs not designed to reflect community needs

Signage: well labeled and welcoming

First contact person (Land’s End model)

Storefront properly located

Lack of visible direction around campus

Lack of logical direction on campus

Centralized student services (one-stop shop)

Student activities

High espirit de corps

Detailed orientation/matriculation program

Congruency with community

Student services spread across campus

City services

No parity with instruction

Student services not balanced in terms of funding and planning (equity)

Optimum relationship between students and staff

Small investment, big return

Partnerships with CCVC, professional and other institutions

“Can do” mindset

Permanent president/management

Highlighting student and staff success and celebrating it

Maximize infrastructure for student technology

Campus lacks mindset in addressing student services issues

Big gap between part-timers and full-timers

Lack of faculty involvement in student groups

Half of campus undeveloped

 

 

Alisa Moore reported for the Ventura College table:

 

Ventura College

Ideals

Gaps

Immediate attention and direction; accurate one-stop service locale

Staff—happy, smiling, knowledgeable

Student success—results

“Feel good about experience”

Sparkling bathrooms across campus

Positive relationships

Clear focus on student success

More efficient phone system

Marriage between student services and instructional services—cooperative counselors and faculty

Part-time instructor access (web; including full-time faculty)

No more harassment of any type

Culturally competent, celebrating diversity

Financial aid for part-time students

More information on financial aid for students

Fortify relationships with community, schools, businesses

Rules and regulations that faculty can work with (relax restrictions)

Facilities: clean space, equipment

Celebration of staff and student accomplishments on news

Alternative delivery systems

Staff committed to professional development

Schedule of classes developed on basis of student need

More practical application of curriculum

Job placement

Employee accountability

Good communication throughout college

Student and staff perception: uncaring toward each other

Lack of training and knowledge about college

Lack of recognition of student as customer

Anger—too many people angry

Not looking at student needs (looking at ourselves, making assumptions)

No action toward remedying situations

No common meeting place

Crisis management

Low morale

Lack of trust of staff and management

Poor bathroom facilities

Gaps in communication system

Class schedule

Lack of employee accountability

Poor evaluation process

 

 

Patti Ross reported for the Moorpark College table:

 

Moorpark College

Ideals

Realities

Call to MC with a question, get to someone with an answer within 1 minute

Centralize student services to maximize service and minimize time lag

Each experience with service is positive, ending with “answered” or “completed”

Receive student service whenever instruction is available (including evenings, weekends)

Decrease all student complaints by 50% within the next year

Expand campus awareness and support of services and unique needs of special student populations

Expand orientations for all groups, focusing on protocols and also culture and values

Promote and expand learning-friendly environment (groups, activities, facilities)

Calls now get “bounced around”—a work in progress to meet need; attitude crucial to serving the caller, reference homepage

In planning, document current first stop in Adm. Bldg., other services, to other end in financial aid/EOPS, DSPS/career student activities

About 70% satisfied, but still need to better detail “answers” and contact points

All M-F 8-5; move into evenings, Saturdays, plans for Spring 2002 ongoing

Reality is that a number of complaints not huge, but always need to improve (civitity, CIT, staff development, etc.)

Student service council, Jim’s letter, staff development

Mentor program, full-time orientations

Strong student activities, responsive CIT

 

 

 

VIII.        Plus/Delta on the Day

 

            After the table reports, Diane conducted a plus/delta on the day.  A plus is something a member especially liked; a delta is something that should be added, removed or improved upon.

 

Plus

Delta

Hardcopies of PowerPoint presentations

Carolyn Inouye’s research work and presentation

60 people present in the morning

Berry’s book

The service excellence initiative

The resolution to support bond

The historical overview

The energy of organizers

 

Print PowerPoint handouts in black and white (not shaded scales)

Hold the mustard on sandwiches (allergy)

Need artificial sweetener (actually present but hidden)

Need more people to promote Futures Forum

 

            The meeting adjourned about 2:40 p.m.

 

Special thanks to the following for their help in making

this meeting possible and a success:

 

Members of Futures Forum

Burt Peachy, Phil Westin, Carolyn Inouye

Diane Moore, Process Facilitators and Scribes

Barbara McGinley

Brian Akers, Krishna  Juarez, Robert Hott, Gestur Sveinbjarwarson

All those who helped clean up

FUTURES

            FORUM
 

The CCVC Service Excellence Initiative

 

Reading the Soul of Service

 

  1. Read Leonard Berry’s Discovering the Soul of Service and write a one-page book report using the following form;
  2. Electronically turn in your book report to Elton Hall (ehall@vcccd.net) by January 15, 2002 and you will receive a surprise gift, and you will be automatically entered into a contest; winners will be picked during the February Futures Forum meeting.

 

Putting the Soul of Service into Action

 

  1. Find a practice described in Discovering the Soul of Service that you would like to implement in your work team (e.g., making decisions on the basis of "what's good for customers, what's good for employees," page 117; concept of the daily staff huddle, p. 88);
  2. Implement the practice in your work unit and journal your progress over the next 6 months;
  3. A call for presentations for an upcoming CCVC Service Expo will be made in the Spring; fill out the form and return it to Elton Hall at the District Service Center
  4. A panel of CCVC peer’s will judge the entries and pick up to 10 best practices for presentation at the CCVC Service Expo.

 

The CCVC Service Expo

 

  1. Next fall, during flex week, CCVC will host the first Service Expo at a local venue; all members of the District will be encourage to attend;
  2. Up to ten work teams will be highlighted during the Expo by a presentation of their practice; details of this presentation are yet to be determined.  All ten best practices will be published in a specially designed publication and distributed throughout the district and to the community.
  3. Three finalists will be chosen and prizes will be awarded.
  4. The three finalists will make a presentation to the CCVC Board of Trustees during the Fall semester.

 

The form you need to use for the

Book report is on the next page.
Community Colleges of Ventura County

FUTURES FORUM

 

Service Excellence Initiative

BOOK REPORT ON "DISCOVERING THE SOUL OF SERVICE"

 

 

Name_______________________________                                    Extension_______________

 

Location:  MC___   OC___  VC___  DSC___

 

 

1.  What are the three most important points that I learned from reading this book?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.      Here are three concepts that I read in the book and that I could turn into personal action:

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.  If I were writing a review of this book for the local newspaper, what would I say about it?  (No more than six sentences.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Send your report electronically to

Elton Hall

(ehall@vcccd.net)

no later than January 15, 2002