The University Innovation Alliance (UIA) is a multi-campus laboratory for student success innovation that helps university leaders dramatically accelerate the implementation of scalable solutions to increase the number and diversity of college graduates. Founder and CEO Dr. Bridget Burns sits down with Elana Leoni, CEO of Leoni Consulting Group, to discuss what it means to collaborate, how to best serve any kind of audience, and some basic ways in which the EdTech industry could be more responsive to its market.
True Collaboration Hinges On Taking Responsibility
Collaboration is a common thread weaving through Bridget's ideas about the UIA's vision, goals, and partnerships.
"There are only two reasons you should ever do collaborative work. Number one, what are your shared problems? What are the things that you actually are struggling with together? Two, what is the big challenge that you can only overcome and achieve together? If you focus on those as the core North Star in your conversations in an existing community of practice, you will see that you could actually make your work feel as exciting and fulfilling as you want it to be."
American higher education suffers from a design problem: serving the institutions themselves rather than the people those institutions claim to serve. Bridget shares what's at stake and how to address the problem.
“The economic competitiveness of our country is at stake if we don't figure out how to make it so that we truly are the engine of social mobility that we have said we are. That we eliminate equity gaps across the board by intentionality and design. That's a huge thing no one can handle on their own. I know exactly what my work is, and I know what's not my work. I could engage in the blame-shifting higher ed does whenever it is not ready to have a hard conversation about what it's responsible for, or sit through that discomfort of figuring out what stuff I could actually be changing with what I can actually control."
She suggests a focus that rings true for education, marketing, and anything else related to serving others:
"Be obsessed with the audience you're trying to serve, and be less interested in what you think they want. People will tell you what they need. If you listen to their questions, that's your curriculum. If you focus on making the experience of solving those problems feel emotionally positive, then you're going to be able to create a real systemic change by enabling people to clarify the problems, realize they don't have to reinvent the wheel."
Stop Talking And Start Listening
EdTech, much like the higher ed sector, is working from an ineffective model. She breaks it down this way:
"Too much of EdTech is obsessed with spending 80% of its time perfecting its product, and 20% on project management and onboarding. That number needs to get closer to 50/50 for it to be successful."
Her top recommendation for the industry is to become audience-obsessed:
"Stop talking about your product and ask every educator about their problems. They are the customer. If you want to build something that's of value, they will tell you everything you need to know. Empathy is the first step of design. Spend more time listening, less time talking."
EdTech would do better by hiring differently, Bridget explains:
"Hire a former teacher, or a former academic advisor, someone who knows how to speak our particular flavor of bureaucracy and has chosen to leave. You need someone who understands how to navigate the sector. There are a lot of roles that aren't paid very well, and they are looking for opportunities. Hire people from education to be your sales support and service, because they understand the complexity of living in the ecosystem that you're trying to sell to."
She points to outcomes for responsive EdTech companies:
"I've seen technology products and services that have listened, and I've seen how they've had rapid scale, and I've seen others that don't. There are vendors who've made billions on this work. There are great companies that really care and are willing to implement these kinds of things. Again, it focuses on service, on putting the customer first and listening and designing for them, and also hiring people who actually are of the culture."
Here's the full transcript of Bridget's podcast episode.
Good human alert: Although The University Innovation Alliance is one of our clients, this is not a sponsored podcast episode. We love showcasing passionate educators who are making a difference.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
Completion Grants Playbook, shares lessons learned and recommendations for institutions considering completion grants
Proactive Advising: A Playbook for Higher Education Innovators, outlining what we learned about designing and delivering proactive advising within different university contexts
Bridging the Gap from Education to Employment: the UIA's Playbook for Transforming College-to-Career
All Things UIA: Website | Twitter | Podcast | Newsletter | LinkedIn
Elana Leoni, Host
Elana Leoni has dedicated the majority of her career to improving K-12 education. Prior to founding LCG, she spent eight years leading the marketing and community strategy for the George Lucas Educational Foundation where she grew Edutopia’s social media presence exponentially to reach over 20 million education change-makers every month.
Dr. Bridget Burns, Guest
Named one of the “Most Innovative People in Higher Education” by Washington Monthly magazine, Dr. Bridget Burns is the founding CEO of the University Innovation Alliance (UIA), a multi-campus laboratory for student success innovation that helps university leaders dramatically accelerate the implementation of scalable solutions to increase the number and diversity of college graduates across the country. She has helped UIA campuses make significant progress on behalf of their students, including increasing their low-income graduates by 46%, and increasing graduates of color by 85%. Her work has been highlighted in national outlets like The New York Times, Fast Company, and 60 Minutes, and she was featured in the documentary “Unlikely”. Bridget received her Doctorate of Education in Higher Education, Leadership & Policy from Vanderbilt University.
About All Things Marketing and Education
What if marketing was judged solely by the level of value it brings to its audience? Welcome to All Things Marketing and Education, a podcast that lives at the intersection of marketing and you guessed it, education. Each week, Elana Leoni, CEO of Leoni Consulting Group, highlights innovative social media marketing, community-building, and content marketing strategies that can significantly increase reach, relationships, and revenue.
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