Consolidated Administration: The Key to Delivering a 60-Year Curriculum
Shift the status quo to achieve long-term success and viability for your university.
From the first note of a Dave Matthews Band (DMB) concert, the audience is hooked! They sing, dance and sway, fully engaged for the entire 2.5-hour show. By the end, DMB has delivered beyond expectations and the audience is grateful and moved, vowing to return again soon. This is the DMB Effect. You may know people who have attended dozens of DMB shows. The reason? DMB deliver the best possible audience experience. They are unique and authentic. As a result, their audience keeps coming back for more. With over 100 million concert tickets sold, DMB has been filling arenas and concert halls for nearly 30 years.
Great. So, what does this have to do with my online learning team?
Iām glad you asked! A lot, actually.
While it may feel like a forced simile at first, I believe a high-functioning online learning team is like a great band. Iām reminded of this daily through my work at Berklee Online, where many staff members are musicians.
Great bands, just like high-functioning online learning teams, share these attributes:
While the actual members of the band are on the front lines interacting with the audience, there are many others working behind the scenes, including producers, managers, engineers, technicians and roadies.
Applying the Lessons to Higher Education
The analogies to an online learning team write themselves, really. Replace āaudienceā with āstudentā and think about the functional areas of your organization compared to a band. Producers are akin to your marketing, course development, and video production teams, developing and positioning āthe productā for your audience. Advising, finance and the registrar are like a bandās management team. Your technology and support departments are like the sound and lighting engineers, instrument techs, and roadies. And finally, your instructors are the artists.
Great bandsālike online learning teamsārely on all areas of the business to work together, āin concert,ā to deliver the best possible experience. The result is a high satisfaction rate and fans/students that keep coming back: The DMB Effect.
To further illustrate the similarities between great bands and high-performing online learning teams, I asked Berklee Onlineās curriculum design lead and course developer, John Scotti, for his thoughts.
He focused on innovation and transformation in these two worlds:
āGreat bands take established song forms and musical influences and transform them into something unique and individual. Similarly, high-functioning online departments possess creativity and technical agility, and rethink traditional education. Like a great band, the output is greater than the sum of the parts, and if one listens to the Rolling Stones, the Flaming Lips or Miles Davisā historic quintets, what we hear is a signature voice shaped by a team pulling in the same direction and interpreting the material in a fresh new way. My experience developing courses at Berklee Online has been much like working in a band that fastidiously prepares, records and releases compelling new albums to the public each semester.ā
The lessons to be learned from great bands like DMB are vast. For leaders of online learning units, I recommend building a team with staff members who embody the attributes of a great band. Then, set the vision and strategic priorities, support the team, remove their obstacles and watch them soar. And, hire musicians! They are excellent communicators, collaborators and problem solvers, and will help your enterprise successfully achieve the DMB Effect.
Fun Fact: The DMBās longtime bassist, Stefan Lessard, has taken many courses with Berklee Online over years. Check out his story and how he manages touring while pursuing his education online.
Shift the status quo to achieve long-term success and viability for your university.
Author Perspective: Administrator