Westwood College: Managing Time and Customers

in Employee and Stakeholder Engagement, Team Leadership Development

THE CLIENT

Westwood College is located in seven major metropolitan areas throughout the country. Many of its students are non-traditional – those working full time, mothers and fathers with children, those who need flexible class schedules. Westwood College allows students the opportunity to receive a bachelor’s degree at the students’ pace and availability.

THE CHALLENGE / OPPORTUNITY

The Vice President of Operations at the Annandale, Virginia campus contacted Springboard International with a critical business challenge. Her Leadership Team and a group of employees who interact directly with their customers were struggling with time management, teamwork, communication, and synergy among the departments. In addition, Westwood’s customers – their students – weren’t getting the service they expected.

THE SOLUTION

The Springboard team first conducted independent telephone interviews with both the leadership and customer-facing teams in order to identify critical problem areas and challenges. Based on that information, Springboard then facilitated two development processes – one for the customer-facing team which focused on time management, prioritization strategies, and finding time for customers; the Leadership Team sessions focused on leadership, building effective teams, time management, and communications.

THE RESULTS

From the Vice President of Operations, “The program was so successful … [because of our work with Springboard, we have now] completely opened up the lines of communication between the departments and it has made a dramatic change. Prior to Springboard’s work, each department and each individual within that department worked completely on their own. If one person was out sick, no one would step in to help out. Now it’s different. If an individual is unable to be at work, someone else picks up the slack. Things are getting much better.”

As a direct result of the program, one of the organization’s most underperforming employees has now learned how to get her work done and now sets aside time to respond to customers. Comments from some of the team members include: “The facilitator was excellent, made good use of time, was well-prepared, and involved everyone actively in the sessions.” One stated, “I had a blast!” and another said, “Great program!”