I have a great relationship with the private university I attended. I recruit for them, I believe in them, my child went there and my child goes there. As often as possible I let them know how much I appreciate their investment in the lives of young adults.

When students make a 'prospective student' visit they are usually overly-impressed with the campus, the culture and the people.

Recently a family I know made one of those 'prospective student' visits with their high school junior…it didn’t go well.

I let the university know…going directly to the recruiter I have had the most contact with. (The same person I usually tell what a great job his team does entertaining prospective students.)

He heard me…he didn’t make excuses…he just listened.

Here is my take away: We earn the right to speak into peoples lives and even give criticism when we have continuing open lines of communication.

I try to put this into practice with the staff team I lead. I make it a practice to talk to them daily and meet with them one-on-one each week. Both of these communication times are in addition to our team meetings.

Daily talks are just that talks…

’how’s life?’
‘what are you working on today?’
'is there anything I can help you with?’

Weekly one-on-one times…

’we review projects’
‘we talk about family, life and life ambitions’
‘we discuss expectations’
‘we talk about the culture of the organization’
‘we recognize accomplishments’ and
‘we address any area of concerns; them with me and me with them.'

It is much easier to have the hard conversations with my team when we have a culture of communication. (Open lines of communication also make an end of year review just a recap of what we have been discussing all year.)

I am going to continue to send ‘prospective students’ to my alma mater because they listen, they care and they are always trying to improve.

I am going to continue talking to my team because we are much stronger and productive when there is a culture of communication.