Cool Summer Nights…. ---Warm Mountain Hospitality

Cool Summer Nights….---Warm Mountain Hospitality Dave Treber Director of Conferences & Events Presentation for ACCED-I National Conference, on Managing Organizational Change March 26, 2007

Frostburg State University • Categorized as a “small, public” school (5000 students) • Part of the University System of Maryland • “Cool Summer Nights, Warm Mountain Hospitality”

Frostburg…. • Economically depressed but beautiful area in coal mining country (Allegany County, Maryland). College is one of area’s largest employers.

Our culture… • If you are from a similar school, similar atmosphere, or have a deeply-embedded culture, you know the feeling…. • Nothing ever changes here, right!?

Welcome to Frostburg State University – Home of the Washington Redskins Training Camp

Welcome to Frostburg State University – FormerHome of the Washington Redskins Training Camp

When the Washington Redskins’ new owner decided he did not want training camp here, I had to change our summer strategy considerably!What would you do?

Ideas, anyone?

Strategic Planning Define goals Define the scope of products and services Assess internal resources Assess the external environment Analyze internal arrangements Assess competitive advantage Develop a competitive strategy Communicate the strategy to stakeholders Implement the strategy Evaluate the outcome

If successful…. Stop the process

If not successful…. Start again!

Change is inevitable First-order change is more incremental, such as continuous improvement in efficiency, even making adjustments we’re barely aware of. Second-order change is more complex. Preparing employees for these “Quantum Changes” is more difficult. What examples do you have of change, either in your work, school, or elsewhere? What “order” are they?

Change is sometimes deliberate Strategic planning – conscious decisions to change. Radical, 2nd order Occurs when current objectives can no longer be met. New organizational objectives require new strategic plans.

This ISOrganizational Development. “A set of social science techniques designed to plan and implement change in work settings for purposes of enhancing the personal development of individuals and improving the effectiveness of organizational functioning.” Specialists who OD are called “change agents” or “OD practitioners.” Are WE!?

A review of 3 OD interventions: Survey feedback – Employee participation allows them to receive the information to guide them through the process of change. Customers can be used to, which can help assess what the competitors are doing. Management by objectives – working together toward setting and achieving institutional goals. Appreciative inquiry – Focus on discovery, dreaming, designing, delivering. I sometimes call this “Problem – Solution” in meeting with staff and customers.

OK. Back at Frostburg…. • What should I do!?

Back to Strategic planning • Where are our guests coming from now? • What is successful, what is not? • Make a list! • What business do I want in the future? • Who can I count on for support?

Tip for success! If you want lasting change to occur, you need BUY-IN. Especially from the top. Otherwise, change will not last. Shape the political dynamics, win the support of the VIPs (also known as VPs). Educate the workforce. WIIFM. Sell the idea. Involve them, credit them with success. Thank them, reward them. I am successful in some ways at this, and I am unsuccessful in other ways. I keep working at it.

Frostburg, home of the Drillers…. • A team that started winning when Billy, one of the slower, less athletic, players on the team, started scoring a bunch of goals…

Billy & The Drillers knew… capitalizing on trends means embracing change, positioning ourselves constantly for the next opportunity. Being at the goal at the right time, ready to strike.

“Fine….As long as they don’t take my parking spot.” Organizations are almost always resistant to change: Individual barriers to change -- fear of the unknown, threats to social relationships, habit, failure to recognize need for change Organizational barriers to change – structural inertia, work group inertia, threats to the existing balance of power, previously unsuccessful change efforts

We decided the focus was on new summer camps…. -- 90% of our office’s gross revenue for the year came from this part of our program. -- Other than catering income during the school year, any school year revenue was 100% pass-through. These school-year events, still very important in campus positioning, also represented close to 100% of our headaches.

…And I sought ways to market our summer camps. Another group I hosted at that time was a quilting group. Dean Yaffe talked about the quilt: An art with not much margin for error. 10 groups overlapped. Your campus. Mine. I have the quilt, you have other ways of telling this story. He told all of us gathered that our academic pursuits are all there. The physics, the math, the art. And how about teamwork?! And complete trust. They’re not even saying a word about how much they all have to work together. All these quilt-makers know their job, and their part toward the whole. You have to have a real clear vision for how it’s all going to turn out.

The Redskins (and the Cowboys) pitched in to help. Did you know that when the Redskins blew a three-touchdown, fourth quarter lead against the Cowboys in their first game of the season, there was a quote in the newspaper that the team was dehydrated because they weren’t able to prepare in hot conditions. The weather was too nice at Frostburg. I had ads ready: “The Redskins may not want our cool summer nights and warm mountain hospitality. But maybe you will.” Students were the best marketers. We got one group because a student here told Aunt Anita that she saw that Frostburg has a great summer program.

Marketing my product, internally I began meeting with everyone on campus, asking for their advice and support as I began to overhaul our entire summer operation. I still do not feel I have anything near complete buy-in. No collegiate conferences & events director does. But I am much farther along now than I was then. I got institutional support. In fact, increased summer guests was put in the President’s goals that she had to report on to the Board of Regents. I used the quilt to tell my story.

Marketing my product, and more The quilt also became a tool for organizational change. When the Redskins were here, it was simple. No one else was here! Now, if I wanted to meet my revenue goals I was going to need to have internal & external support to have many groups here at once.

Implementation • Maryland Girls State • Baltimore Yearly Meeting • Coach Wootten’s Basketball Camp • Over 50 camps in all now, well over a million a year in gross revenue • And lots of soccer camps! • Our net & gross revenue more than doubled. Summer camp program was completely overhauled. We successfully implemented a change plan…

…shown by the quilt

And now… • We have a new administration, with the potential for new, exciting changes. We all face this every day. I hope I am ready. Are you? • Remember what Glinda the Good Witch said, “You had it in you all along!”

Thank you! • Best wishes at your campus. • Further questions about camps or anything: dtreber@frostburg.edu, or 301/687-4020

Cool Summer Nights…. ---Warm Mountain Hospitality