Uncommon service in the financial aid office: A model of service excellence Mike Johnson Director of Student Financial Aid & Scholarships, Portland State University; 2016-17 WASFAA President

uncommon service: How to win by putting customers at the core of your business By Frances Frei and Anne Morriss, Harvard Business Review Press, 2012 A creative, yet pragmatic, approach to creating a service design that allows routine service excellence

The four service truths “You can’t be good at everything” “Someone has to pay for it” “It’s not your employees’ fault” “You must manage your customers”

You can’t be good at everything Be “bad in the service of good” by underperforming in areas that your customers value least Attribute maps that rank what your customers value and how your company performs can show you what you need to focus on

Attribute map Price Location Hours Selection Performance

Attribute map Price Location Hours Selection Performance

Someone has to pay for it Options are: Charge your customers more Reduce your costs while improving the quality of your service Get your customers to do some of the work

It’s not your employees’ fault Design your service model for average (i.e., your current) employees -- not for perfect employees Enable your employees to “deliver excellence as a daily routine”

You must manage your customers Customers both consume and help create the services you provide You need to manage their behaviors and expectations

Culture considerations Your service model must align with your company’s underlying culture – its norms and values Service Excellence = Design x Culture Culture will define and limit approaches, but must allow change for improvement to occur

Applying the model to the financial aid office How do Financial Aid offices compare to companies and other organizations? What service(s) do we provide? How do we define cost, and what control do we have over it? Who are our competitors, and how do we define them? How do we measure our success? How do students and parents measure our success?

Applying the model to the financial aid office At what things can Financial Aid offices choose to underperform? Providing complete initial point of contact information? Making timely initial awards? Complying with statutes and regulations? Disbursing aid on time? Having convenient contact hours? Providing related services (e.g., scholarship search assistance, financial literacy information)?

Attribute map Initial information Fast processing Convenient availability On-time disbursements Performance

Attribute map Initial information Fast processing Convenient availability On-time disbursements Performance

Applying the model to the financial aid office What analogies make the most sense for Financial Aid offices in managing the costs of providing services? Staff time? Staff satisfaction? Effective communication strategies? Student and parent self-service?

Applying the model to the financial aid office What are some ways that Financial Aid offices can create systems and processes that improve current employees’ success? Simplification? Segmentation? Making processes intuitive? Automating processes?

Applying the model to the financial aid office How can Financial Aid offices manage students’ and parents’ behaviors and expectations? Simplify information? Simplify processes? Ask for their input? Give them control?

Applying the model to the financial aid office How would you describe the culture of your Financial Aid office? How does your management model affect the culture? What is most important to your students and parents? What is most important to your institution? What does your knowledge of the culture tell you about what might and might not work?

Discussion What things might you try when you get back to your office? Whose support will you need? What resources will you need? How will you define and measure success?

Thanks for participating! Let me know what you tried and how it worked g.michael.johnson@pdx.edu