Admission and enrollment teams need time to reflect on the past and plan for the future, and Heads of School and admission directors and their teams benefit from having a partner to facilitate conversations around key challenges and opportunities.
Effective admission retreats allow for a collaborative approach to planning, strategizing, team building, and clarifying operational priorities around enrollment and admission needs. The experienced Baker Group team can elevate the level of expertise and thinking around enrollment management in all school divisions and on all administrative levels when facilitating an office retreat or workshop.
The Baker Group Edge
The Baker Group is the industry leader in enrollment management consulting and on-site professional development. Chris Baker has been leading workshops and retreats in both independent schools and colleges since 1987. Programs organized and facilitated by The Baker Group consistently receive high marks for setting short and long term goals, broadening skill sets, initiating operational improvements, building collaborative groups and communities, and developing cohesive enrollment and admissions teams.
What you can expect:
The Baker Group team members are seasoned retreat facilitators for enrollment management teams and admission office staffs. While weekly administrative and admission office staff meetings are essential to a high-functioning team and a well-run operation, retreats are essential to development of an effective enrollment management plan. Retreats include focusing on building a cohesive team around a shared set of enrollment management goals and objectives at a relaxed off-campus location. The meeting goes beyond operational and short-term discussions to focus on (i) staff dynamics and team building, (ii) analysis of what has worked and what has not, (iii) reflection and discussion of how to be more effective and successful, and (iv) enrollment planning. Retreats are most effective when held three times a year: in January to start planning for the 18-month enrollment cycle, one at the end of the school year in late spring to review the current year’s admission and enrollment outcomes and lessons learned, and a third at the beginning of the school year to review summer projects, review the finalized Action Plan for the upcoming year, and include on-campus colleagues who have information and updates about the school’s program.
The scope of our engagement depends on the specific needs of a school. After reviewing basic admission and enrollment data, as well as marketing and outreach plans, we will determine with the school leader in charge the most beneficial ways to focus our time together. While some schools might choose to have a facilitator for an entire enrollment management planning retreat, others may ask the facilitator to support the development or enhancement of a particular admission and/or marketing skill such as interviewing, revising the applicant review process, or utilizing volunteers in the admission process. The retreat agenda is a collaborative effort with the Admission Director in order to meet an admission and marketing staff’s professional development needs and a school’s institutional advancement opportunities.
The Baker Group facilitates enrollment management workshops for administrative leadership teams, enrollment management/admission teams, Boards and faculty.
Admission Office Retreats can include:
Synthesis of school related enrollment management, admission and financial aid data, information and summary of findings.
Discussions framed by an analysis of admission and enrollment trends.
Overview of a school’s current market position.
Assessment of staff personalities and work styles.
Renewed sense of purpose and direction.
Improved connection among members of the admission/enrollment team.
Development of an outline of an Admission/Enrollment Management Action Plan with annual goals and objectives.
Workshops and retreats have ranged from 2 hours to 2 days.
FROM OUR CLIENTS
“I have hired The Baker Group many times to facilitate administrative team retreats, to conduct admission audits, and to oversee several (very successful) Enrollment Manager searches. Chris Baker is thoughtful, fun, energetic, and wise. She is a joy to work with and always delivers for us. There is no one in the Enrollment Management space I trust more than Chris.”