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15 Higher-Ed Marketers Share Their Best Team Collaboration Strategies & Practices

15 Higher-Ed Marketers Share Their Best Team Collaboration Strategies & Practices

By Josh Spilker

What makes a successful team?

How does your team collaborate together to finish work and projects on time?

How do you constantly communicate with not only one another but with your internal stakeholders, clients and customers?

Team collaboration is something we all have to do, and often fall into ingrained habits and practices that may not be the best.

We decided to ask some of our higher-ed marketing contacts about their best tips, strategies and collaboration practices for working together.

Why Higher-Ed Marketers?

Team collaboration in a university setting is more difficult than it looks, but is also a microcosm for how the most dynamic business have to operate.

In higher-ed marketing, you have:

  • A diverse set of interests and well-educated constituents, from administration, department heads, faculty, alumni and students
  • A large current “customer” base of students that are constantly changing in their interests and desires, who are also at the forefront of technology and engagement
  • An ebb and flow to the year that places some natural, but hard-and-fast deadlines that can’t be changed (such as with enrollment and commencement)

And because of their missions in education and research, universities and colleges are also a natural base for innovation and new ideas.

In this post, you’ll see the ways and practices higher-ed marketers use to achieve effective team collaboration and move their projects forward for their respective universities.

Katya Popova
Director of Marketing | Glasscock School of Continuing Studies at Rice University

Our three most important aspects of our team collaboration effort are our guiding principles, abundant communication and choice of technology, in that order.

Guiding principles set the expectation and rules of engagement: what do we communicate about, how often, how detailed, who do we communicate with, etc. Unless there is an agreement on those expectations, no matter how much communication or technology you throw at it, there will always be someone left out, or someone who misunderstood.

Abundant communication: In-person, via e-mail, via our project management tool… Communication is the only way to ease anxiety both within our team, and with our internal clients.

Choice of technology: Having a collaborative technology space that is conducive to hosting files, conversations, project timelines, tasks, etc. Technology comes last because unless you have a good workable workflow first, no technology will come in and save the day.

Kimberly Lally
Executive Director of University Marketing | University of Dayton

In our University Marketing office, we start by establishing a shared vision and goal for the project. It’s important for the team to know why we’re working on this project, what outcome we hope to achieve and who is responsible for each role. Once that’s done, we leave the door open on how to accomplish the goal – that’s where collaboration sparks creativity and innovation.

We also ensure we communicate frequently and effectively. Whether it’s over morning coffee, at a team huddle, via Google Hangouts or in a Workzone message, we share information, bounce ideas and provide constructive feedback. Communication starts with our project kick-off and creative brief – and continues through a post-mortem, where we discuss successes and lessons learned from the project.

Finally, organization is key. After all, it’s difficult to collaborate if you can’t find the resources you need – or know what’s supposed to happen next! To remove those potential barriers, we use consistent file names and structures for every project, lay out a project plan and develop timelines for each phase of the project.

Maria Raha
Director of Content Strategy | Temple University

In true collaborative spirit, I asked my colleagues, staff and division head for their input on this response. And though our perspectives on the “why” might diverge, we all agreed on the three most important priorities for our collaboration.

Agility and flexibility: We’ve worked hard to revamp our (formerly traditional, top-down) workflow to ensure we are truly cross-functional and integrated. Doing so requires an extremely flexible mindset: If something’s not working, the team needs to be able to tweak its workflow and keep projects moving. If the group realizes a solution isn’t going to work, or if a campus crisis or national dialogue pertaining to higher ed means a direction needs to be rethought quickly, the team must be able to come up with an effective alternative.

Revamping a traditional workflow also requires a willing team that can handle change–and leadership that can handle change management effectively.

An understanding of the audiences and goals of each project: We begin each project with a body of research, whether it comprises informal interviews, national surveys, user testing, our own media consumption and observations, and/or competitive analyses. We discuss what kinds of platforms work for specific audiences, what their behaviors are and what they are responding to, both in our field and culturally. All of that means we can make informed creative decisions and explain the logic behind them, truly do what’s in the best interest of the university, and put our audiences and their needs first (rather than creating what we want to see and hear).

Project goals are paramount to strategy and moving the entire project in the right direction efficiently. They make identifying effective ideas and concepts much easier, can guide decision-making and creative thinking, and give projects and products clearer  purpose. In doing so, goals can also keep projects on target, both timewise and message-wise; the team always has something to point to and reflect on.

Transparency and open communication: To be truly collaborative, team members must be comfortable sharing ideas, criticism, doubts and praise. Without being able to be honest about what works and what doesn’t, the skill sets of team members can’t grow; the projects will likely produce the same challenges repeatedly; the quality of work can remain stagnant; and most importantly, a lack of communication (and therefore trust) can deter teams from taking risks together—something that is crucial to the output of our division, and to marketing teams everywhere.

Finally, being transparent about the good, the bad and the ugly helps staff members to better understand the political landscape in which they’re working, and how to anticipate particular expectations and personalities and attend to certain needs. Like research, communication, goals and flexibility, providing as much knowledge and background as possible can only help team members become more valuable, therefore elevating the reputation of the department—and ultimately, the visibility of the university.

Laura Hennessey Martens
Associate Director of Communications | University of Virginia Darden School of Business, Institute for Business in Society

Shared Common Purpose: Collaboration starts with a strategic vision that all team members are plugged into – a shared common purpose. People need to feel that they are working toward something, whether it’s growing a new start-up, successfully launching a new product or saving the world’s coral reefs. Collaborators need a clearly-communicated vision and set of goals to inspire them and drive their contributions on projects.

Communication: Effective team collaboration thrives in an environment of open – and frequent – communication. Whether achieved through a project management system, emails, conference calls, meetings, face-to-face conversations (or a combination of these), it is critical that team members communicate with each other throughout all phases of a project. Frequent, ongoing communication and a clear delineation of duties can help to avoid task duplication, missed deadlines and other mishaps that occur without continuous check-ins and feedback.

Trust: Effective collaborators trust each other. They recognize the strengths, skills and roles of each contributor, and rely on each other’s expertise. They can count on their leaders and colleagues to be reliable and follow-through on projects and assignments, based on a shared work ethic and an environment of openness and mutual respect. A culture of trust also allows team members to generate ideas and feedback honestly and without fear of retribution, which is critical to minimizing group think, stifled creativity and blind spots that can hinder success.

Deborah Brent
Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management and Marketing | Virginia International University

Start with a plan and a goal that includes input from all team members on how we will get there together.  Creating buy in from the start is essential to success by explaining the “Whys” behind each endeavor. Develop systems and processes that are well defined with creativity encouraged to reach the end result.

Open and honest communication that promotes idea sharing among team members.  Communication includes follow up synopsis with action items identified, timeline for task completion, and a champion appointed for spearheading each project identified and reporting deliverables for assessment.

Institute a team member recognition program. This program could support tasks well done which supports employee retention efforts and professional development opportunities for team members to feel their work is making a difference in the organization’s goals. Employing a gamification program is often a motivator for employees to feel loyalty to the cause per recognition received.  Work must include an element of fun, laughter, and celebration that adds to the team environment and bonds individuals together in pursuit of a common goal.

Kendall Dillon
Vice President of Marketing & Communications | Grand View University

Enthusiasm: You can’t have collaboration without a passion for team work and a recognition of the value of it.

Creativity: Collaboration is so much more than just putting the right people in a room together. Creativity makes collaboration successful – by identifying new and better ways to capitalize on skills, processes and ideas.

A Shared Commitment/Goal: A common goal brings people together, so defining the finish line is key to shared commitment.

A Good Tool: Teams have work product, timelines and materials to organize… a good tool makes all the above more efficient.

Andy Shaw
Director of Enrollment Communications | York College of Pennsylvania

The most important thing is buy-in from other departments around campus. Recruiting is everyone’s job, but more specifically, everyone has to understand that admission deadlines for materials need to be part of their own timelines. It’s also very important to work in an environment that promotes creativity, as every college is trying to recruit from the same pool of fish – you need to be allowed to say “Let’s not use the same bait anymore just because we always have used it” and try new things. Finally, college marketing thrives when there is adequate planning. Throwing things together because of last-second ideas is possible – we should list “magician” on LinkedIn – but having time to plan sequences and materials has the biggest payoff.

Cary Heyer
Director, Communications and Strategic Marketing | Madison College
  • A shared commitment to advancing the common good
  • Engaging in face-to-face, real-time conversation
  • A culture that encourages blue sky thinking, risk taking and challenging the conventional
Laurie Ward
Executive Director of Marketing & Communications | Hood College

Clear communication, realistic expectations and organization/process: Everyone needs to be on the same page and understand their roles; and external colleagues (those submitting the projects) want to understand what it takes to have their projects completed. A collaborative team that has clear communication, realistic expectations and strong processes in place can seamlessly and successful work independently on the jobs that come through our office on a day-to-day basis. And that might sound like an oxymoron – collaborative and independent – but the benefits come in when the independent roles come together to work on a large-scale, multi-tactic project.

Amanda Griesser
Integrated Marketing Communications Coordinator | HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College

At HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, we embrace collaboration across departments, especially when it comes to bringing integrated marketing communications projects to life. We serve a community college that offers more than 120 programs; spans five campuses and online learning; and serves almost 20,000 students. It’s probably no surprise that open communication is the most important element of collaboration within our team. Without a steady flow of communication – taking the form of face-to- face discussions, emails and, yes, Workzone comments – we could not effectively meet the needs of our College. No matter what tools we use to communicate, we remain committed to sharing honest feedback, recognizing mistakes and applauding good work.

Kelsey Batten
Assistant Vice President for Marketing & Communications | Ivy Tech Community College

Team collaboration is a priority for our group as we are tasked with many different projects and priorities.  The three most important things for our department include:

Decisions based on data and research:  It is critical that we all have clearly defined and aligned goals for marketing, enrollment and initiatives, but our actions and plans are driven by data, when applicable, and research.

Cross training:  Every task, project, initiative and “customer” that work with our marketing department has a lead and a back-up, sometimes more than one.  We are invited to a lot of meetings and asked to participate in a lot of committees, and we need to have more than one person trained and knowledgeable in our areas of work.

Team building:  To be an effective team, we must function, think and work like a team.  We take time to celebrate and team build, including doing activities like Strengths Finder.  It is best that we understand our inherent strengths and how we approach problems/solutions, to find how we can cohesively work together.

Becky Peeling
Associate Vice President for University Relations and Marketing | Palm Beach Atlantic University

Communication. In a busy office with staff members who are engaged with various schools and departments, we need to be sharing the various pieces of information that we hear and see in order to best serve our clients.

Service mentality. ‎Each member of our team strives to provide outstanding service to our clients through excellent print and digital publications, and going the extra mile to tell student, faculty and alumni stories. We get so much satisfaction when people respond by sharing the stories and engaging with our school’s events.

Storytelling. Whether they are stories of Alumni fulfilling their entrepreneurial dreams or ‎students who overcome serious personal setbacks to complete their degrees, we want share stories that are relatable and inspiring. Workzone keeps us on task so that we can apply our creative talents.

Jeff Harmon
Executive Director of University Communications | Southeast Missouri State University

Availability of information. Project information must be available and shared by all team members so we can share ideas, learn from each other and understand work load.

Communication. Without it, there is no synergy or leveraged knowledge.

Willingness to get outside of your comfort zone. If you are designer, try writing a story board for a commercial. If you are a PR professional, contribute to the digital marketing plan.

David May
Director of Web and Interactive Marketing | Chapman University

Clear and effective communication is the most critical ingredient for successful collaboration. When management can communicate to staff (and vice-versa), and when staff can communicate freely to one another, there is transparency, honesty, and clarity. People know what is expected of them, and they feel confident to achieve their goals.

The second ingredient for successful collaboration is safety. Staff and management alike need to feel safe to share their honest opinions without fear that they will be shunned or ridiculed for doing so. Sometimes it is even helpful for meeting/conversation guidelines to be stated or written down. If guidelines clearly state “we do not ridicule anyone for their ideas or opinions,” even though it might go without saying, staff members may feel safer to share their opinions.

The third of my three most important ingredients for successful collaboration is the acceptance of failure. Teams, especially marketing teams, need permission to fail. Without permission to fail, teams can spend more time shifting the blame onto one another than focusing on their work. Additionally, you’ll never find that perfect marketing campaign if you are not allowed to experiment, and not all experiments succeed. To arrive at new and innovative solutions, it is critical to accept and celebrate failure.

Mackenzie J. Kastl
Director of Public Relations | Northwood University

It may seem redundant, but communication with one another and with the stakeholders in our university is critical. Our marketing team is small, so many of us wear multiple hats. I value flexibility and an open mind- we like to break the habit of “we have always done it this way” at Northwood, and it’s a big part of our success. The third most important trait within our collaborative team is organization. As a business school, we try to use business strategy innately in everything we do, and it wouldn’t be possible if we weren’t able to stay organized and on on-task.

How Can You Actually Use These Collaboration Tips?

No two companies (or universities) are alike, so these tips will resonate with you and your team in different ways.

What stands out is the willingness to have a flexible, but communicative mindset. Things change, and it’s important to not only roll with those new projects and changes, but to effectively communicate while those changes are happening.

Confirming that each team member understands the updates or the new project plan is different than thinking that they do. One way to do that is by making sure your team is on-board with a solid project management solution.

Would you add any team collaboration tips? Which strategies will you use for your institution or company?