Jackson College Customer Service Manual

TABLE OF CONTENTS Awareness....................................................................... 2 E-mail..................................................................................6 Telephone....................................................................20 How to deal with difficult clients.................26 Body language.........................................................30 Social media..............................................................34 Coworkers are customers too......................40 TCS2 in customer service........................... 52 Purpose vs. task.......................................................54 Innovation fund..................................................57

hello there!

Each day at Jackson College, our employees work toward our Total Commitment to Student Success, TCS2. Students come to us with a goal in mind, and from their first encounter, we want to help them be successful in achieving their goal. That is where top-quality customer service is paramount.

The Customer Service Committee met and discussed the material in this manual, students and others also offered suggestions. What resulted was the creation of a customer service manual that explores customer service for both our external customers – primarily, our students – and internal customers – our colleagues and coworkers.

We want to offer our best service each day to everyone that we meet.

At Jackson College, our mission is to inspire and transform lives. We do this through our Total Commitment to Student Success.

Offering outstanding customer service is a first step toward fulfilling our mission and commitment.

Each day, it is not enough just to meet expectations – we need to exceed expectations. We must be friendly and helpful with our students, with one another, and withour community.

Thank you!

Dr. Daniel J. Phelan President/CEO

Awareness… Open your ears and the door!

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We have all had a customer service interaction that quickly went south. Did they not understand my issue? Were they not the right person to help me? What appears to be ineptitude is quite often a lack of awareness. Awareness entails noticing what is actually happening around you. REALLY notice. And listen. Our students and your coworkers deserve not only to be heard but to be paid attention to. It all starts with awareness. The first part of being aware is knowing that literally, any interaction is a form of customer service,

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awareness

be it a phone call, a passing in the hallway or in a meeting with other Jackson College employees.

Every single interaction we have on campus reflects our customer service. You never who is going to see or hear what you are doing and what kind of impression you will make on them. Who knows, the way you treat someone can make or break their Jackson College experience.

How many times have you sat down at work and carried in with you the weight of what happened the night before, or that morning or even yesterday?

It happens to the best of us, our coworkers and our students. Now think of a time when a small act of kindness from a coworker turned your day around, or your supervisor stopping in to check on you made you feel appreciated. Recall an instance when you removed barriers for a student and you got to see them proceed with their college education or walk away feeling better because your job made their journey just a little bit easier.

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“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”

We all have the power to change someone’s day in every single act that we do here. That is what makes us Jackson College, we are a unique team of caring individuals that are totally committed to student success. So, be that change in someone’s day, ask them how they are doing, open the door for them smile as you pass in the hallway. These small acts all add up to excellent customer service. These are the things that will set us apart from any other institution.

Campus Safety & Security

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The Safety & Security Department is the campus security authority responsible for ensuring the safety and security of the College community, buildings and property. Its officers enforce campus safety and security regulations, RTMENT PA O E including parking regulations. In case of emergency, Campus Safety and Security officers are responsible for implementing emergency procedures at Jackson T U College. The office coordinates with local law Y AND SEC enforcement agencies as needed. Campus Safety and Security Services is located in the Jets Hanger.

Security can be reached at 517.796.8620. Security’s phone number is also on the back of your College photo ID.

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E-mail

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We teach our students to read their e-mail every day and that all Jackson College e-mails will go to their student @my.jccmi.edu email address.

Let’s make sure those e-mails are actually helpful to them!

Let’s be honest, our students get a lot of e-mails. Many of them prefer e-mail to face-toface conversation, and for a lot of them, it may be the only way they can communicate with us.

Sure, we can send messages, but how do we make sure they get read and provide more answers than questions.

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e-mail

“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

You might think telling a student to check their e-mail is simple enough, but maybe it isn’t to them, or maybe they already have a lot going on.

Why not sit down and show them how to get to their e-mail in a way that matters to them.

Remember, many of them are just out of high school. All communication regarding their progress was likely shared in an app form, and their parents helped them stay on top of it all. They are not coming from the K-12 system trained to

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check e-mail multiple times a day. Many of them simply forget, and it is an honest mistake.

Did you know 95% of teens have a smartphone or access to one and 81% of Americans own a smartphone? Showing a student how to check their e-mail from their phone might just bring them one step closer to success. Want to give them an even easier way to check their e-mail – show them how to forward their college e-mail

to their personal e-mail.

Forwarding their e-mail helps simplify their life (one less account to check!) and helps ensure they don’t miss anything and you can get your message across, it’s a win-win.

Now that we have our students on board with checking their e-mail, we need to make sure what we send exemplifies our total commitment to student success.

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e-mail

we DON’T

we DO

forget your signature

have a clear subject line

assume the recipient knows what you are talking about

proofread your message

Overuse exclamation points

keep it as brief as possible reply to all e-mails keep private material confidential use TCS2 language

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Total Commitment to Student Success Language Examples of

AVOID Please contact … for help

I have to…

TCS2 examples Thank you for reaching out to us. We have contacted XXX for you and your next step will be. I have copied them on this e-mail for you so that you have their contact information if you have any further questions.

I am going to take your form and make sure that it gets in the right hands. You should hear something by the end of the week. Please make sure to reach out to me if you have any other questions along the way.

Handing students or others looking for help off like hot potatoes is a great way to drive them away from you due to the sheer amount of effort they have to put into trying to get help or information.

It is okay to let students know that you need to do a couple of things before they get an answer. Just by saying “I am going to” instead of “I have to” you will make the conversation seem like less of a problem. Make sure that you are setting realistic expectations for timelines. Under-promise and over-deliver. Students will be happy to get an answer earlier, and disappointed if they don’t get it in the timeline you set for them.

You don’t have to watch every word. You don’t need to be scared of saying the wrong thing. Customers appreciate the fact that you’re human, as long as you treat them with empathy and kindness.

But by understanding the kinds of things that people really don’t want to hear, you can transform the way you think — and talk — when it comes to support, and ultimately build better relationships with your students and coworkers.

e-mail

Stop, drop.. that high urgency! Not everything is an emergency Do you use the High Importance on your e-mail? It might not be coming across the way you want it to be. People see an urgent message and see as akin to typing in CAPITALS or bold, which can come across as shouting and seem negative.

Your colleagues receiving the message may wonder why you think your message may be put above every other message, and why you get to prioritize their work.

If the message is not marked as urgent, does that mean it’s not as important and requires less attention? Ninety percent of e-mails sent don’t have an

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urgent flag on them, but who’s to say which ones should be dealt with first?

So, we’ve established that the urgent flag is not ideal if you want to get something actioned quickly. So, what are the alternatives?

It might be quicker if you call or talk face to face. Every time you send an e-mail, you are presenting yourself to a business colleague, so it is important to give a good impression. Even if the message is urgent, using the flag can come across as a bit desperate and make you look needy.

Vacation Relaxation

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e-mail

Responses, even while you are away‌ Every e-mail deserves a response; our students, clients and coworkers are looking for your help!

Even when you are away, you can provide good customer service. Change your out-ofoffice message for your phone and your e-mail, and let your team know.

You can always access your voicemail while you are away from your desk, too.

To access your voicemail from another office, dial 8601. To access while you are away from your desk call 517.796.8601 and follow the prompts.

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Your away voicemail should provide the caller with enough information to still get some assistance in your absence here is a script for you to use:

“Please listen to the entire voicemail as it has recently changed. You have reached (Your Name) in (Your Department). Thank you for your call.

I will be out of the office on (date) and return (date).

If you need prompt assistance, please contact (designated team member) at (team member@jccmi.edu) or (team member’s phone) and they will be happy to talk to you.

Otherwise please leave me a detailed message of how I can help you when I return. Be sure to include your name, telephone number and the best time for me to contact you.

I look for your speaking with you when I return.”

Picture being a student, waiting to hear if you got the money you needed to start classes next week. You call the people you were told to on campus and get their voicemail, you wait a day… nothing.

You call again the next day and get voicemail again. Now you’re either ready to give up, be angry or both before you’ve even had a chance to be helped by one of the Jackson College staff.

Meanwhile, that staff member has just been away at a conference and hasn’t even been at their desk. That student doesn’t know you’re gone, and you don’t know there is a student ready to give up! A simple greeting change on your voicemail could make the experience better for both of you before JCCMI.EDU you even meet.

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e-mail

To set up the greeting, log into your voicemail, at the main menu type in 813, select 1 to record your away message.

You can use this same message on your e-mails for out of office. Setting up an out of office message is easy.

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Steps to set up out of office e-mail 1

Click the File tab, and then click the Info tab on the menu.

2

Click Automatic Replies (Out of Office).

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e-mail

3

In the Automatic Replies dialog box, select the Send Automatic Replies checkbox.

If you want to specify a set time and date range, select the Only send during this time range checkbox. Then set the Start time, and then set the End time.

In the Inside my organization tab, type the message that you want to send within your organization, and in the Outside my organization tab, type the message that you want to send outside your organization.

Click OK. If you selected the “Only send during this time range” option in step 4, the Automatic Replies (Out of Office) feature will continue to run until the date and time set for the End Time in step 5 is reached.

Otherwise, the Automatic Replies (Out of Office) will continue to run until you repeat step 1 and select the “Do not send automatic replies” option.

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Have you ever written an away message like these? You might be thinking, what’s so wrong with these? Customers are reaching out to you for help so they probably are needing immediate assistance. With responses like these, we aren’t really giving them a good idea of when to expect help.

It’s also a good idea to give them an e-mail option to reply to since they began with an e-mail.

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Telephone

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Sometimes the very first impression someone may have of Jackson College will come from a phone call. It’s important that we treat people over the phone the same way we would treat someone in a face-to-face conversation. There are several ways we can do this.

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telephone

Answering the Call...

When you answer the phone, it’s important to use a professional greeting. It doesn’t have to be elaborate; a three-part greeting is a great way to start off a conversation.

Make sure to include a greeting, where you work, and your name.

“Good afternoon, Student Services, this is Jan.” OR… “Thank you for calling the Jackson College Business Office, this is Karen.”

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It’s unnecessary to use the phrase “How may I help you?” as the caller assumes you will be helping them when they call and they may be more likely to forget your name.

SMILE This may seem odd, but it’s good practice when talking with someone over the phone.

Smiles may not be seen, but they can definitely be heard.

Smiling affects how we speak, to the point that some listeners can actually identify the type of smile based on sound alone.

GIVE EFFICIENT ANSWERS There are many reasons people choose a phone call over an e-mail or coming in directly, but often people just have a quick question that they need an answer to or explanation.

They may be in the car on their way somewhere or in between meetings. It’s important we respect people’s time and give them the information they are looking for accurately, politely and efficiently.

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telephone

say thank you!

END THE CALL WITH A POSITIVE LAST IMPRESSION A positive last impression counts as much as a good first impression. End your conversation on a positive note. Let callers know you are glad they called and that you look forward to hearing from them again. This last impression is often the way they remember the entire call.

Make sure to thank the person for calling.

“I’ll let a technician know, and they’ll take care of it for you as soon as possible. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention. Thanks for calling.”

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Some other tips to consider when speaking with customers over the phone are to avoid making mouth noises, like chewing, drinking or humming.

Don’t dump calls; if you need to transfer someone let them know who you’re transferring them to, their number in case you get disconnected and then let the person know you are transferring someone to them.

Don’t just hang up the phone after dialing the extension. If you need to put someone on hold make sure to let them know why and if they are OK if you put them on hold. When you connect with someone who has been on hold, make sure to thank them for holding.

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How to deal

with a difficult client

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According to a survey by Lee Resources International, for every angry customer who complains, 26 customers don’t.

Each customer complaint could mean that dozens of other customers are having the same problem and not letting you know.

That means that resolving the problem for a single customer could make dozens of other customers happier at the same time.

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how to deal

That’s a huge opportunity.

Remember often times we don’t know what is going on in a student’s or coworker’s life. We don’t know what hurdles were put in their way before they got to us. We can be the ones to turn their day around, even if they start out angry. Most people just need someone to care; even if you can’t fix their problem, care they have a problem.

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Care about their problem 1 2

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STEP ONE - View the conversation as an opportunity.

STEP TWO - Don’t be afraid.

Worrying about a negative outcome will control your reaction. You may be afraid you can’t fix their problem, either because you don’t know the answer or you might be afraid they will get a bad impression of the College.

STEP THREE - Relax, you don’t need to fix anything. When sitting down with a frustrated student or talking to them on the phone, your job is to listen, understand, and discern the next steps – not to immediately produce a solution.

So, instead of apologizing, slapping together a mediocre fix, or validating feelings, say, “It’s unfortunate X happened.

I’m aware of how this is affecting your Jackson College experience, and I appreciate your patience as I work to resolve this matter together with you.”

Genuinely thank the person with the complaint. We cannot fix what we don’t know is broken. It takes bravery to step forward and point out that they feel something is not right.

Recognize that, and show gratitude.

“Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know that this is not working out. We can only make improvements when people point out where we are missing the mark.

I appreciateJCCMI.EDU you coming forward.”

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Body language

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Body language provides an incredible amount of information on what other people might be thinking or feeling, after all, it accounts for over 60 percent of communication. No matter what type of activity you are participating in, your body is saying a lot about you at any given point in time.

Have you ever heard of the 10-4 rule? During our fall 2019 all college professional development day, Jackson College employees learned some customer service tips from the Zingermans team.

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body language

What is the 10-4 rule?

Any time a coworker, student or visitor is within 10 feet of you make eye contact and smile. If they are within 4 feet of you, greet them verbally. We do this even when our customers are on their way out, it’s a good way to leave a lasting impression and let them know we are happy they were here.

Body language can heavily influence how customers feel about interacting with you, it plays an important role in your customer service career, and affects whether your customers have a positive or negative impression of you after an interaction. You can use body language to your advantage simply by mastering these tips and applying it consciously to your interaction with customers.

Maintain Good Eye Contact: In customer service, maintaining eye contact with customers during interaction communicates to them that they are important, and

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Hey Ja how ar ne, e you?

you value whatever they have to say.

Maintaining good eye contact does not mean you should stare unblinkingly at your customers; such a stare would be uncomfortable, not to mention creepy.

If you combine good eye contact with nodding whenever you understand or agree with what the customer is saying, you will not only succeed in making the customer feel listened to, but you will also build trust.

Smile: This should be the easiest thing to do, but for some people, it doesn’t come that easily and they miss out on the impact their smile could have had on others.

Smiling has been studied and proven to have a positive effect on people, a genuine smile will make you instantly appear more positive and approachable. (See the 10-4 Rule)

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Social Media

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Promoting JC on social media is an awesome opportunity to share what we are all about.

If we do not believe in what we do, we cannot expect that others will.

It is encouraged that all employees proudly display on their social media that they work for Jackson College.

The best marketing tool we have today is word of mouth, and your involvement in your community in person and online creates a digital word of mouth. If you choose to keep your social media presence to yourself, feel free to do so but our hope is that as a College we can have a positive impact on our community online and in real life.

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social media

General suggestions...

General JC suggestions for engaging, positive, and professional social media interactions: 1. Does this content reflect positively on Jackson College?

2. Does this content reflect positively on me?

3. Does this content reflect the values of Jackson College? a. Integrity b. Caring c. Collaboration d. Quality e. Inclusion f. Service g. Leadership

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Things to remember!

All Social Media is Public No matter how private your social media settings are, today’s technology, screenshots, e-mail, and messaging have made it so that nothing is private. Assume that if it is on social media, that it is public. Also, when using Wi-Fi, online activity is subject to the observation of the owners of said Wi-Fi server and network.

You Have Free Speech, But… All users agree to a social media platform’s community standards when signing up for that platform. As an employee of an organization, there is an expectation that we handle ourselves professionally and as positive representations of our workplace. If you are an American citizen, you do expect a level of free speech. However, it’s good to remember that not every citizen of the world has that same level of freedom and that freedom of speech does not mean freedom from the consequence of that speech even in the United States – example: it is unwise to yell “FIRE!” in a crowded theater. Yes, you may have the right to say that, but that right does not free you from the consequences that inflammatory statement. In an online setting, as in a face-toface setting, be aware of who you are representing, how you wish to represent yourself, and know that your words affect others.

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social media

Tone Matters It is not easy to read tone on social media. While sarcasm, anger, or even happiness might be the point of your post, individuals you are communicating with over social media cannot judge your tone. When trying to assess what tone to use, consider your audience, your relationship with that audience, along with what people normally expect from your posts. This will help mitigate confusion and misunderstandings in digital spaces.

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Perception is Reality

In today’s world, we spend more time with each other in digital spaces than we do in physical spaces. This results in our perception of each other having as much or even more to do with our online interactions. Through your posts, comments, etc. you are creating a perception of how you want to be seen.

Expect that people will remember this perception, and it will become the reality of how they interact and think of you.

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Coworkers are Customers Too!

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People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!

Develop a positive attitude.

Your attitude is reflected in everything you do. It not only determines how you approach your job and your coworkers, it determines how they respond to you. Don’t complain – and don’t hang out with negative coworkers. Do whatever it takes to get the job done – and done right.

Listen. You can’t help a coworker unless you hear and understand what he needs.

Listening shows that you care and provides you the information you need to do what needs to be done. Ask questions. Rephrase what your coworker is saying to ensure that you understand the situation. Then use that information to decide how to move forward.

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coworkers are customers too

Solve problems. Great

Be honest. If a task is outside

customer service professionals are quick on their feet. They have the skills necessary to quickly analyze a situation and decide what needs to be done to solve the problem.

Don’t procrastinate. Develop a plan of attack, and handle the situation as quickly and efficiently as possible.

your level of expertise, or if you cannot meet the required deadline, admit it, then offer to facilitate by helping your coworker identify someone in the organization who does have the expertise and the time to assist with the project.

Honesty earns respect. The same holds true when you make a mistake. Admit it, apologize, and learn from it.

Be accessible. This means returning phone calls and responding to e-mails as quickly as possible. Doing so sends the message that what your coworker needs is important to you and that you are available and eager to provide whatever assistance is needed.

Make your coworkers feel valued. Recognize them with a smile. Call them by name. Make eye contact.

Be attentive to what they have to say. Compliment them when they do a good job.

Ask for their advice. Make them feel important.

Perform. Deliver what you

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coworkers are customers too

promise. Send the message that your coworkers can depend on you. Do what you say you will do—and do it with quality, speed, and accuracy.

If you say you are going to complete a report by Tuesday, do your best to complete it

by Monday.

Communicate. Make sure that you are not surprising your co-workers with anything that could have told them about ahead of time. If you have an interaction with a student, and you anticipate that the student

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is going to keep asking around until they get the answer they want, give a heads-up to your coworkers who might encounter this student. If you know that you are taking a vacation day on Tuesday, don’t just assume that your coworkers are tracking your Outlook calendar. Take the time a couple of days ahead to e-mail your team to let them know that you will be out, and when you will be back. That way, they can prepare.

Make generous assumptions.

No one is trying to do a bad job. Sometimes, when we get frustrated with each other, it is rooted in assumptions that are all negative. When you find yourself in a situation where you are getting upset about the actions of a coworker or a new policy that seems to make no sense to you, stop and ask yourself this question: “What could be a positive motivation for this decision?” Put yourself in their shoes. What

most cases, your coworker is acting with positive intent, and your interpretation might be based on the information you have, but they do not.

Work together. If there is an unintended consequence of a new policy or a coworker’s action, make sure that your concern is heard, but do it from the lens of a positive, generous assumption.

is informing their choices? In

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coworkers are customers too

Easy ways to be nice STOP TRYING TO SOLVE IT ALL IN E-MAIL: It is easier to write an e-mail than it is to pick up the phone or walk to a co-worker’s desk to have a conversation in the short term.

However, when you are trying to work together with someone to solve a problem, many times a more personal approach will get a quicker, better resolution.

Talking through an issue together is much more efficient when done in person or over the phone. This avoids many potential misinterpretations. It is easy to default to e-mail to mentally check something off your long list of “to-dos”. If a few e-mails are going back and

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forth, and nothing seems to be sinking in, reach out personally.

It will make a difference.

ASK SOMEONE HOW THEIR NIGHT WAS: Taking the time to start a conversation about someone’s personal life is a simple way to be nice. And no, you don’t have to go too in-depth and start a 30-minute conversation. But starting out with, “How did the event go last night?” or “Did you enjoy having your family in town this weekend?” is an easy way to show someone you care (and that you were listening yesterday).

to your coworkers

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coworkers are customers too

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PICK UP AN EXTRA COFFEE: Very rarely do you come across co-workers who refuse a caffeine fix. Whether it’s on

GIVE SOMEONE A COMPLIMENT: One of the biggest complaints people have about their jobs is that

your way into the office in the morning or during a quick work break, pick up an extra coffee (or tea, or whatever else your office likes) for someone.

Not only will this brighten the person’s day, but if he or she pays it forward, it’ll start a chain of positivity in the office.

Bonus: Caffeine has been known to do wonders for your professional life.

they feel underappreciated.

We have all been there, and we all know it’s not a fun place to be — so challenge yourself to pay compliments to your co-workers regularly.

Maybe someone did a great job working with a student.

Send them a quick e-mail and let them know you noticed, or say it when you see it happen. Again, you never know when you can make or break someone’s day.

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WHEN SOMETHING NOTEWORTHY HAPPENS, NOTE IT: When you notice that a coworker is making a

INVITE SOMEONE TO GRAB LUNCH WITH YOU: We know you don’t have time to sit down and eat lunch outside

difference, let them know in concrete, memorable ways.

Send a handwritten note. They can look back on the note when they are struggling and know that they have someone on campus who sees that they are doing great things. Or, take the time to write an e-mail to their supervisor, specifically letting them know what you observed. It is great for supervisors to know when their employees are excelling. It will also be meaningful to your coworker to know that you took the time to compliment them, and they will be able to re-read the e-mail when they need a boost.

the office. But, let’s face it, we all need a break from work and we all must grab lunch at some point. As long as you’re going outside to get something, you might as well ask someone if he or she would like to join.

Even if the person doesn’t have time to go to lunch the day you ask, you’ll still make him or her feel special by inviting them.

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BE SPACKLE FOR EACH OTHER: When there is a hole in the drywall, you apply spackle to repair it.

We need to be that way for our coworkers. If you see a “hole” anywhere and you have to power to spackle it, do so. We can get so easily bogged down in our daily roles that we miss simple ways to fix problems. It is not everyone’s “job” to make sure that a coworker who is

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carrying too much has the door opened for them, but we can all certainly notice and act. It is not everyone’s “job” to take the time to ask a coworker if he is OK when he looks sad, but we can all certainly notice and act. It is not everyone’s “job” to help a new adjunct faculty member find the sandbox, but we can all certainly notice and act.

What about the students though? Even better, you can take a student to lunch as part of the College’s take a student to lunch program! For those not familiar with the program or new to the College, each semester every staff, faculty, administrator and adjunct can use up to $35.50 to take a student to lunch, dinner or coffee. There is flexibility in how you utilize the dollars. This amount will allow you to take two students to lunch on two occasions.

Others have chosen to meet students for coffee, allowing them to stretch the dollars further to meet with more than two students. How does it work? Simply let the cashier at WAva Joe’s or in Snyder Dining Commons know you are participating in the program. They will ask for your name and your employee badge to verify identification. For those not at Central Campus, we still encourage participation and will reimburse you for up to $35.50.

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In review, easy ways to show TCS2 customer service…

Remember the take a student to lunch we talked about?

See a student having a bad day? Ask them if they want to grab a cup of coffee with you or a smoothie from WaVA Joe’s. Think back to what it was like to be a student and how much something like that would have helped you. Customer service at Jackson College is more than credit hours and transactions. It’s relationship building with our students and letting them know we are:

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About the total student here.

Let people know when you are away.

Be nice to your coworkers. No one can provide good customer service when they are worried about other things.

Be aware of what is going on, usually little changes can make a big difference. Open the doors for students and employees, report something being out of order, walk down the hall and thank people.

Practice 10-4

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Purpose vs. Task

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There are daily, weekly, monthly, and annual tasks that each of us is responsible for that all come together to make Jackson College operate in its best possible way. These tasks are important, sometimes critically, to the success of our institution. We all need to make sure that we are performing these individual tasks in a timely, accurate manner and to the best of our ability.

However‌

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purpose vs. task

What is your purpose at Jackson College Is your purpose to make sure that this report is filed? Is your purpose to make sure that you are turning in your attendance tracking on time? Is it your purpose to make sure that the office is locked up? Is it your purpose to process this pile of paperwork? Is it your purpose to make sure that you have an accurate, helpful syllabus? These are all important, but none of these is your purpose.

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JACKSON COLLEGE

Be the change!

Innovation Fund See something that can be done better? Say something!

At Jackson College, we recognize that innovation is present within each one of us (even if we don’t recognize it at first). Our focus on Total Commitment to Student Success (TCS2) is not an individual effort but rather a campus wide ongoing initiative. We are grateful for you, our employees, and feel some of the best ideas for improvement will come forward from the Innovation Fund. As part of our commitment to TCS2, we are excited to provide the opportunity for all employees to complete an application for the Innovation Fund. The Innovation Fund provides you with the opportunity to bring forward an idea you feel will have a significant impact on the College and ultimately support our TCS2 and our retention and completion goals of 90/80/70.

If you have an idea bring it forward! Start Here!

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purpose vs. task

Your purpose

here on campus is to inspire and transform lives Make sure you are completing your tasks with your purpose in the front of your mind. We all have deadlines.

We all have tasks that are integral to keeping JC moving in a direction of greatness. Let’s all commit to making sure that we don’t let that get in the way of our purpose.

If your purpose is to inspire and transform lives, you will: • Make sure that when you are walking to a meeting and you see a student that seems lost, that you will stop and make sure that they get where they need to go.

• Greet coworkers with a smile and ask them how their weekend was.

• Pick up the phone and call a coworker when you get an e-mail from them that is hard to understand.

• Pick up the potato chip bag that did not make its way to the bin and is flying around campus, so that students and co-workers have a clean campus they can be proud of.

• When you forget to take your nametag off and stop at the gas station on your way home, you will speak positively about the College to the woman who shares that she sent her son to JC this year.

• You will shift the focus of a destructive conversation amongst coworkers to work toward solutions instead of gossip.

• When a student catches you on your way out of the office, you see if you can get them the help they need.

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purpose vs. task

• You will thank people regularly, recognize greatness in others, and concretely make your appreciation known.

• When you see that an internal process can be improved, you will say something, follow through and make it better.

• When a student who is always early to class starts to slip and arrive late, take the time to have a conversation after class to make sure everything is OK. • You will make generous assumptions about your coworkers and students.

• You will take the time to make sure that your coworkers know they are appreciated when they do something great.

• You will make sure that you keep up-to-date on resources and events on campus so that you can share that information with others when they ask about it.

• You will ask for help when you need it.

If your purpose is to inspire and transform lives, you will.

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JACKSON COLLEGE

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MISSION Together we inspire and transform lives.

VISION Jackson College is a world-class institution of higher education where learners succeed and community needs are met.

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STATEMENT OF BELIEFS As employees of Jackson College, an innovative institution totally committed to student success (TCS²), we believe: • The success of our students is always our first priority • We perform our jobs admirably, giving our best service and support every day, for everyone

• We make decisions that are best for the institution as a whole • Building and maintaining trusting relationships with each other is essential

• Teamwork is founded upon people bringing different talents and perspectives

• Competence and innovation sustain our values in a competitive marketplace

• We provide educational and holistic opportunities for those who might otherwise not have them

• We serve as role models, making a positive difference in the lives of our students, our employees, and our communities

• A safe and fulfilling environment provides students, employees and community members with an opportunity to grow and learn • Our progress is validated by setting goals, measuring and celebrating our achievements

• Integrity, opportunity and fairness are our guiding principles • We prepare our students to be successful in a global environment • Our work matters!

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VALUES Integrity – We demonstrate integrity through professional, ethical, transparent, and consistent behavior in both our decision-making and in our treatment of people; being accountable for our work and actions is the basis of trust.

Caring – We demonstrate caring through attentive and responsive action to the needs of students, employees and our community. We listen with open minds, speak kindly, and foster relationships based on mutual respect and trust.

Collaboration – We demonstrate collaboration through the mutual commitment of individuals and organizations who come together for a common cause.

Innovation – We demonstrate innovation through the continuous improvement of all processes and services.

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Equity – We demonstrate equity by seeking involvement and providing access for those with diverse backgrounds to work toward a culture of inclusion while maintaining differences in a respectful way.

Service – We demonstrate service by striving to make the communities we serve great places to live, work, and learn.

Leadership – We demonstrate leadership by nurturing the full development of our employees and those we serve.

Stewardship – We demonstrate stewardship through our mindful management of the human, intellectual, fiscal and environmental resources entrusted to us.

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES Sam R. Barnes, Chairman • John M. Crist, Vice Chairman • Sheila A. Patterson, Secretary Donna L. Lake, Treasurer • Matthew R. Heins, Trustee • Philip E. Hoffman, Trustee Dr. Edward A. Mathein, Trustee • Dr. Daniel J. Phelan, President/CEO

Jackson College was appointed to the Board of the League for Innovation in the Community College in October 2019.

Jackson College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (hlcommission.org), a regional accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

The Higher Learning Commission • 230 South LaSalle Street, Suite 7-500 • Chicago, IL 60604-1411 (800) 621-7440 • hlcommission.org