Your faculty has huge credibility as promoters or detractors of your school. They’re on the front line, working with your students; their feelings about your school affect everything you do. To determine if your faculty is successfully promoting your school, start by evaluating faculty culture.
What are some faculty culture obstacles?
In our research, we found that one in six public school teachers said they were leaving the profession and 60% of districts failed to fill all openings by the start of school in 2021. Teachers are fleeing the classroom, citing poor compensation, disrespect from administration and students, undue stress and burnout, and an ongoing negative narrative about being a teacher. School viability and success depend on the ability to turn the tide on these issues, thus creating a healthy faculty culture.
So, how can you measure your school’s current faculty culture as a step toward transformative word-of-mouth marketing?
Net Promoter Score®
The Net Promoter Score (NPS®) is a simple, one-question survey that has gained popularity among private schools to measure customer brand loyalty. It is also used by two-thirds of Fortune 1,000 companies.
The goal of the NPS survey is to measure whether your constituents would recommend your school to others. This knowledge empowers you to understand the overall health of your school culture and see where you stand against your competition. See the example below of the question and scale.
On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?
Keep in mind how the score affects your school’s marketing strategy.
- Detractors are dissatisfied and may hurt your brand through negative word of mouth.
- Neutral respondents are satisfied but susceptible to leaving for competing offers.
- Promoters are brand loyalists, likely to spread positive word of mouth and refer others.
What is considered a “good” score from teachers?
The NPS has a 200-point scale, with -100 being worst and 100 being best. Above 0 is good, above 50 excellent, and above 80 is world-class and incredibly rare. Chick-fil-a, for example, scored highest in the Quick Service and Fast Casual Restaurant category with a 60; the industry average is 21.
How do we use the Net Promoter Score?
The first step is to determine your NPS schedule and plan.
- Who handles survey management and data analysis? This collection and analysis can live within any department (enrollment, admission, marketing, the School Head’s office). You could choose to work with a third-party vendor to help with this work. (ISM has conducted more than 3,100 on-site consultations and surveys with schools. Our surveys provide confidentially gathered data and detailed analysis in a written report that guides you in institutional decision-making. Click here to learn more.)
- How often will you conduct the survey? ISM recommends surveying students and faculty annually; parent surveys should be done every two or three years.
- Who will be surveyed? Your students, employees, and parents are the heart of your school and central to every decision you make. Surveying them helps you better understand what’s working and what requires attention.
- Will it be a stand-alone survey or integrated? Surveys can be both, and both solutions have pros and cons. You can do certain standalone surveys, but it’s better to get a well-rounded picture of everyone for decision making. ISM uses three research surveys (Student Experience Profile, Faculty Culture Profile, and Faculty Experience Profile) to determine other correlated ranges like predictability and support. The higher the predictability and support at school, the more likely that school will have stronger employees, students, and families.
- Do you want additional context? You can make the NPS one part of a larger data strategy to include admission data, focus groups, admission surveys, and regular constituents (parents, employees, and students) surveys.
Tune in to ask questions related to this Source article or other topics you've encountered lately.
Visit our NEW Community and start posting.
Once you understand the existing faculty culture, it’s time to empower your faculty to be your best marketers. As a School Head, it’s important to practice these tips when it comes to empowering your faculty and staff.
- Be present. Show up to in-service, carpool, special events, and anywhere else to better understand your faculty.
- Be proactive. Revisit faculty onboarding and in-service to appropriately set expectations about admission and retention processes.
- Be open to feedback. Listen for cues about timing, existing commitments, and professional needs.
- Be inclusive. Inclusive surveys are rooted in empathy, respect, and clear goals—from their language to their accessibility. You create an inclusive survey when you’re conscious of how you ask about religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity, and when you consider your respondent experience from many perspectives.
Ready to Tackle More?
Every day, school leaders make important decisions. These school decisions are often based on unexamined assumptions, which can result in costly mistakes. Stop wasting money; start a dialogue with your most valued resources. Click here to learn more about ISM’s Constituent Satisfaction Survey Bundle.
Create strategies to meet your goals by combining foundational, practical topics with efficient marketing communications procedures. Email schoolsuccess@isminc.com for more information.
