Maximizing Campus Impact

Strategy #4: Make Faculty Allies

Faculty are an important resource for a new media center, both as clients and as a sales force. On many campuses, one of the benchmarks of success for new media centers is how useful the center is to faculty. Faculty allies can speak for you, market you to potential clients, and help you showcase your productivity. Many, perhaps most, of the projects that you do will be centered on faculty needs. Requesting additional staff or equipment is also easier when you can demonstrate a direct benefit to faculty.

As is true with any form of relationship-building, creating alliances with faculty takes time; but the time you invest will be worth it when you have a strong community of support for your services. With a supportive pool of clients supplying word-of-mouth advertising, your unit will be in a better position to be productive. Marketing will be easier, the campus community will know what you offer, and your organization's value to the campus will be demonstrated daily.

Although they are an important resource, faculty are not the only allies you should cultivate. Make a point of being familiar with departments like computer science, arts, media, and communications: students in these departments, both graduate and undergraduate, might be interested in internships or contract work. They can connect you with events and news that might not come your way from other sources.

You may also find it helpful to connect with other campus departments that offer services that complement yours. Printing centers, A/V departments, photo and sound studios, and the like are useful allies, not only for work your department may need, but also as a way to meet clients' needs that your unit cannot otherwise fill. Alliances can also be formed with groups outside the immediate university; look to local art and technology centers for interesting partnerships. And of course, other NMC members may already have a solution to a problem you are just beginning to encounter.

How to Get There: Suggestions from Directors

The surest way to create faculty allies is to consistently deliver products and services that meet their needs. Focus on customer service, keeping in mind that most faculty want to go about their teaching and research with technology helping rather than getting in the way. When you work on faculty projects, involve the faculty in ways that take advantage of their domain expertise, without requiring them to learn technology for its own sake. Don't "dumb it down," and certainly offer as much training and support as may be needed or wanted; but remember that faculty are experts at teaching and in their subject areas, and their interest in technology is usually secondary to those pursuits.

• Make it easy for faculty to take advantage of your center's services. Like everyone else, faculty have constraints on their time. Offer flexible hours that allow them to come in when it is most convenient for them. Consider the way your space is set up; some faculty will prefer to work privately, especially when they are getting help, while others may be more gregarious. Make it easy to make appointments or get drop-in access. If possible, meet faculty in their offices. Tailor your offerings to faculty needs; faculty may want help writing the technical needs section of grants or disseminating their research effectively. Make a point of inviting new faculty to visit your center so that you are on their minds as they settle in.
• Listen to what faculty have to say. When faculty come to you with a request, ask questions, and really listen to the answers. They may not be able to clearly articulate the technical aspects of a problem, but they can probably tell you the effect they want. Be open to suggestion. Faculty value technical staff who are able to hear and address pedagogical or research concerns. Involve them in the solution; faculty are natural content experts. You will not only gain a better understanding of the problem by delving deeper into the subject – you might find possibilities for solutions that would not have occurred to you otherwise.
• When you talk to faculty, speak a common language. Speak naturally and avoid technical jargon. This seems obvious, but when technical people get excited about a project, they naturally begin thinking about interesting technical solutions. Those conversations are better for staff to have together; when you are meeting with faculty, use terminology from the faculty's domain and avoid overly technical references. If you have to turn down a technically unfeasible request, explain briefly and suggest an alternative without getting too technical. Respond promptly to email and inquiries; everyone likes to be called back.
• Have faculty train other faculty. You can cultivate your relationship with faculty by arranging training sessions where faculty train other faculty. The faculty trainers will enjoy showing off their projects and skills, and the faculty learners will see that you don't have to be a "techie" to succeed. It's also excellent public relations; when someone else toots your horn, the music's sweeter.
• Acknowledge faculty work to their deans. When you showcase your center's projects, showcase the faculty as well. Emphasize the part faculty have played in developing the idea and carrying out the work. After each project is completed, consider writing up a brief announcement for the campus newsletter or sending an illustrated letter to the dean(s) of the faculty who were involved. When you host an open house, set up kiosks showcasing your projects and invite faculty to run them. Make sure your invitation list includes the deans, and include a personal note on their invitations mentioning which of their faculty will be part of the open house.
• Cultivate other allies as well. When forging non-faculty allies, consider personal visits. Drop by and introduce yourself, and be sure to have copies of your marketing materials on hand. Ask questions; find out what each department is especially proud of, and what each is best at. Share the same information about your unit and invite their staff to visit your center. When you host an open house, make a point of including staff from campus and outside organizations on your invitation list. When a client has a problem that you can't help with, make sure you know who can help and how to reach them. Be a point of contact so that faculty can come to you, no matter what they need, and get an answer. Don't overlook academic departments that can augment your services; interns from computer science, arts, and business may be able to contribute to projects to supplement your regular staff.