Higher education is undergoing a significant transformation due to changing student demographics, technological advances, a shifting legislative and governmental landscape and evolving expectations regarding the form and function of college. 

In response, many institutions of higher learning recognize that traditional marketing and communications methods are no longer sufficient to attract students and build reputation. They are eager for their marketing and communications enterprises to thoughtfully and effectively evolve to meet these challenges.

Staff development frameworks can help enhance individual skills and advance team maturity. Specifically, Management by Objectives is an ideal framework for ensuring alignment with organizational goals while assessing and upskilling existing staff.

What is Management by Objectives?

Management by Objectives (MBO) is a strategic management approach developed by Peter Drucker (for whom Claremont Graduate University’s Drucker School of Management was named). MBO aligns individual employee objectives with overall company goals to enhance performance and efficiency.

MBO has four steps:

1. Set objectives
2. Develop action plans
3. Provide feedback
4. Assessment

Using MBO to Advance Team Maturity

As my colleague Jamie Ceman, Ed.D., senior executive vice president of brand and marketing strategy at the RW Jones Agency writes in the Forbes Leadership Council Article, How To Develop A Road Map For Your Marketing Organization, marketing teams and individual members reside on a spectrum of maturity in their areas of accountability (such as brand management, integrated audience journey, etc.). In the RW Jones Maturity Model, there are five levels of maturity:

1. Transactional: Generally defined, this means your marketing efforts are not informed by data, are not tied to an overall strategy and are considered to be one-off tactics.
2. Progressing: The team is developing plans, leveraging some data and considering the audience when developing tactics, yet the work is ad hoc.
3. Consistent: The marketing work is increasingly reliant on data; the creative is more targeted toward audiences and based on higher-level strategy.
4. Accelerating: The marketing has become unique and relevant for the audience and is anchored to strategic priorities.
5. High Performance: Real-time insights drive dynamic content, and the team is in a constant learning loop, improving the marketing efforts for all audiences.

Individuals’ levels of maturity can be plotted within each of their areas of accountability. As key priorities within the team are established, the leader sets objectives for team members that advance progress toward these goals and bring individuals and the team forward through the five levels of maturity.

Management by Objectives in Action: An Example

A medium-sized, moderately selective liberal arts college historically recruited regional students through word of mouth, its Division III athletics program, and its reputation for strong academics and a close-knit community. Marketing efforts traditionally focused on printed materials for recruitment, with a website that includes evergreen information about the institution,  a blog with campus news and an alumni newsletter.

Since COVID, the institution has struggled to attract the same number and quality of applicants, resulting in declines in rankings and donations. In response, the college’s leadership invested in and tasked its communications, marketing and external affairs division with increasing awareness and restoring its reputation.

The vice president of communications understands the organizational goal of increasing awareness and reputation and can set objectives for two direct reports that expand both of their skill sets while advancing the college’s strategic goals.

In the table above, both senior directors were given objectives that positioned their roles as more strategic rather than tactical. This enabled them to set objectives for their direct reports to address the tactical needs associated with new objectives that align with the organization’s goals.

Once the vice president established these new objectives, they developed action plans. Objectives were broken down into tasks, which enabled the vice president to better track progress and provide feedback. Feedback was  given at predetermined intervals, such as during regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings or monthly “objective check-ins.”

The vice president was available for support and coaching as the directors grew into their new skill sets. For instance, the senior director of marketing had never overseen digital marketing previously, so they were reasonably supported as they issued an RFP to digital marketing firms, developed a budget and structured a project-management strategy. Similarly, the senior director of communication had only previously responded to media inquiries, and never proactively pitched university research or stories, so they were reasonably trained and offered professional development opportunities in the strategies and tactics of this practice area.

In the MBO framework, assessment is conducted using an objective scale, similar to those used in annual employee evaluations. Since the vice president was eager to elevate the department’s maturity, they supplemented the numerical scale with a performance/potential appraisal matrix.

Performance/Potential Appraisal Matrix

In this example, the senior director of marketing initially ranked as low performance/high potential. When the MBO exercise began, they needed time to grasp the complexities of implementing and sustaining digital marketing strategies. However, they met all objectives and approached the project with energy, leadership and creativity, demonstrating strong potential for continued growth in this area.

Conversely, despite coaching and feedback from the vice president, the senior director of communications ultimately failed to meet one or more objectives and resisted the expanded scope and depth of their role. While they had previously been a high performer, their performance and potential both declined under the new framework.

The MBO framework and additional assessment tools provided the vice president with a clear path forward for staffing and professional development decisions, ensuring the continued evolution of the team’s maturity and the college’s progress in increasing awareness and strengthening its reputation.

If your institution is eager to advance its marketing/communications enterprise, contact info@rwjonesagency.com to learn about how we can conduct an organizational assessment and help implement an MBO framework.