Shakeover at Shenkar College

Prof. Yuli Tamir, President of Shenkar College, hired me for four months to help improve the level of student engagement and satisfaction at the college. I didn’t get an office, a budget, a parking place, business cards, a phone, staff, nothing.

Well, almost nothing. I got two very important things. First, her blessing. The support of the President is critical in making change. And Yuli is held in highest regard across campus.

Secondy, I got all the cleaning materials I needed. A broom, various sponges, brushes, cleaning fluids. They were very generous in that regard.

At least I didn’t start with any ‘excess baggage’.

I tried to avoid some of the mistakes I had made at other previous institutions where I had held much more senior positions.

First, find your guerilla persona. Run with it.

Secondly, smile a lot. Smiling is free and it is a great catalyst for change and satisfaction.

Thirdly, don’t blame anyone. At academic institutions such as Shenkar, people tend to blame everyone else for everything.

Fourth, show that you care. Start at the bottom. Put your money where your mouth is (or in my case, elbows). Don’t just complain about the filth. Clean windows. Pick up cigarette butts.

Fifth, try to form coalitions and get groups involved rather than going it alone.

Sixth, try to give as much credit as you can without taking too much for yourself. If your boss knows you are doing well, little else matters.

Finally, do a lot of listening (difficult for a self-centered professor like myself). As Sir William Osler said, “If you listen to your patients, they will tell you what is wrong”.

First, find your guerilla persona. Run with it.

My persona was an eccentric professor, a ‘newcomer’ to the country who knows no Hebrew. I asked for help, and the students helped. Even when the help involved cleaning the campus.  I told them,

“Do things

Not because you have to,

Not because you should,

But because you can.”

This is how entrepreneurs succeed, and why shouldn’t all our students be successful?

A few weeks ago a student told me,

“You just don’t understand the reality here.”

I answered, “That’s the problem with me. I just don’t believe in reality.”

After all, reality is something you create, isn’t it?

Being a newcomer and talking in English helped me engage the students, create conversations, get to know them. Oh, and get them speaking English. Always a great advantage if you are one of those students who wants to get a good job after college.

My eccentric persona also involved playing music and singing. A lot. I would stand in the hallway playing my saxophone. Some of the students asked me to play more quietly. Others brought me to play in their classes.

It was disruptive, but I could always say. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know I couldn’t play here. I’m just a newcomer.”

Oh, and one last thing. I tried to be a ‘chevreman’. When I saw the student union having an activity, I joined in. I served beers and soup. I had fun, and met a lot of students that way. After all, I believe that professors are people and should let their hair down once in a while. If they have any.

Secondly, smile a lot. Smiling is free and it is a great catalyst for change and satisfaction.

Smiling is an important human trait. Even in academia.

When I smile at my three-month old grandson, he smiles back. A big fat huge, wet smile.

Humans love smiling. It’s in our DNA. We give smiles. We get smiles. We feel better. You should try it more often. It can bring about positive change in the blink of any eye.

So I smiled all the time. Even when things weren’t going so well (and occasionally they weren’t). I would smile at students and say something like “Hello Students! Welcome to Shenkar!”. And they would smile back and wish me a good day. Sometimes they would be the first to smile and greet me. That was special indeed. And sometimes they mocked me. But in a good way. That was fine too.

Thirdly, don’t blame anyone.

When I arrived, I asked the cleaning team why Shenkar wasn’t cleaner. They blamed the students. They told me to come see the mess at 5:30 in the morning. I did. There was indeed a huge mess.

So we decided that on Tuesdays the students would be in charge of the cleanliness of their classrooms. And on Wednesday morning the cleaning staff would clean the public spaces rather than the classrooms.

It’s still a work in progress, but the campus is definitely cleaner!

Fourth, show that you care. Start at the bottom. Put your money where your mouth is (or in my case, elbows). Don’t just complain about the filth. Clean windows. Pick up cigarette butts.

We did, we do, we will.

Fifth, try to form coalitions and get groups involved rather than going it alone.

Getting students involved was actually the easier part. Students helped me clean windows, pick up cigarette butts, paint benches. A few complained. But most took it in stride and smiled. I tried to enlist the support and cooperation of the students’ union. Mainly, I worked closely with the CEO of Shenkar, Dror Kaveh. His support was key in getting things done.

Sixth, try to give as much credit as you can without taking too much for yourself. If your boss knows you are doing well, little else matters.

Engendering change in an organization is mostly facilitating change. Empowering employees and students to come up with their own ideas and carry them out. When that happens, you’ve succeeded. And that’s the time to step back from the dias, and let them take all the credit. The change-makers in an organization are brave, maverick, and deserve all the support they can get.

Finally, love what you’re doing. 

Dubi Peleg, whom I worked closely with at HIT came to visit Shenkar to share his wisdom. He explained that love is a key factor in the health of an institute. If their is no affection, no joint responsibility, no caring for one another, students are minimalistic and teachers and staff are mediocre and cold.

This was the quirkiest, most challenging job I have ever had. How could I not love it and the people who helped make dreams come true?