St. Clair County Community College

BE THE COOLEST OFFICE ON CAMPUS!

Located in downtown Port Huron, one mile from the Blue Water Bridge, which connects to Sarnia, Ontario

Second oldest CC in the state – 91 years young!Student population around 4,200

BACKGROUND

Not the fanciest location on campus – offi ce space was converted from a former automotive bay.

THE ONE-STOP OFFICE

The view from Sue’s office

The view from Carrie’s office

The ceiling of the One-stop

OUR TEAM NOW

2004:“One-stop” office created – Enrollment Services and

Financial Aid move in together in same office space, but keep to their own silos. FA’s phone won’t stop ringing? Not ES’s problem!

Advising located across the hall, but does not allow ES/FA to help schedule appointments, very little collaboration.

2010:Carrie is named Interim Registrar – gets hair-brained idea to cross-train EVERYONE in ES/FA and talks the Director of Financial Assistance and Services in to helping her. Cue the tears!

THINGS WEREN’T ALWAYS THIS WAY…

Desperation, my friends!2010 saw SC4’s highest ever student enrollment of 5,100 students

Staffing was not increasedMorale was low – everyone recognized the issues but felt powerless to change the way things were done

WHY DID WE CROSS-TRAIN?

Faith in our team’s abilities lead to great things Cross-training is on-going

Additions include a Call Center, scheduling of Advising appointments, Student ID functionality

Team’s capacity is amazing Ideas are fantastic – offi ce functionality improvements Culture of a “fun” offi ce has evolved

THE YEARS SINCE

It has taken time, but the One-stop team has definitely taken to making their ideas happen. An example of their handiwork: The ficus tree that hides a particularly sad corner of our

offi ce is always decorated with something…as is the rest of the offi ce!

IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS

NO ONE LOVES TO DRESS UP MORE THAN THE ONE-STOP TEAM!

FOOD IS GOOD FOR MORALE!

Small activities that seem inconsequential by themselves add up to really great things:

WHEN YOU ADD IT ALL UP…

Encourage everyone to participate in idea generation for “offi ce good times”

There’s always someone on the team who loves to organize activities – make that person your offi ce’s party planner

Don’t force everyone to take part in every activity – some will participate in everything, others only a few

Find something small and a little silly to award to team members who do something good (e.g. star-shaped Post-It notes)

Brag about your team’s antics with other offi ces on campus – they WILL be curious and will come over to check out your offi ce (our offi ce is crazy-famous on campus for having food all of the time – many other offi ces are jealous!)

POINTERS FOR HAVING FUN WITH YOUR TEAM

Do you purchase Administrative Professionals Day and/or Christmas gifts for your team members? Consider purchasing something that they will use a lot (especially when you tell them they can wear jeans any time they wear the shirt)!

SOMETHING A LITTLE EXTRA

Carrie Bearss, Registrar(810) 989-5501cbearss@sc4.edu

Sue TenBrink, Assistant Registrar(810) 989-5768stenbrink@sc4.edu

FEEL FREE TO CONTACT US!