A lesson in dealing with poor performance

Do we all know what it’s like to, on occasion, perform to a level that is less than our best?

It happens to all of us: a business might experience a sales slump; a sports team may fall short of winning a trophy; a political party could suffer electoral disappointment. And with poor performance come difficult questions, making the need for a media strategy around such an occurrence a must-have.

Business schools are not immune to poor performance. No, with an intense focus on rankings (an overwhelming number of institutions live and die by how they rank against their competitors), for programmes and institutions as a whole, the likelihood of a business school underperforming at some stage is heightened. So, when things don’t go their way, rankings-wise, knowing the correct way to respond is imperative.

Here are four steps that business schools can take to respond to poor rankings performances:

1. Highlight improvements
2. Communicate specialities and other selling features
3. Leverage partnerships and initiatives
4. Promote successful industry (re-)accreditation

Highlight improvements

Your institution may have underperformed in the latest FT, Poets&Quants or QS ranking, but that’s no reason not to acknowledge and celebrate improvement where discernible.

In fact, identifying and highlighting the silver lining in an otherwise disappointing result is essential when responding to poor performance.

Each ranking is based upon how your institution scores across an array of categories – in finding that silver lining, you need to identify which categories your institution ranked or scored well in.

Rankings are valuable to prospective applicants as they serve as indicators of a school’s quality. But, while overall results are, of course, important, there will be key categories that matter more than others to applicants.

So highlighting improvements, even if only in certain specific categories, is a really valuable first step.

Communicate specialities and other selling features

As mentioned, rankings are used by many as an indicator of an institution’s quality. For some, then, a school’s value is inextricably linked to how it features across major rankings.

This perspective, however, in this writer’s opinion, does not truly capture an institution’s worth to prospective applicants. No, just as important as rankings, other aspects of a school’s offering should be considered when applicants choose where to study, such as an institution’s value for money, its EDI-related performance, or its focus on key subjects such as Data Analytics and Sustainable Business.

As such, in response to an underwhelming ranking result, your school must double-down on communication efforts that highlight what makes it special.

Press releases, student success stories and other materials that bring home the value of your institution to applicants are important all year round – but perhaps never more so than in weeks following a poor ranking performance.

Leverage partnerships and initiatives

Highlighting new (or even renewed) partnerships with other organisations within and beyond the Biz-Ed market, new programmes or other impressive initiatives are all great ways to boost your school’s credibility in the wake of poor performance.

Partnerships serve as endorsements of the value of your school’s offering. New initiatives, meanwhile, not only bolster your institution’s media footprint, but also demonstrate its commitment to constant improvement – an important message off the back of underperformance.

Which brings me to my final point…

Promote successful industry (re-)accreditation

Much like partnerships within and beyond the Biz-Ed market, industry accreditation is an excellent endorsement of the quality of your institution, building trust and confidence. Accreditation with a major industry body, such as the AACSB, or EQUIS, is, broadly, key to the maintenance of your school’s reputation.

Announcements highlighting your business school’s accredited status, as well as any partnerships with credible bodies within market and beyond, in the days or weeks following disappointing rankings news will serve to reassure onlookers of the quality of your school and the value of its offering.

--

No business school wants to underperform in rankings – but every institution needs a communications plan for when it happens. In a market somewhat obsessed with rankings of some variety (rarely does a month go by without some kind of ranking being published), it’s key that a business school knows how to make the most of any successes, and respond effectively when things don’t go so well. It comes down to those four key steps: highlighting areas of improvement; communicate specialities and your school’s other key selling features; leverage institutional and programme-specific partnerships; and promoting successful (re-)accreditation efforts.

When things go wrong, ranking-wise, effective messaging that reaffirms to stakeholders the quality of your institution and your programmes is vital. Get it right.

For communications support around your school’s rankings performances, contact BlueSky Education today.

Author: Jonny Stone

Jonny delivers impactful PR results using an evolving network of essential media contacts, from national newspapers like Forbes, The Guardian, the Financial Times and The Telegraph, to specific trade editors such as PIE News, QS Top Universities, We Are The City and University World News. He is committed to helping more ambitious institutions reach international media goals.