Exit strategy
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Last month I blogged about the importance of first impressions.nIn other words, what do visitors see and hear when they first walk intonyour school organization? Is that experience positive or negative? Thisnmonth’s post will be on exit strategy.
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No, I don’t mean your own personal strategy for getting out!nInstead, I mean what are visitors’ experiences when they leave yournorganization? Do they see some interesting, motivating, or upbeatnmessage as they walk out of the building? Do they seencharts of significant progress the school is making? Are there picturesnof students doing interesting work? Does someone say something nice tonthem as they leave? Are they leaving their visit with a positive tastenin their mouth?
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Like first impressions, what visitors see and hear as they leavenyour building can have big impacts on their overall feelings andnbeliefs about your organization. Leaders should strive to have everynvisitor walk away with a positive impression of the organization. Ifnthat’s not possible, perhaps due to a difficult conversation that justnoccurred inside, leaders should at least do everything they can tonminimize the negative feelings with which visitors leave. No one wantsnvisitors to leave unhappy, ready to spread the bad news about yournorganization to others.
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As leaders, I encourage you to take a critical, objective look atnyour school’s entry and exit experiences. Ask yourself, ‘As a visitor,nwhat do I see and hear when I enter and leave this place? How am Intreated during my time in this building?’ Get others to do this too –nthey’ll have different thoughts and impressions than you will.nBrainstorm ways to make outsiders’ visits more positive andnhospitable – you’ll probably find many low or no cost ways of improvingnthose experiences.
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Oh, and did I mention that whatever you come up with also should help the general vibe of your students and staff too?
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Y’all come back now, hear?
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