Lone Star College (LSC) Organizational Development (OD) designs various learning programs to support and develop employees, which leads to an increase in student success. This work earned the college a FranklinCovey Higher Education Client Award in fall 2024.
“The Lone Star College Organizational Development Department helps support the college’s mission of offering tailored and transformational educational opportunities, programs and resources to enrich lives,” said Jessica Granger, director, LSC Organizational Development. “Receiving the FranklinCovey award shows that our professional development programs help our faculty and staff, provide resources to improve our classrooms and expand our reach to all internal and external stakeholders.”
FranklinCovey is an industry leader that helps employees at various institutions become more effective and better engaged at home and work. LSC OD subscribed to FranklinCovey’s All Access Pass Platform® in 2021 to purchase 100 seats annually for employees wanting to take professional development seminars, workshops, classes and other programs. While there was interest, the department noticed several challenges: the platform was overwhelming, registrants weren’t taking full advantage of the opportunities and the college was losing money and resources.
“The All Access Pass Platform® is a valuable tool that allows Lone Star College access to FranklinCovey’s popular courses, including ‘The 7 Habits,’ but we found that we were not using it to our maximum potential,” said Marc Fontaine, manager, LSC Learning and Development. “The college was paying a lot for empty seats and the return on investment (ROI) was not there.”
LSC Organizational Development addressed those concerns by creating an All Access Pass Platform® Cohort in fall 2023. Demonstrating an interest in this type of professional development, 50 college employees registered with another 24 joining the waitlist nearly 90 minutes after the department sent the email invitation. LSC OD encouraged those selected to spend six hours exploring the platform and attend two in-person classes while saving seats for others outside the cohort to engage in professional development. The tailor-made program led to an 86 percent success rate in its first year, landing the college on FranklinCovey’s immediate radar.
“The engagements in the All Access Pass Platform® Cohort started to tick up. FranklinCovey noticed, was impressed and asked the college to present our program and results at the annual Higher Education Leadership Summit in November,” said Fontaine. “Earning the FranklinCovey Higher Education Client Award proves Lone Star College System is a world-class institution with first-rate faculty and staff whose constant personal and professional growth leads to success in their classrooms and communities.”
Lone Star College Organizational Development’s presentation at the FranklinCovey Higher Education Leadership Summit showed how the cohort increased engagement numbers from two or three per person to an average of 50 per participant, with some completing over 100 activities. The increase is attributed to members navigating the platform to find course resources and exploring suggested opportunities based on their interests.
“I signed up for the All Access Pass Platform® Cohort because I wanted to develop my leadership skills and gain new tools that will help me inspire meaningful change within the Lone Star College community,” said Deanna Luce, LSC-Montgomery business manager, Property Services. “This cohort strengthened my ability to lead with empathy, showed me to act intentionally rather than reactively and aligned my efforts toward shared goals. I gained valuable insight into prioritization and team empowerment, which have driven individual and collective success.”
Lone Star College Organizational Development offers programming that connects employees, strategies and processes to strengthen the college’s culture. Programs include leadership development, creative and strategic initiatives and employee appreciation and educational support. Learn more at LoneStar.edu/OrganizationalDevelopment.
Lone Star College System enrolls over 90,000 students each semester providing high-quality, low-cost academic transfer and career training education. LSCS is training tomorrow’s workforce today and redefining the community college experience to support student success. Mario K. Castillo, J.D., serves as Chancellor of LSCS, the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area and has been named a 2024 Great Colleges to Work For® institution by the Chronicle of Higher Education. LSCS consists of eight colleges, seven centers, eight Workforce Centers of Excellence and Lone Star Corporate College. To learn more, visit LoneStar.edu.