A Change in Our Business Strategy

Author: Kathleen Almy

I want to share with you some changes I’m making to Almy Education. If you’ve been following us along our journey, you know that this isn’t the first time we’ve made adjustments. Welcome to the world of business! In an industry that is constantly growing, change is inevitable. To me, if you’re not changing with it, you’re missing out on great opportunities to improve. 

In this post, I talk about some of the changes we’re making, why we’re making them, and how they will affect you.

Niching it down

When I first started Almy Education, I cast a pretty wide net. Our slogan, “We help people solve their math problems,” will always remain true. But recently, we’ve been asking ourselves, “What math problems are we solving?” and “Who are we helping?” The longer I’m in business, the more I see that we need to niche it down. By doing so, we’ve determined what our greatest skillset is and who is best served by it. 

By asking ourselves questions like these, we’re developing as a company. We’re not trying to excel at everything, and we’re not trying to pretend we’re something we’re not. Instead, we’re focusing on what we know inside and out, what we have experience in, and what we’ve seen work in colleges, classrooms, and universities. 

Getting real with faculty

At the beginning of the year, I announced that I was going all in on redesign. If you wondered why, it’s not because it’s the trendy thing to do. First, my company and I know it very well. Second, if it’s done well, it’s one of the biggest things that can impact racial inequity, which is very important to my team and me. When it comes to improving existing equity gaps, we know that developmental education plays a significant role. And as a previous administrator and current faculty member myself, I’ve witnessed that one of the most critical components of a successful redesign is faculty buy-in. With that said, I’m going to be extremely candid with you. In this space, you’ll come across numerous companies and organizations that say they value faculty engagement, commitment, and buy-in. But the truth is, not many of these companies follow through with this promise.

At Almy Education, we practice what we preach. So, when we say we’re fully invested, we mean it. We’re for faculty by faculty, and what we excel in is our ability to secure faculty buy-in that results in successful redesigns.

Do you have a plan?

Have you ever tried to do something haphazardly? I’m sure that whatever it was, it didn’t end too well. The same goes with redesign. It’s not just enough to try different initiatives, which many colleges are currently doing. You can try all the initiatives you want, but it doesn’t mean anything unless you’re moving the needle and producing marked changes.

To do this, you need to work with those faculty members (that you just secured with buy-in) to create a comprehensive plan they can live with and stand by. Some people may say that faculty don’t have to live with it. To that, I say if you want it to live on, last, and work, you need the faculty to be on board. At Almy Education, we not only recognize that, but we know how to make it happen. 

Now, do I think I can make that happen with every college and university in the US? Absolutely not, nor would I want to. There are types of colleges and universities that we’re strong with and have had successful partnerships with as clients. Those are the kinds of colleges and universities we want to work with because we know real change is attainable.

Is the classroom changing?

Since I founded Almy Education, it has grown quite a bit. We have lots of different internal employees and contractors that work on the business side of things, and then we have others that contract for us. It’s pretty amazing! 

Everyone who knows me (and my process) knows that I go all in. In addition to building my business, we started a membership that helps math and science teachers from various grade levels improve their classrooms. We’ve done a lot with it, which you’ll be hearing more about shortly. 

Remember when I said my goal was to reduce equity gaps, making things better for students? 

One part of redesign that’s often forgotten about is what actually happens in the classroom. Not everyone will agree with me, but I believe that real change doesn’t occur in a college or university board room. The reality is that it happens in a classroom. If we want change to happen, it must be happening day-to-day in what students experience and how teachers are working with students. 

With teachers being overwhelmed, not only during the pandemic but on a regular basis, we asked ourselves, “How do we align?” Then, it dawned on us. Redesigns are our specialty. Why not do a redesign on our entire business as a whole? What we found was that we were trying to do too much. So, we decided to realign and get all of our structures working in the same direction. One of those items is adjusting our membership. Soon, you’ll hear about a new name and a new way we’re offering it. 

To make redesigns work, you have to have the structures in place and faculty on board. But it doesn’t stop there. Once faculty are on board, schools should provide them with the support they need to teach students, such as ongoing professional development, access to great resources, and an open community of peers to talk to. We all help each other. I always say that, and I believe that a community of professionals is incredibly powerful. And, I’d like to tap into that.  This is where the changes to our membership will come in. 

Our new focus on data and evaluation 

“How do we know the redesign is working?” and “What are we doing with the data?” are two questions we’re often asked. One of the last pieces we’re working on is how we’re looking at what’s working in redesigns and what’s not. This is where data comes in. 

But here’s the thing. My background is not in data collection. I’m a practitioner and teacher by nature. I do, however, know people who are outstanding at data collection and evaluation. When something comes up that’s not in my area of expertise, I find experts to provide the support our clients need.

Something you’re going to see moving forward is that we’re going to actively help schools evaluate and use data to their advantage productively and sustainably. It’ll help close that loop in the plan, get people on board, and provide ongoing support. Then, if something isn’t working, we can adjust the plan, lather, rinse, repeat, and make changes for our students to have a great experience.

We have lots more to come shortly, so stay tuned. If you’d like to talk further about this or have any questions, shoot me an email or send me a LinkedIn message. We’re revamping our website, emails, etc., to communicate everything clearly and effectively, but if you can’t wait, reach out to us.

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