Breaking Silos from a Business School

About the Episode:

On this episode of Breaking Silos, I sat down with Josh Charles, Director of Web Strategy and Technology at Rutgers Business School and Vice President of the Board of Directors for HighEdWeb. Josh and I discussed life in the silo and what working at the College of School level at a major, R1 University, is like. Josh gives tips on collaboration, forming relationships across a large, complex ecosystem, and how marketers are in non-central roles. We also talked about breaking silos within the specific School or College you work in and how forming relationships within your area can further your work. 

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Key Takeaways:

• Focus on Shared Goals: Build relationships across departments by focusing on common goals like enrollment and branding, rather than just the individuals or departments involved.
• Personalize Marketing: Understand your audience’s journey and personalize your outreach to create impactful marketing strategies, especially when multiple schools within an institution may be targeting the same audience.
• Collaboration is Key: Take time to genuinely understand colleagues’ roles and responsibilities across the institution, and establish connections before you need help.
• Leverage External Networks: Engage with the broader higher education community outside your institution to gain new perspectives and insights.
• Centralized vs. Non-Centralized Roles: Both roles can add value, but it's important to understand your career goals and where you want to grow.

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Episode Summary

Navigating the Complexities of a Large Institution

Josh Charles opens by discussing the complexity of working within a large institution like Rutgers University, which serves over 70,000 students across multiple campuses. Rutgers Business School alone has 10,000 students, creating unique challenges and expectations. One of the most notable hurdles is competing against other prestigious schools in the area, such as UPenn and NYU, while also navigating internal competition between the two business schools within Rutgers itself.

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Building Relationships Across Silos

Josh emphasizes the importance of fostering relationships across different departments and schools. He shares practical strategies such as meeting colleagues for informal conversations over coffee, sharing professional development resources, and organizing knowledge-sharing events like webinars. By taking the time to get to know colleagues on a personal level, he’s able to build a foundation of trust that makes future collaborations smoother and more effective.

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Collaborating Within the Business School

Within Rutgers Business School, Josh’s team actively works to break down silos by creating a culture of open communication. He highlights the importance of structured discussions around marketing processes, where team members openly share their work and identify areas for improvement. By focusing on process rather than just projects, the team is able to streamline workflows and collaborate more effectively.

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Fostering Collaboration Beyond the Business School

Josh also touches on the value of strategically building partnerships with key departments, such as admissions and IT, to improve enrollment marketing efforts. By bringing the right stakeholders together and focusing on enrollment goals rather than departmental silos, Rutgers Business School is better equipped to meet its ambitious enrollment and branding objectives.

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Learning from External Communities

One of Josh’s key pieces of advice is to engage with higher education professionals outside of your institution. Whether through conferences, webinars, or networking on platforms like LinkedIn, Josh encourages marketing and communications professionals to seek out external perspectives and learn from others facing similar challenges. This helps prevent the feeling of isolation in non-centralized roles and provides valuable insights for driving innovation within your own institution.

If you’re looking to break down silos and improve collaboration within your own institution, Josh Charles offers a wealth of actionable insights. From building personal connections to leveraging external networks, this episode highlights the importance of strategic relationship-building in higher education marketing.

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About the Show:  We hear it every day across campuses: “We need to be working more collaboratively.” The higher education industry is notoriously siloed, with colleagues struggling to connect, duplicating services or having disjointed messaging.

Breaking Silos aims to showcase the remarkable work of marketing professionals and their non-marketing colleagues from different departments across campus, who come together to achieve common goals, implement new initiatives, enhance the student experience, and foster better collaboration among teams.

Each episode features a marketer and their non-marketing colleague to talk about their partnership. This unique format will inspire marketers to try new things and connect with colleagues in new ways, while also allowing non-marketing professionals an inside look at some of the most collaborative projects in higher education marketing.

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Connect With Our Host:
Shane Baglini

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About The Enrollify Podcast Network: Breaking Silos is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you’ll like other Enrollify shows too!  

Some of our favorites include Visionary Voices: The College President’s Playbook and The Application with Allison Turcio.

Enrollify is produced by Element451 — the next-generation AI student engagement platform helping institutions create meaningful and personalized interactions with students. Learn more at element451.com.

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Element451 is hosting the AI Engage Summit on Oct 29 and 30. Register now for this free, virtual event.The future of higher ed is being redefined by the transformative power of AI. The AI Engage Summit brings together higher ed leaders,  innovators, and many of your favorite Enrollify creators to explore AI’s impact on student engagement, enrollment marketing, and institutional success.

Experience firsthand how AI is improving content personalization at scale, impacting strategic decision-making, and intuitively automating the mundane tasks that consume our time. The schedule is packed with real examples and case studies, so you leave knowing how to harness AI to drive meaningful change at your institution.

Whether you’re looking to enhance student outcomes, optimize enrollment marketing, or simply stay ahead of the curve, the AI Engage Summit is your gateway to the next level of higher education innovation. Registration is free, save your spot today.