Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/233379
SUCCESS IN FUTURE TENSE Steef van de Velde Dean and Professor of Management and Technology Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus University The Netherlands F our years ago, we wanted to position RSM to stand out in the market, so our communications department developed an initiative called "I WILL," which started out as a marketing campaign but evolved into a movement. In October 2009, we asked students, alumni, and faculty to write goal-setting statements, which we integrated into our communications. Statements ranged from "I WILL become a successful manager" to "I WILL create 1 million jobs for women in rural India." The concept expanded dramatically after Michaéla Schippers, associate professor in leadership and management, read the work of Dominique Morisano and colleagues, which shows how an online goal-setting intervention can improve students' academic performance. At Schippers' suggestion, we integrated goal-setting into our curriculum and linked it to our I WILL initiative. In 2011, we began administering an online goal-setting exercise to all incoming undergraduates. First, we ask students about their long-term goals: What do they want to achieve? What futures do they want to avoid? Two days later, we ask them to prioritize their goals and create plans to achieve them. Finally, they write personal I WILL statements. I WILL was controversial at first, because faculty viewed the word "I" as egocentric. The cultural mindset in the Netherlands is collaborative, so faculty felt we should emphasize "We" instead. To earn their buy-in, we formed an "I WILL embassy" of about 15 students, faculty, staff, and alumni who acted as ambassadors for the concept. Once faculty saw how goal-setting and I WILL statements were related to better student performance, they began to support the idea. Today, the communications department takes a professional black-and-white picture of each student with his or her I WILL statement—quite an undertaking, given the nearly 1,300 students in our firstyear bachelor's program and more than 200 students in our postexperience MBA. We've taken more than 7,000 pictures so far, hanging poster-sized versions of the images in our corridors. At graduation, we show students' I WILL statements on a screen as they cross the stage, closing the loop on the goals they set when they first came to campus. We also established an I WILL award to recognize promising ideas—winners receive €15,000 (about US$20,000) to move their ideas forward. Two 2012 MBA graduates won most recently with their business plan for CroMiDo, a platform that allows users to make microdonations through their mobile phones to individuals in emerging markets. The plan was inspired by their statement "I WILL help people to help people." I WILL has benefited the school in ways we never expected. For instance, Dutch universities are legally required to adopt a broad admissions policy, which can result in high dropout rates. According to data gathered by Schippers, the retention rate for students who participate in our goal-setting and I WILL exercises has increased by 25.6 percent. In the last two years, we've seen the highest performing cohorts in the school's history. Through I WILL's success, I've learned that sometimes we must step back and rely on the passions of the students, faculty, and staff. They can make an idea flourish. For more about I WILL, visit iwill.rsm.nl or www.facebook.com/ iwillrsm/photos_stream. Van de Velde's next priority is to reduce RSM's dependency on state funding by developing new programs. He also wants to strengthen relationships with senior s business executives, b alumni, and corpoa rate networks. r L Left: One student's I WILL photo. B Below: I WILL posters i in the halls of RSM. BizEd January/February 2014 19