Smart Inclusion™ – The New Normal for Capital Improvements

Under ConstructionCommercial buildings account for 35 percent of US and 40 percent of global electric consumption. They eat up 30 percent of companies’ operating budgets and account for nearly 20 percent of worldwide carbon emissions, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

By integrating smart energy and water management practices, public sector institutions can improve operational outcomes as well as environmental outcomes. Adopting advanced conservation technology such as motion sensing shower heads and smart lighting can yield substantial cost savings. Equally important within public interest sectors is targeting strategic communications that incentivizes stakeholders to modify behavior in ways that lead to reduced energy and water consumption. This will only occur when a stakeholder benefit resonates in a manner that is measurable and personal. Messaging that public interest institutions can convey include:

  • Healthcare institutions must strategically communicate to stakeholders that their smart energy management initiatives help to improve public health and wellness by reducing carbon pollutants into the atmosphere.
  • Colleges and universities can communicate to its student population that their conservation habits can result in lower operating costs that can help to control tuition costs.
  • Governments and municipal utilities have to integrate smart energy and water management into the 21st century citizen engagement paradigm.

Austerity measures and global competitiveness are now forcing local institutions to expand their brand reach in order to survive. Healthcare systems are marketing newly constructed cancer centers to attract potential patients from the Middle East. Public colleges and universities that historically have recruited from within the state now market new research centers and business incubators to attract new students from China. Municipal utilities are investing in broadband technology infrastructure in order to attract new investment from international technology conglomerates. In order to align innovative messaging with transformational change, Visibility Marketing Inc. rolled out Smart Inclusion™. Smart Inclusion™ facilitates delivering strategic messaging across barriers that used to be avoided or ignored.

Smart Inclusion™ among colleges and universities, healthcare systems, and government entities is ultimately about embracing the fact that constant change and paradigm shifts within these sectors require innovative models of cross-sector collaboration. Major construction projects must have an identity that connects to a much wider array of stakeholders than ever before. Strategic communication that integrates Smart Inclusion™ is not merely a model of inclusion, it is model of institutional sustainability.

Smart Inclusion™ – The New Higher Education Imperative

Young GraduatesLast month Todd Q. Adams, our chief of sustainability and innovation, was invited to speak to African-American male students at Lakeland Community College in Ohio. Lakeland launched Pathfinders a few years ago as a program designed to attract and retain African-American male students. To their credit, the college realizes that admission does not necessarily equate to inclusiveness. Fostering a deliberate welcoming environment is what yields positive returns for Lakeland.

Kent State University in Ohio touts that the 690 African-American, Latino, and Native American students represents a 3.3 percent enrollment increase from last year. The 2,668 international students from 103 countries represents a 9.03 percent increase from last year. Although these numbers are somewhat modest relative to the 41,000 Kent students, Kent State University is clearly establishing the framework for innovative models of diversity and inclusion. In order to deliver stakeholder engagement solutions that align with such transformational change, Visibility Marketing, Inc. rolled out Smart Inclusion™.

Smart Inclusion™ on college campuses is about integrating all students into the university ecosystem in ways that are meaningful to them as well as the university at large. Sustainability will require new success metrics that measure cross-cultural business collaboration, student-run business startups, and inclusive models measuring student life satisfaction. International student attraction and retention strategies now require targeted campaigns that are culturally relevant. According to a March, 2014 Pew Research Center study, women are also enrolling in college at a rate greater than men across almost every racial and ethnic group.

The successful institutions will be able to effectively manage the intersection of this dynamic diversity. Lakeland and Kent State University understand that “checking the box” to tally diversity does not work anymore. A June, 2014 Brookings Institution study also revealed that Millennials (those born between early 1980’s and early 2000’s) also value social responsibility and personal satisfaction more than prior generations. Traditional models of stakeholder engagement and student outreach no longer apply. Smart Inclusion™ in higher education is not merely a model of inclusion, it is model of institutional sustainability.