Over the past several weeks, I have spent considerable time developing and publishing professional development workbooks through the Rosenboom Workforce Institute.
As the catalog continues to grow, I have found myself reflecting on what I hope these publications accomplish.
Certainly, I want them to become useful resources for higher education professionals and institutional leaders. I hope they find their way into departmental meetings, professional development programs, training sessions, and the offices of people looking for practical guidance.
But there is something more important behind this effort.
I do not believe that professional knowledge becomes valuable only when someone has all the answers.
And I certainly do not claim to have them all.
Experience Is Valuable, but It Is Never Complete
After more than 25 years working in higher education, I have encountered many situations that shaped my understanding of institutional operations, employee relationships, regulatory responsibilities, and leadership.
Some experiences reinforced practices that worked well. Others caused me to reconsider an approach, ask better questions, or recognize that a different perspective might have produced a better outcome.
And there are countless situations I have never encountered.
That is an important distinction.
When I develop a workbook about Financial Aid, Student Affairs, Human Resources, Academic Advising, Career Services, or another institutional function, I am not suggesting that I have personally performed every responsibility within that department.
Nor am I suggesting that the approach presented in a workbook is the only appropriate way to address a particular situation.
Instead, I am bringing together professional experience, organizational research, established principles, and realistic scenarios to encourage thoughtful consideration.
The value is not necessarily in having experienced the exact situation before. Sometimes the value comes from learning how to think through it.
Learning Should Be a Conversation
One of the ideas I want to emphasize throughout the workbook catalog is that learning should not be a one-directional activity.
I may present a situation and suggest an approach based on my experience and research.
A reader may recognize an alternative that works better in a different institutional environment.
Another reader may identify a consideration neither of us initially recognized.
That does not diminish the original discussion.
It strengthens it.
Too often, professional development is presented as though someone standing at the front of the room possesses the answers and everyone else is there to receive them.
I prefer a different approach.
Here is a situation worth examining.
Here are some questions we might ask.
Here is an approach that may be helpful.
What have you experienced? What would you do differently? What can we learn from one another?
To me, those questions are at the heart of meaningful professional development.
Why the Workbook Format Matters
I intentionally chose to develop workbooks rather than simply publish collections of observations or opinions.
Reading about leadership, employee engagement, institutional operations, or compliance can be valuable. But understanding a concept intellectually does not always mean we know how to apply it.
A practical scenario asks us to move beyond agreement or disagreement.
It asks us to consider the circumstances, identify what we know, recognize what information is missing, and think through the possible consequences of a decision.
Reflection exercises encourage readers to connect those discussions to their own institutional experiences.
Departmental activities create opportunities for employees to learn together.
Action plans help translate ideas into manageable steps.
Importantly, none of these activities requires readers to agree with every recommendation.
In fact, I hope they do not.
If a workbook causes someone to question an assumption, examine an existing process, or initiate a productive conversation with colleagues, it has already served a meaningful purpose.
The Connection Between Employee Engagement and Student Success
Much of my current publishing work builds upon my doctoral research examining job satisfaction, work engagement, and counterproductive work behavior among higher education employees.
That research strengthened my interest in the relationship between organizational conditions and employee experiences.
The Engaged Employees, Retained Students series extends that interest into different institutional departments.
Each volume examines a distinct area of higher education, but the larger question remains consistent:
How can institutions better support the employees responsible for supporting students?
A Financial Aid employee, an academic advisor, a Business Office professional, an IT specialist, and a Human Resources administrator perform very different responsibilities.
Yet all contribute to the environment students experience.
The objective is not to pretend that every department operates identically. It is to recognize that departments are interconnected and that employee experiences deserve thoughtful attention throughout the institution.
Supporting employees does not automatically guarantee improved retention. Student outcomes are influenced by numerous factors, many of which extend beyond institutional control.
But creating conditions where employees have appropriate resources, clear responsibilities, effective leadership, and opportunities for professional growth is a worthwhile institutional priority in its own right.
A Growing Library, Not a Collection of Final Answers
As the Rosenboom Workforce Institute catalog expands, I increasingly see these publications as a professional learning library.
Some workbooks address specific Title IV financial aid responsibilities. Others examine communication, trust, leadership, employee engagement, or individual higher education departments.
Each can be used independently.
Collectively, however, they offer opportunities to examine common institutional challenges from different perspectives.
My hope is that these resources will remain useful beyond a single reading.
A department director might return to a case during a difficult conversation. A supervisor might use an exercise to facilitate a staff meeting. A newly appointed administrator might discover questions worth asking before changing an established process.
And a seasoned professional might disagree with a model response and develop a stronger alternative.
I would consider that a positive outcome.
There is an important distinction between operational flexibility and regulatory compliance. Institutions must follow applicable laws, regulations, and binding requirements. Those are not matters of personal preference.
But within those boundaries, there is often considerable room to examine how work is organized, how employees communicate, and how institutions can improve.
What I Hope Readers Take Away
If there is one principle I hope readers recognize throughout this growing collection, it is that professional development does not require the assumption that something is wrong.
Sometimes the greatest opportunity is to examine what is already working and determine how those strengths might be expanded.
Sometimes it is recognizing that a colleague has discovered a better approach.
Sometimes it is acknowledging that an established practice deserves reconsideration.
And sometimes it is simply having a thoughtful discussion that would not otherwise have taken place.
I am continuing to learn as I develop these workbooks, just as I hope readers will continue learning while using them.
That is why I welcome different perspectives, constructive feedback, and examples from professionals whose experiences differ from mine.
I do not have all the answers. I have not encountered every situation. And I do not believe that either is necessary to contribute meaningfully to professional learning.
What matters is a willingness to share what we know, acknowledge what we do not know, and remain open to what others can teach us.
That is the spirit in which I am building the Rosenboom Workforce Institute workbook catalog.
Not as the final word on how institutions should operate.
But as an invitation to keep learning, thinking, discussing, and improving—together.
Dr. Matthew Rosenboom is the founder of the Rosenboom Workforce Institute, a higher education administrator, researcher, and author with more than 25 years of professional experience.
Explore the growing workbook catalog and professional development resources at rosenboomtaxandadvisory.net.