Members of today's workforce all have customers to assist and serve in some way, shape, or form. Supervisors, government regulators, the public, and others to which employees are ultimately accountable can all be considered customers. How do faculty, staff, and students within higher education fit into this? For those outside higher education circles, it may be surprising to discover a debate has long raged about whether higher education is a service or a public good. The debate on this point between students and educators is not a new one. Do tuition-paying students (customers) have license to behave as they want?

A simplified example illustrates this point. A student walks into class late without a proper excusal. In a service-oriented model, the teacher likely allows it with no questions asked. In a public good model, one in which students should be receiving real world preparation, repercussions would result. The service-versus-good clash is not belabored in this article because a plethora of published material has exhausted the discussion.

The Customer Kindness Deficit

This article focuses on customer experience related behaviors, contending kindness must rank foremost for both educators and students. Improving customer experience is imperative to organizational and societal success, and there are few strategic leadership goals more important than making kindness part of this discussion. Too many problems in workplaces and classrooms, all driving exorbitant amounts of wasted resources, stem from a kindness deficit (just ask the HR department). Both educators and students share a role in this matter and both are each other's customers.

In what has become a societal desert for excellence in customer experience, kindness would be a welcome element in the halls of higher education, essential for both educators and students. Many articles exist about kindness in the classroom, but less prevalent is the necessity of teaching kindness at the collegiate level. Perhaps it is believed participants in higher education should enter the game already knowing how to be kind, but something is clearly missing. Stories of classroom rudeness and campus violence are easily found in the media. Certainly, these are not new problems, but incidents are increasingly spotlighted. Basic kindness has gone the way of the dodo in this eye-contact-avoiding era of mobile devices. A kindness deficit is at the root of the problem and the issue must be addressed for the broader good. One blog, "Embracing A Pedagogy Of Kindness: Transforming Higher Education for Student Success," informs the dialogue about potential solutions, "...kindness in pedagogy isn't about surface-level pleasantries..." The post references several "Strategies for Implementing Kindness," such as giving students a voice with respect to their own grades and recommends, "Simple acts of acknowledgment, such as turning away from your computer to greet a student." While insightful, the student-centric blog, and others like it, could go farther by reversing expectations onto students as well, acknowledging they too have a role in the kindness equation.

Kindness as Part of the Curriculum

It must not be taken for granted everyone commences adulthood with proper preparation when it comes to crucial aspects of interpersonal communications. Many organizations nationwide are raising the bar by comprehensively instituting the practice of kindness in their operations. Scholarly studies have been produced about the benefits of kindness. More broadly and with stronger intent, the academic world should make kindness part of the curriculum for students' real-world preparation. Schools across the country tout their commitment to public affairs, reportedly serving as agents of positive, societal change, but how often does training in basic human kindness enter these lines of effort?

History is rich with precedence that educators could integrate into such training. Richard Brookhiser stated George Washington knew well that "when it's not necessary to speak, it's necessary not to speak." How wise! In other words, interpersonal communications must be checked to keep a lid on unfortunate incidents of disrespect. Or consider Fred (Mister) Rogers's wisdom, which also resonates for both students and educators, "There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind." Indeed, the examples are plentiful.

While so many training programs are available, higher education does not have to go that far or spend great sums of money. Educators can apply kindness training in small doses during the course of their standard pedagogy, remembering the power of setting a good example. Of course, some educators might require refinement training, as well. In short, higher education might be the last resort for poorly-equipped students before repercussions are later realized in the workforce to the detriment of others. It cannot be overstated that higher education must step up to this noble obligation.

Fred Lee once posited two important points relative to healthcare, but applicable to all organizations and disciplines: "...patients judge their experience by the way they are treated as a person, not by the way they are treated for their disease," and, "...it's doubtful that higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty can be achieved in any hospital that does not change its priorities by making courtesy more important than efficiency." Return now to the opening statement of this article that everyone in the workforce has customers to serve at some level.

For educators, it is obvious students are the primary customer. Students, in contrast, should realize early-on their debt to higher education, preparing them for the eventuality of being on the other side of the customer experience exchange. Again, both parties have a role and should take action accordingly. Furthermore, attaining institutional success, to include outstanding employee and student satisfaction, as well as reducing wasted resources, requires the elevation of kindness to not just a higher priority, but an expected priority. There are countless ways to implement kindness training and local entities are the best authorities for determining how to make it work within their unique institutional cultures. At day's end, when aspirations for kindness are achieved, everyone wins.

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