“Maintain your leadership integrity”

Mid America College of Funeral Services, according to its president, Mitch Mitchell, collaborates with the accrediting body, states, and funeral industry to train, educate, and develop new funeral directors. Mitch joined Mid America in 2016 to teach students and educate the funeral service business. The most important thing is to have an impact on funeral service education and watch the student grow from a new student to a graduate walking across the stage at the ceremony.

Mitch has almost three decades of experience working in higher education and holds a Ph.D and enjoys sharing his knowledge greatly. Frank Harshaw exposed him to the unit president's perspective, and Dr. Gail Browning's Emergenetics Profile, which enables professors and students to communicate more successfully in the classroom, has also had an impact on Mitch which he researched it for his dissertation as well. Another important person who gave him the tools to succeed in Higher Education was AR Sullivan. The most important person, Dr. Steve Coppock, provided insight into what makes a great leader. He believes that everyone has inherent worth and dignity, as well as the capacity to inspire others to greatness through servant leadership.

Mitch may use a variety of communication channels, including in-person, email, virtual meetings, and telephone.According to him, the most effective means of ensuring that communication is taking place are the outcomes of the discussion and the ability to set expectations and move them in a positive direction in order to advance a company. He says that everyone may advance in the same direction if feedback is provided. The majority of the time, a problem that arises is not due to disagreements but rather to a lack of communication. In most organizations, everyone wants the same thing; the most difficult thing is to explain is how to get there.

As a leader, it is also essential that he understands the issue, researches the contributing components, identifies several remedies, weighs the pros and cons, plans for all risks, anticipates organizational setbacks, and is adaptable on the move. Later comes the decision-making, and Mitch believes that the ideal decision is one that benefits the organization as a whole. Besides, he improves over time and thanks to his military background, research skills, decision-making acumen, and servant leadership approach. He gets better every day because he can change his leadership style to fit the situation. He has a strong work ethic and is willing to work with others.

Mitch expects a lot from his Associates, but he doesn't micromanage unless it's a new project. All have the potential to help the company flourish. He wants them to stay in their lane and understand how other teams affect them. Their departmental expertise is intended to assist the organization. All know the high standard and that they are responsible for their actions. He believes the organization's greatest strength is the problem-solving abilities of its staff and faculty.

One of Mitch's employees once said that he "acts like his name is on the building," which exemplifies Mitch's belief that a leader must lead by example. Therefore, Mitch advises taking responsibility and maintaining one's integrity as a leader at all times. Never let the drama of leading an organization draw you away from making rational decisions. Collect relevant information, evaluate it, and make a sound business choice. He believes that leaders should always be ready to make a case for their ideas and encourage followers to do the same.

Mitch explains how they achieved their goals by Increasing the company's National Board Exam ratings. He convened the group, invited discussion of the factors that contributed to low test scores, devised a collaborative strategy to address the problem, delegated responsibilities, set clear goals, shared progress along the way, gained support for the proposed solutions, and engendered a sense of ownership with the instructors. He also focused on goal setting, regular check-ins to make sure things were getting done, and excellent communication. He observed that the NBE outcomes were as follows: Arts (71% in 2020, 94% by 2022); Science (44% in 2020, 74% in 2022).

Mitch will further focus on bad debt that should be under 1%; his target is that the NBE pass rate is 80% and retention rate for the institution at 80%. In his view, there has been an expanding use of groundstudent interaction with a new state of the art Embalming Lab, and he predicts a 10% increase in enrollment over the next five years. There will hopefully be the introduction of a Master of Science in Funeral Service Management and the pursuit of regional accreditation for all programs within the next five to ten years.