Case Study: Davenport University boosts employee satisfaction and leadership development with Cornerstone OnDemand

Why Leadership Development is Critical in Higher Ed

Davenport University, a Michigan-based higher education institution with 7,000 students across ten campuses, faced declining employee satisfaction and needed a budget-neutral way to strengthen employee engagement, succession planning, and recruitment. Its small Office of Performance Excellence also had to support more than 600 faculty and staff plus 600 adjunct faculty, making leadership development and collaboration especially challenging. Davenport turned to Cornerstone OnDemand’s Cornerstone Learning and Cornerstone Connect as part of its EmpowerU leadership program.

Cornerstone OnDemand helped Davenport create a custom nine-month leadership track with in-person curriculum, collaborative projects, and online cohort-based learning tailored to the university’s needs. The program improved flexibility and connection across campuses, and participants reported a 23% to 33% increase in leadership knowledge. Davenport also raised its employee satisfaction score from 3.65 to 3.74 and 3.79 over the next two academic years, and the success of the initiative contributed to the 2019–20 Association for Talent Development Excellence in Practice Award.

Davenport University