Accelerate Your Performance

What does it take to develop high-performing leaders? In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast, Dr. Sally Sugg, the Superintendent of Shelby County Public Schools in Shelbyville, Kentucky, joins us as our guest. Dr. Janet Pilcher interviews Dr. Sugg on the importance of leadership development. Dr. Sugg explains why she thinks leadership development is such a critical component for moving an organization forward, as well as the specific skills she has dedicated her focus to in her district's "Lead and Learn" sessions.

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• What are the key components of a quality leadership development program?
• How can leaders build a culture where employees live out the organization's core values?
• Why are "fierce" conversations important to have in organizations?

Recommended Resources: Leadership Reflection and Hardwiring, Using Feedback to Prioritize, Build Culture Through Authentic Leadership, & Highly Effective Teachers Need Highly Effective Leaders

The teacher is the most important variable that affects student achievement. Going into this new academic year, our schools face significant teacher shortages. In the last few podcast episodes, we have focused on this topic and ways to work toward a solution for teacher recruitment and retention. In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast, Dr. Janet Pilcher discusses the importance of cultivating a highly effective school under a highly effective leader to retain highly effective teachers.

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• How can you set challenging and achievable goals within your school? 
• Why is it so important to implement the practices mentioned in the podcast? 
• What action can I take to become more proactive and less reactive?

Recommended Resources: Building Trust With Teachers and Supporting Them, Creating a Great Place to Work for Teachers, Increase Teacher Job Satisfaction and Retention, & Stay Interviews

A current issue many leaders in education face is lower numbers of teachers entering the field and a growing number of teachers leaving. What will it take to address this issue? How can leaders help keep their high-performing teachers and help them feel satisfied in their jobs? This podcast episode is a call to action for leaders to shift their focus to retaining teachers and staff. Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Justin Barlow, a middle school teacher who has worked in the academic world for over two decades, to share his insights into why teachers are exiting the profession and ways leaders can work to support and retain teachers. Justin shares with us ideas for increasing job satisfaction amongst teachers where building trust and investing in relationships will be key. Listen as he shares ways to carry this out within schools.

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• How can you actively work to build trust with the teachers in your school?
• What can you do to help teachers feel valued, supported, and more satisfied with their jobs?
• What are some ideas you can take from this podcast and implement in your own school to support teachers?

Recommended Resources: Creating a Great Place to Work for Teachers, Increase Teacher Job Satisfaction and Retention, Stay Interviews, & Create a Culture of Recognition 

How can leaders keep their high-performing teachers? Recent studies indicate that helping employees feel valued and appreciated is key. One study found that 93% of employees who reported feeling valued at work said that they are more motivated to do their best. Another study found that 79% who left their job reported that a lack of appreciation was a key factor for leaving. In this week’s Accelerate Your Performance podcast episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher discusses the importance of cultivating a positive and supportive work environment for teachers. Listen as she shares practical ideas leaders can put into action to help create an environment employees feel supported, valued, and greater satisfaction working in.

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• How can we take action to help our teachers feel more valued and appreciated?
• What are the key fundamental leadership actions we can take to support and retain our staff?
• What are some examples of questions you can ask new employees as a check-in 30 and 90 days into the job?

Recommended Resources: Creating a Culture of Recognition, Stay Interviews, Increase Teacher Job Satisfaction and Retention, & The Irreplaceables

55% of educators indicate they’re ready to leave the profession earlier than planned due to burnout. In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance Podcast, Dr. Sarah Miller, Director of Partnership and Student Services for TeacherReady, and Dr. Amy Fowler, Coach Director Studer Education Team join us to talk about teacher retention and recruitment. They discuss the most common factors for teachers leaving the field and how school leaders can alleviate this issue through effective recruitment and retainment. They also delve into how leaders may use federal and state funds, such as ESSER funds, to support some of the recommendations suggested throughout the episode. 

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• How might you be able to implement creative recruitment practices within your school, county, or district?
• Why is retention as important as recruitment?
• What are helpful tips for leaders applying for federal funding to support teacher retention and job satisfaction?

Recommended Resources: Always be Recruiting, The Irreplaceables, Stay Interviews, & Rethinking Teacher Preparation Programs

Safety is debatably one of humanity's foremost values. We desire to not only survive but to also feel safe and secure. How much more important is this ideology to the development of children? The safety within schools and colleges should be sought after with determination, not only for the students, but for the parents, staff, and surrounding community. In today’s episode, Dr. Janet Pilcher invites Dr. Deanna Ashby, who recently celebrated her one-year anniversary as a Studer Education coach, to discuss the topic of school safety, its importance, and her personal experiences related to this topic. Dr. Ashby discusses many large and small changes you can implement to boost the safety within schools as well as many reservations school leaders may have. Many leaders may say they can’t afford to take the  time or money to implement these precautions, but Dr. Ashby questions if you can really afford not to.

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• What are some ways you can implement school safety practices in your county, district, school, or classroom?
• How can leaders help school resource officers build strong relationships with students and teachers?
• What actions can leaders take to create an environment that helps students feel safe at school?

Recommended Resources: Communication Preference Card, Make Way for Improvement, Safe and Sound Schools, & Working with The School Board

Many leaders within education are experiencing higher turnover rates than usual. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that 300,000 teachers and school staff left the field between February 2020 and May of this year. In this episode of the Accelerate Your Performance podcast, Dr. Janet Pilcher discusses a reflection she had while driving in her car after a session where members of her team presented one of their solutions called leading for retention, providing a great workplace experience. She explains how Stay Interviews can contribute positively to an organization and how they are more than simply convincing high performers to stay. It is about learning the reason behind it and how we can learn from them. Listen as Janet explains what Stay Interviews can look and sound like.

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• How can Stay Interviews help increase retention of employees?
• How can I provide a good foundation for employees that contributes to their future growth and career and personal development? 
• How often should I conduct Stay Interviews with employees?

Recommended Resources: Retain New Hires With 30- & 90-Day Conversations, The Irreplaceables, High Performers: Who Are They?, & High Performer Re-Recruitment Conversation Template

What does it take to help prepare students for life beyond the classroom? As you'll hear in today's episode, our guest, Dr. Mark Martin, shares that dreaming big and thinking outside the box have a tremendous impact on students. Dr. Martin is the Superintendent of Meade County Schools in Brandenburg, Kentucky. His bold and innovative leadership is a model for us all. Listen as he discusses with Dr. Janet Pilcher a program he's launched called Close the Gap Kentucky and how it's helping other school districts succeed. This program reinforces that professional development should be a process and not just a one-time event. He'll also discuss how his team is thinking outside the box to better serve students in special education.

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• Why is it important to lead boldly?
• How do you know you're doing what is best for students and how can you effectively track that growth to ensure success?
• What can leaders do to help increase unity and buy-in when it comes to new initiatives?

Recommended Resources: Build Culture Through Authentic Leadership, Listen Intently, Be Bold About Action, & Lead Your Work

In preparation for our in-person event, Destination High Performance: Organizational Excellence, on July 28th and 29th, Dr. Janet Pilcher discusses how leaders can practice synthesizing to help them see the bigger picture. Most individuals and leaders stop at analysis, but Dr. Pilcher explains how it is important to go the step further and combine our analyses from multiple sources of information to create the whole. This is the synthesis. In today’s episode, Dr. Pilcher explains how synthesis can help guide leaders forward with the big picture in mind. She also describes tips on how to best take notes with these concepts in mind and encourages trying them at our Destination High Performance event. For more information on this event, please visit studereducation.com/events.   

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• Why is it important to synthesize and not stop at analysis? 
• How can you utilize synthesizing to see the bigger picture?
• In what ways can you practice synthesis in your day-to-day activities? 

Recommended Resources: Activating a Strategic Plan, Oh, The Data We Collect, Are We Improving or Just Documenting Processes,  Analyze Impact to Accelerate Forward

Making sure that parents and students feel heard and that students feel supported in their learning and growth are key responsibilities for a leader in education. How can you sincerely, methodically, and purposefully show them that you are doing everything you can to listen to them and take action? Listen as Dr. Janet Pilcher interviews the 2022 recipient of the Human Rights Award, Matt Hillmann, the Superintendent of Northfield Public Schools. Matt discusses how it has been a privilege to better support the Hispanic Community in Northfield, and he also shares about the actions that he and his team have taken that demonstrate a dedication to listen to all voices.

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• Why is listening to the community important as a leader?
• How can you show the community that you are making efforts to listen to their concerns and take action?
• What are some characteristics of an intent listener?

Recommended Resources: Conducting a Listening Tour, Listen For Ideas, Perspective, and Connection,  It's All About Relationships, How to Collect The Student Voice