Accelerate Your Performance

For many of us, the holiday season represents time with family and friends, great food, and football. Coming off the heels of the biggest week of college football rivalries, Dr. Janet Pilcher turns her attention to her team, Florida State University and their long-standing rival, the Florida Gators. She looks to an article written about FSU quarterback, Jordan Travis, who has endured hateful commentary from the outside world, including fans. Listen as Janet shares some powerful takeaways we can put into action to help us commit to a winner's mindset and overcome adversity. 

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• How can I cultivate and maintain a winning mindset?
• What can I do to remain resilient in the face of adversity?
• What key actions demonstrate a commitment to win? 

Recommended Resources: Collective Willpower to Succeed, Cultivating a Culture of Resilience, & Create Resilient Leaders
Related Podcasts: Be Dedicated to Being the Best, The Winning Trait Behind the Underdog Teams, Reignite Your Passion, & Commit to Excellence: Be the Best

Student voice and perspectives isn't just a 'nice-to-have'; it's a must-have. Students have experienced a lot of change and stress over the last 21 months. As school districts plan for the future, it is essential we hear from students and include them more intentionally and deeply. As our guest, Leader Coach Gayle Juneau-Butler explains, using student focus groups for strategic planning has become a key part of the process for the partners she works with. In this episode, listen as Dr. Janet Pilcher and Gayle discuss how to effectively gather and use student input as well as the norms and considerations for these conversations. 

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• How do I use the voices and perspectives of students to plan for the future?
• What questions I can ask to engage students and help them feel heard?
• What are some examples of how student voice has helped shape the strategic plans of districts?

Recommended Resources: Great Leaders Listen, Let the Student Voice Be Your Guide, Creating a Strategic Plan, & Using Feedback to Prioritize
Related Podcasts:   Feedback is a Gift... Or is it? & How to Collect the Student Voice 

We've all done it at one time or another-- felt sorry for ourselves about a situation at work that feels out of our control. Maybe it's a  challenging project we've been assigned, or perhaps it has seemed like other divisions are given more resources or attention. Perhaps it's feeling sorry for ourselves because it seems that other voices at work are heard more often, and it feels difficult to get an opinion in. This kind of thinking can lead to a victim mentality if we're quick to blame someone else instead of looking inward and taking responsibility. Today, Dr. Janet Pilcher discusses what victim thinking can look and sound like and why it's toxic to workplace cultures. Listen as she shares action steps for identifying and overcoming victim thinking.

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• How do I know if I have a victim mentality at work?
• How can I shift out of a victim mentality and take ownership?
• What can I do to take charge and change how I feel at work?

Recommended Resources: 3 Behaviors That Poison Your Culture &Victim Thinking
Related Podcasts: Losing Our Way,  From Problem to Solution, Stop the Subconscious Behavior Infecting Your Organization, & Keep Those Emotions in Check

As the season of gratitude is quickly upon us, we are focused on sharing stories of purpose with our listeners. This week, Coach Support Analyst, Whitney Patterson shares how she was called upon to discover a purpose outside of work in an unexpected way. Dr. Janet Pilcher and Whitney discuss what she's learned from the experience and what others can do to find a little spark in their lives.

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• Why is it so important to step out of your comfort zone?
• How can you stretch yourself this holiday season? 
• What can you do to combat stress and burnout?

Recommended Resources: Stories of Purpose Videos from WRIE 2021
Related Podcasts: Find Your Pack & Find Your Voice, That 'Blah' Feeling, Small Things, Big Difference & Give the Simple Gifts

Start your week by preparing your heart and mind for the upcoming holiday season. As we get closer to Thanksgiving, it's important to focus on our connections with people and stretch ourselves to practice loving kindness. Today, Dr. Janet Pilcher reflects on her recent experiences and leads listeners through a loving kindness mediation to break the barriers we feel inwardly and outwardly.

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• What does loving kindness look like for you?
• How can you stretch yourself this holiday season? 
• Why do we need to be kind to ourselves to be kind to others?

Recommended Resources: Georgia Blackmon: An Exclusive Interview, The Power of Perspective & Motivate with Recognition
Related Podcasts: Small Things, Big Difference, Give the Simple Gifts, 8 Things Dogs Teach Us & The Little Things Pay Great Dividends

To become a first-choice University requires winning the hearts and the minds of young people. While this is no easy feat, Universities are filled with untapped talent and resources. That's what our guest, Dr. Tressa Kelly, the First Lady of the University of West Georgia, realized quickly after getting on campus. As a result, an incredible project was born to benefit future students and build on the history and story of UWG.

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• What is the role of UWG's First Lady and how does that create a bridge with UWG's community?
• Why is it important to have an origin story? 
• How can schools increase a sense of belonging?

Recommended Resources: Wolfie Finds his Howl
Related Podcasts: Embrace the Call for Transformation in Higher Ed, Innovation is Easier than Changing the World, Changing Education Through Improvement Science & What do Employees Need from Leaders?

Is it burnout? Exhaustion? Disengagement? It's a feeling people can't quite put their finger on or understand exactly why. Lately, it seems difficult to feel motivated or joyful. If you've recognized similar feelings in yourself, you're not alone. Organizational Psychologist, WorkLife podcast host, and NYT author, Adam Grant recently published an article that describes the unsettled, aimless, empty feeling many people are experiencing. Using this article, our host, Dr. Janet Pilcher, helps us name this blah feeling and provides tips to help individuals go from languishing to potentially flourishing. 

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• What is one way this blah feeling has brought people closer together?
• Why have people felt so tired and empty lately? 
• How can we shift from languishing to potentially flourishing?

Recommended Resources: There's a Name for the Blah You're Feeling, From Hopeless to Champion, Collective Willpower to Succeed & Vulnerability and Teamwork
Related Podcasts: When it Comes to Change, Less is More, Pay Attention to the Right Work, Powerful Practices that Build Connection & Rounding with Purpose  

How can improvement help us solve complex challenges in schools? Executive education leaders from across the country came together last week to answer this very question. After an energizing What's Right in Education conference, Dr. Janet Pilcher and Dr. Pat Greco came together to reflect on the impact of bold leaders in education. Despite a stressful year, people in districts are overcoming incredible obstacles one small step at a time. Hear about bright spots in education who are making improvement simple and sharing their work to fundamentally change education in America.

This episode addresses questions such as:

• Why is it best to approach improvement with one small step at a time?
• What does it really mean to turn input into action?
• Does a problem need to be defined before it can be solved?

Recommended Resources: Bold Leadership: A New Age of Education Leaders, Using Continuous Improvement Strategies in the Classroom to Help Students Take a Proactive Approach, How Do We Know if it's an Improvement? &  Systems, Sea Otters, and Soil
Recommended Podcasts: Tackle Student Learning Gaps, Do What's Right for Students, Hiring the Right Principal & Save Time with Proactive Communication

Being bold doesn't necessarily mean big, it means to consistently do the things that make the most difference. Bold leaders understand the strategic direction, big aims, and what the institution is striving to become. Bold leaders continuously strive to be at their best and help those around them be their best as well. As Dr. Janet Pilcher reflects on What's Right in Education, she reminds listeners to never lose the purpose of helping students be their best.

This episode addresses questions such as:

• What does it mean to commit to excellence?
• How do we put continuous improvement into action?
• What is constant throughout continuous change?

Recommended Resources: The Nine Principles for Organizational Excellence, Organizational Excellence & The Nine Principles for Organizational Excellence Video
Recommended Podcasts: Tackle Student Learning Gaps, Do What's Right for Students, Hiring the Right Principal & Save Time with Proactive Communication

Can you imagine combining the first day back to school during a pandemic with a raging wildfire threatening students, employees, and the entire community? This is exactly what Estacada School District experienced in September of 2020. As district leaders switched to a crisis response model, people found new and innovative ways to stay connected, make decisions quickly, and cascade information to community members. Listen as Superintendent Ryan Carpenter shares the most important communication tactic in times of crisis.

**Our next new episode will be released on Nov. 1, 2021. In the meantime, please join us at our annual conference, What's Right in Education: Oct 27-28.

This episode answers questions such as:

• What role do emotions play in decision-making?
• How can leaders communicate to keep those they serve informed while displaced?
• Why is listening to people even more important during a crisis?

Read Superintendent Ryan Carpenter's article: Building Resilience in an Organization

Recommended Resources:  Estacada Continuous Improvement Library, Estacada YouTube Channel, The Four Most Important Questions to Ask When Rounding, Huddle for Critical Outcomes, & Create Resilient Leaders
Recommended Podcasts: How Can We Improve Employee Engagement & Communication?,  Using Local Culture to Improve the Student Experience, Focus on the Fundamentals to Improve, Define Values to Guide Your Decisions & Bold Leaders, Bold Decisions and Bold Results