Accelerate Your Performance

What if we all had an athlete's mindset at work? What would that look like? Today Janet discusses 6 personality traits of high-performing athletes and how we can use those to assess ourselves and further define high performance in the workplace. To be a high-performing team, we need all people engaging in the self-discovery work required to be their best every day.

This episode answers questions such as:

• What can athletes teach us about productivity?
• Why is optimism a necessary trait for self-confidence?
• How can we increase pride in our organizations?

Recommended Resources: 20 Distinguishing Personality Traits of High Performing Athletes, The Power of Perspective, Recognizing Low Will & Spotting High Performers
Recommended Podcasts: What Makes an Employee a Productive One? 

Why is it important to align your district values to the values found in the homes of students in the community? Today, Superintendent Dr. Larry Ouimette shares how his small northern Wisconsin school district incorporates the local Native American Ojibwe Tribe into all aspects of education. Dr. Ouimette explains that public respect of local culture has a significant bearing on the success of his students. Listen to learn more about how the Lac du Flambeau School District prioritizes community values in its mission, vision and strategic plan.

This episode answers questions such as:

• Does local culture have a purpose in our classrooms?
• How can local values impact decision making and district practices?
• How can we deepen community services and support the integration of cultural artifacts into education?

Read Superintendent Larry Quimette's AASA article: Embedding Local Culture in Student Learning

Recommended Resources: Does Local Culture Have a Place in Schools?, Building the Conditions for a Learning Culture & Listen Intently
Recommended Podcasts: Powerful Practices that Build Connection, Measures that Matter and Decision Rules, How Can We Improve Employee Engagement and Communication? & Accountability in Closely Connected Communities

To garner our high-performing team, all employees are expected to be productive - and we say all very purposefully. Chris Porteous outlines 7 Traits of Supremely Productive Employees that we can use to communicate expectations to everyone on our team. Today, Dr. Janet Pilcher discusses these traits and what we can do this week to be more productive employees. 

This episode answers questions such as:

• How do we know when an employee is highly productive?
• How do we define productivity expectations for our employees?

Last September, one of the largest wildfires in central Oregon's history came within a mile of schools and downtown Estacada. While still navigating the ever-changing Covid-19 pandemic, all 1800 of Estacada School District's students, families, and employees were evacuated from their homes. However, Superintendent Ryan Carpenter and his team prepare proactively to respond to emergencies and were able to quickly move to action. As he joins Janet today, he shares how his team collected data to make the best decisions for their district and community.

This episode answers questions such as:

• How can teams maintain resilience while navigating two emergencies simultaneously?
• Why is it so important to develop two-way communication tactics?
• What tactics can we implement to support our teams 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: Powerful Practices that Build Connection, Measures that Matter and Decision Rules,  Continuous Improvement: Where Do You Start? & Jump All-In to Improve

There is no greater compliment than trust. As educators, we have a great responsibility to do what is best for children entrusted to us. This is the foundation of the moral compass used by the Tea Area School District team led by Superintendent Jennifer Lowery. In this episode, Dr. Lowery shares how her team created a central location to connect its community and the sometimes heartbreaking burdens of leadership.

This episode answers questions such as:

• How can a moral compass help leadership teams make decisions?
• What actions can we take to maintain the culture of growing teams?
• How can we manage negative employee feedback?

Read Superintendent Jennifer Lowery's article: Decision Making that Sustains People and Deepens Relationships

Recommended Resources: Define Guiding Actions to Live By, Clear Communication Template, Receiving Results & Create Resilient Leaders

Recommended Podcasts: Avoiding the Chaos, Measures that Matter and Decision Rules, Accountability in Closely Connected Communities & The Intersection of Healthcare and Education

The time has come in which organizations are thinking about how to return to work with a new perspective and understanding. As we begin to engage with each other again in person and come to work in new ways, one simple tactic will be more important than ever. Rounding with purpose results in a better culture of engaged employees and leaders working together. Today, Janet shares 8 steps to create an approach for applying rounding with purpose in your organization. 

This episode answers questions such as:

• How can we get ahead of potential problems as we lead teams through change?
• What is rounding with purpose? How does it differ from traditional rounding?
• How do we implement rounding with purpose in our organizations? Why is it so important right now?

Recommended Resources: There is More Than One Way to Round, Key Ingredient for Success: Leader Rounding, Tailor Your Rounding Questions & From Connections to Action
Recommended Podcasts: How to Ask Meaningful Rounding Questions, Leading Change with Creative Tension, The Fragile Line Between Trust and Distrust & Blending the 80% Emotional 20% Rational

How can we engage people to become champions of improvement? Today, we share how one school district stayed eight months ahead of the national conversation by investing in the brainpower of its people to solve its toughest challenges. Listen as Dr. Pat Greco and Janet discuss how the right measures and processes support an army of improvers in the School District of Menomonee Falls. 

This episode answers questions such as:

• What can leaders navigate their own stress levels to stay focused on staff and student needs?
• How can we prevent our change efforts from failing?
• What does classroom improvement look like in the School District of Menomonee Falls?

Read Pat's article: Learning From Wicked Challenges

Recommended Resources: Sample Daily Huddle, Improvement Cycles to Sustain Progress, Return to Learn: Execution and Improvement Toolkit & Continuous Improvement: Adjusting Through Disruption
Recommended Podcasts: The Ritual that Keeps People Aligned, Transform Culture with Communication, Listen to People to Continuously Improve & Schools are Essential

Change has accelerated for all of us over this past year. External demands and pressures are calling for leaders to change the way they do business. While the majority of our employees want to help the organization achieve excellence, not everyone feels this way. Our responsibility as leaders is to focus on building work environments that empower solid and high performers to be accountable and see their value to the organization. Today, Janet shares how leaders can master the ability to lead and manage with creative tension.

This episode answers questions such as:

• Where can we start as we lead and manage change in our organizations?
• What is creative tension and when does it become too much?
• How can we manage creative tension to help us lead change?

Recommended Resources: Motivate with Recognition, Empower People to do Whatever it Takes, Building the Right Conditions for a Learning Culture & Accountability: Why is it so Hard?
Recommended Podcasts: Being Aware of Our Cognitive Biases, Embrace the Call for Transformation in Higher Ed, Now is the Time to be Bold and Courageous & 5 Leadership Lessons for the Future 

Leadership is a full-time job that requires relentless commitment. For leaders living in rural communities, there is an added challenge of everyone knowing you personally as well. Today, Randy Drost, Superintendent of Rice Lake Area School District joins Janet to share about leading in his hometown community, Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Listen as Randy and Janet discuss the connectedness, challenges and role school leaders play in rural communities.

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• What are some of the bright spots of leadership in a rural community? 
• How do you balance being a member of a community as well as a leader who has the responsibility for holding people accountable?
• Why are school districts an important piece of rural communities?

Recommended Resources: The Hardest Decisions, Deal with Problems, Time Management Grid & Lead by Permission

Recommended Podcasts: One Team, One Purpose: Rural America, The Intersection of Healthcare and Education, Service in the Relationship Business & Move Forward by Doing the Next Right Thing

A goal of many organizations is to build an inclusive, positive workplace culture that achieves positive results. Doing so requires us to address how our individual behavior contributes to the culture. The truth is, we are all biased at times, and those biases can cause conflict and even toxicity in the workplace. Today, Dr. Janet Pilcher will discuss two cognitive biases we all experience from time to time and four ways to assess ourselves.

This episode addresses questions, such as:

• How can cognitive biases negatively interfere in the workplace?
• What is the Dunning-Kruger Affect? 
• What can we do to assess our biases and challenge our own beliefs? 

Recommended Resources: Dunning-Kruger Affect, Confirmation Bias, Managing Individual Change  & The 3 Key Elements in the Growth Process
Recommended Podcasts: Phases of Individual Change, Symptoms of Low Emotional Intelligence & The Harmful Effects of Absentee Leaders